What started as a family leaving their home country in hopes of a successful future is now a thriving small business.

Marcela Restrepo is an owner of La Casa Del Taco, an authentic street taco truck located in Natchitoches, La., who moved to Louisiana from Colombia in 2016. Her husband, Benjamin Restrepo, and her 2 children, Mateo Restrepo and Isabella Restrepo, moved with her. Despite her worries upon arrival, she strived to overcome the challenges she faced because of the moving process.

As both a wife and a mother, Marcela Restrepo wanted to provide for her family.

“My husband was the one working and I was in the house, so I was like, ‘I’m ready to get out, I just can’t sit here in the house and wait for you to come home to go to the store with you,’ because my English – I really couldn’t pronounce the words,” Marcela Restrepo explained. “So, I started working in cleaning houses, and after that I was taking care of the older people.”

Once she found work, Marcela Restrepo was rewarded in more ways than one. Not only did she make money, but she also learned more of the English language through the people she worked around.

As with most things, Marcela Restrepo first faced challenges before receiving the rewards.
“The language – it was very hard. It was very hard to bring my kids to something new without barely supporting them, and I don’t have a family here,” Marcela Restrepo said.

Her initial struggle to grasp speaking in English seemed to be her largest obstacle. Marcela Restrepo lacked confidence in public because she was fearful she would go outside and make a mistake when talking to people, she said. She didn’t want this fear to impact her children’s lives.

“I know when I was planning to come here, it was not going to be easier because I knew. But in order to be a better mother and bring a better life for my kids, it’s a challenge that I have to face and overcome,” she said.

Marcela was determined to find a solution to each problem she faced. To help her children learn English, many household items were labeled with stickers of the English term for them, although she herself could not yet fully understand.
In addition to the difficulty of the language, Marcela Restrepo faced the difficult task of balancing her time between her job and her children. Just as her own mom did, she wanted to contribute to the house and still be there as a mother.

“My mom’s always been like an entrepreneur, an independent woman. So, she always found out the way to provide, but be there,” Marcela Restrepo said. “When my mom was living with me, she’d always be working with food in Colombia, so I was like, you know what, we have to make something.”

This soon became a reality when Marcela Restrepo and her family worked together to form La Casa Del Taco.
The now small business started as a little tent set up at Cane River Green Market with a limited amount of space to cook food. When customers’ demand for the food increased, they purchased a little trailer.

“There were a lot of people trying to order. So, to give that many orders faster, we had to have a bigger grill, we had to have more space,” Marcela Restrepo said.

Not only did La Casa Del Taco require more space for equipment, but it also required more room for cooks. Marcela Restrepo, her husband, her son and her daughter all help out for the taco truck.

“We have to get out so early because we make everything fresh, so we’re up at about five and we make the queso, we make the salsa, we fry the chips. I make sure I got the generator, make sure we got gas – we have to just basically prep everything before,” Marcela Restrepo explained.

While they prepare some items in the morning, each dish is made using fresh ingredients and prepared on the spot when a customer orders, Marcela Restrepo said. The menu varies according to special events, but it typically has beef or crawfish empanadas, vegan empanadas, tacos, quesadillas, birria tacos, quesabirria, taco bowls, white queso loaded nachos and more.

Taking the time to ensure each dish is to each customer’s liking is just one of many quality aspects of La Casa Del Taco.
“We make it with love. It is a local business, family business,” Marcela Restrepo said. “I like Natchitoches because it’s kind of a small town, and also the community has been nice to us and I think it’s a great place to start.”

Although there were hardships leading Marcela Restrepo and her family to Natchitoches and creating La Casa Del Taco, her business now flourishes. Today, La Casa Del Taco is now a staple vendor for Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s Demon Day event, “No Time for a Siesta, We’re Having a Fiesta.”

To others who have left their home countries in search of success, Marcela Restrepo provided them with advice.

“When you have struggles, first you have to set your goals, and then work hard. Every time that you have that kind of hard moment and struggle, that’s being part of the process to be better,” Marcela Restrepo shared. “Because when we struggle with something, life is telling us that we have to work and we have something to take, notice later and it’s gonna be a moment in our life that we just transcend.”

Marcela Restrepo encouraged the community to visit La Casa Del Taco, which is located in the parking lot of Basic Health & Fitness at Williams Ave. from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays. For more information, visit their Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram or contact [email protected] for catering or private events.