Entrepreneurialism in times of a Pandemic
By Maris Martinez – Masa Mexican Kitchen
There is no denying than 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone. For us, having a less than a year-old food business created a lot anxiety as booked events (pop up events, festivals and markets) were cancelled.
Our business name “MASA” is inspired from the corn dough needed to make different corn products – tortillas, sopes, tlacoyos, etc. This “masa” is made in the same way that my Mom taught me to make tortillas – corn flour, salt, oil and water. Once masa is kneaded and rested, you have a wonderful product that can adapt to any shape you give with your hands. There is a teaching right there, yes we are in lockdown as many other people and it was the moment to be flexible and to adapt to the new situation, we couldn’t be present in public events – but, we could still offer our food for deliveries in our hometown.
Food deliveries was in our minds before, but we were now faced with the reality that if we were going to start delivery food – it was now or never.
We had reservations on what produce will be available, delivery times, health & safety for contactless deliveries, food containers, labels and the list kept going on and on. First step was to contact our local suppliers as it is important for us, to help our local small businesses too.
Our first food offering included: beef birria, Mexican pork, homemade tortillas and vegetarian dishes. We had around 10 orders – mainly friends and some locals who had tried our food at the Great Malvern Farmer’s market.
Food for us is a way to show a little bit of the incredible variety of Mexican cuisine. We prepare our dishes using traditional recipes while taking advantage of local, seasonal and interesting ingredients – but, most importantly – now more than ever – it is also important for us to promote and support other local small business. We are proud to offer pork meat from our friends in Hilltop Farm & our local butcher, organic beans and vegetarian items from our local independent food shops (The Brantub & Greenlink), apple vinegar from Ragged stone, Mexgrocer and Mexican Mama for Mexican speciality items and also Malvern Cellar for their wonderful selection of local ales & ciders that go along nicely with our Mexican food.
This weekend will be our 5th food delivery and as our orders increase, we acknowledge challenges with current situation – while also having an immense gratitude to everyone who has tried our food and has recommended our business to others.
I would like to end this writing with a phrase by Epictetus: “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters”
Let’s support each other during this time.
Stay safe!