Pop-up restaurant owner shares her story of never giving up on her dreams and achieving them

Pursuing your dreams is never easy and requires a lot of commitment and sacrifice. But, when all the hard work comes to life, there is nothing more sweet or satisfactory. Nobody knows it better than Aidee Del Villar, who, through sheer persistence, has built up a business surrounding her cultural roots, as reported by Good Morning America. Now, through her massive success, she wants to inspire others to keep reaching their goals. Her message is, "Even though sometimes life will throw obstacles and sometimes we even build our own obstacles [or] make up excuses, fight for what you love to do."

Del Villar came to America with her family from Mexico. Her parents took the step because they wanted to give their children a better life. It gave Del Villar more zeal to achieve her dreams, as she understood the sacrifices her parents made to give her this shot. Her entire childhood was spent in the Chicago suburbs. Being a woman, her family was not at all fans of the idea, which involved her being on the streets all day for her business. But she followed her heart. In her own words, "I think in order to have success, you have to just fight for what you love. You gotta fight for your dreams because nobody else is going to do it for you," she added. "Sí, se puede. You can do it!"

Before her flourishing, Me Enloteces, Del Villar was operating another business with her husband, Jesus Perez, in Texas. They were running a paleteria, which was basically ice-pop stands. The business was profitable. But tragedy struck with Covid. Sales dwindled spectacularly, and the couple had to take the hard decision to close down the shop. They had to sell it to someone else. But, Del Villar did not give up on her entrepreneurial ambition.

Seeing that paleteria was not working, she decided to focus on elote, another delicious offering from Mexico. She made some changes to the business plan by investing in a 16-foot food truck. The shop offered a variety of Mexican snacks. "I've always loved going to paleterias, but my ultimate favorite has always been the elote because that's what I grew up with," she said, referring to the freshly cooked corn kernels topped with a mix of mayonnaise, sour cream, cheese, and hot sauce.

Elote soon became a hot favorite. During this time, the pop-up was all the craze and the couple took the call to partake in it. They brought a pink tent and began selling their delicacies. Unfortunately, this was not a feasible arrangement for selling paleteria. It needed a refrigerator and other electronic appliances. Therefore, she decided to let go of them and make elote the hero of her shop. Moreover, she also went for a pink theme, which in the present Barbie culture is a great idea for promotion.

"When Me Enloteces started, it wasn't an all-pink business," Del Villar said. "I just started incorporating the pink and all the very girly vibes, and slowly but surely, people started recognizing us. Our clients would come back to us [and say], 'Oh my God, this is amazing.' And it just started growing. We were like this big family." Del Villar loves being in the pop-up business, mainly because of how family-oriented it is. All the businesses around her are operated by a family unit and her own has all hands on deck from her husband to her son.

Del Villar is happy that she has been able to build a strong clientele. Today, she can literally recite the orders of her regular customers. She has created a bond with them and takes care of both their taste buds and health. She sources materials from local Hispanic-owned suppliers and boils them on-site for the customers. She provides various variations of elote. A classic one costs $8, with no extra charges for toppings.

Del Villar has more elaborate plans for her business and does not want to stop any time soon. "We would absolutely love to open up our first brick-and-mortar in the Oak Cliff, Bishop Arts area [of Dallas], and eventually, I would love to expand," she said, setting her sights on bringing the business to her hometown in Chicago. "Eventually [I'd like to] just have different locations all over."