GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Nacho Almaraz has to get back into the kitchen as soon as we're done with this interview. Though he has a full staff in his Gaithersburg kitchen to prepare the goods for dozens of weekly farmers markets and their storefront café, some fillings just require his special attention.
"It's a lot of empanadas, yes," he laughs.
Almaraz co-owns DMV Empanadas with his wife and brother. After launching the business at farmers markets, they've expanded to the point where they'll soon need to have a dedicated kitchen facility in Rockville. They'll also move the storefront to a new location in Gaithersburg Square later this year.
When he thinks of the next flavor -- 28 still isn't enough -- or of the people who've helped him along the way, Almaraz says one thing is always top of mind: family.
"I think it was my mom's never-come-true dream to do this," he said.
Here’s part of our conversation with Almaraz about how he launched the business by accident, the inspiration behind some of their most popular flavors, and how they've scaled up from 250 to 15,000 empanadas per week. (Conversation edited for length and clarity.)
Tell me about how you then got started in this. Take me back to the beginning.
We started in a little apartment. One of our friends used to sell at farmers markets, and at one point, he stopped. I don't know why. We decided to start, and it was really hard until we got to the point where we could cook everything in a commercial kitchen and everything. But from the time we started to make everything right, everything the way it has to be done, we've grown so fast. So fast. When we started we're doing like 250 empanadas and now we are after seven years, 15,000 every week.
That was all by hand?
Yes, exactly. And we started with one flavor. Chicken. And then we added the cheese one. Then, I love bacon. I said: cheese and bacon. And my wife says, 'no, no, no, everybody knows ham. Ham and cheese.' And I say no, because we don't have to be like everyone. So we added cheese and bacon, then the beef, then all the other ones will come up. We have 28 flavors now.
Everything we sell, everyone in the kitchen has to taste. Everything has, like, something of my life. Everything. Like the spinach and cheese? I love Italian food. The vegetable one was something my father made for us when we don't have money in our country. When I see something very interesting or very tasteful, I try to integrate it in the empanada. And when we started, we had four flavors. It took me like three years to come back to the kitchen to establish something new.
Why empanadas?
My mother did the chicken one all my life when I was in Bolivia. And I always ask her when I was there and when I move here, why she never do like a like that for a living. And always she said was scared. I think it was my mom's never-come-true dream to do this.
You are already making thousands of empanadas, and then you're adding more to the menu.
Yeah, I think that's what we needed, because we are from Bolivia and most people know the saltenas more than the empanada. Most people think Argentina are the biggest empanada-selling. Bolivia has a lot of empanadas, but most people know the saltena. They look similar. They are bigger. They are more, you will see, a little spicy. And the filling, the way the sultanas are made inside are so different than regular empanada. So different. So we have to learn for a couple weeks to get to the point of what you're going to get today.
When people come through your shop, plan a trip to a farmers market just to get their empanada fix for the week, what does it feel like to you?
I think that is priceless. That's the goal. It's not the money, it's when somebody tells you how good you are doing, how tasty it is what you are doing. That's the main goal. It's like a lot of people’s effort, too. We got excellent people working with us.
Did you have a food or restaurant background?
Zero.
What made you think you could do this, then?
I don't know. Long story story, my mom gave me over the phone the recipe. And I did it. And my sister was coming from Bolivia, and we went to pick her up from LaGuardia, New York. And she said, Oh, my God, I'm so hungry, I need to eat something. And I say, I brought some empanadas. And she says, who made them? And I say, eat it. And she takes a bite and says, "when did mom send you empanadas?" And I say, I did it. "No, nobody can do that. And I say from that day, I think I have something that special, even I don't know how to cook. I never went to college. I never worked a long time in one restaurant. But from that day, I think I had something that's the best, and I used base of that chicken empanada to make everything.
What role did farmers markets play in growing your business?
Farmers markets are everything for us. Everything. Without farmers market, it wouldn't be DMV Empanadas. No 28 flavors, no nothing. Farmers market are hundred percent our business. Hundred percent. Without all the markets we do, we wouldn't be sitting here. They're big for us, they opened the door to everything.
You keep growing so fast and so fast. What's the next version of this dream?
If we can have one location in every like a major city, that's a good legacy for our family. We started from zero. We borrowed money to start because, you know, I used to clean houses and I borrowed money from my customers to pay the fees for the health department--for everything. There is couple of people, I never came back to them and say thank you, but they helped us, helped me a lot.
What does it mean for you to be rooted in this community?
Well, I never move to another state. I've always been here in Maryland. I love D.C.. I love Virginia. Life is more easy than what I see on TV in other places. All the friends and family are here and I like it. I love the DMV a lot.
So you're from Bolivia, You live here, And this business is called “DMV Empanadas.” What makes a DMV Empanada different than anywhere else in the world where you could have an empanada store?
Dreams, and love. A lot of love. Because the dream is one day, my kids, they can handle everything, and they can go to the next step. I don't know what it is. They have to figure it out. Because we do [everything] for our family. We are not doing it only for the money, it is for our family. Something we want to leave for them in our life, they leave for their kids, and pass it on. That's the goal.
It's a legacy.
Yeah. I hope one day. One day I hope.
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LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE: HOMEGROWN EDITION
This fall, “Love Where You Live” is paying special attention to our neighbors who keep us fed. Wednesday mornings on Get Up DC, from Oct. 18-Nov. 22, we’ll highlight the region’s makers, growers, and purveyors who share their harvest with the DMV at weekly farmers markets. From a mother-daughter kimchi company putting a new spin on a cultural staple, to a first-generation organic farmer cultivating in all seasons, to a culinary-artist turned pickler—we’ll ask about their process, what keeps them going (and growing), and why the DMV is where they’re rooted. It’s a celebration of what it means to be homegrown in this diverse community, and a closer look at the economic and environmental importance of supporting local.
Each of the businesses profiled in “Love Where You Live: Homegrown” is a vendor at a local FRESHFARM market — a year-round, producers-only community of markets across the DMV featuring farmers and makers from around the Mid-Atlantic.
At nearly 30 markets, shoppers have the opportunity to support local businesses based within 200 miles of Washington, DC. FRESHFARM also supports the local good system through educational programs and food distribution and access programs.
To find a market near you, click here.