About this project

How La Empanada came to be: 

La Empanada is the love child of Winter Park’s favorite Cuban café, Black Bean Deli and the popular recipe blog, Honest Fare. We joined forces and started La Empanada because we think the concept a handheld meal is brilliant (and fun!) and we wanted to expand on the traditional Latin flavors found in most empanadas.

We’ve been catering our specialty empanadas, desserts, salads and side items at parties and events for about 8 months now, while slowly but surely renovating our food truck. The goal is to have a full-scale mobile operation up and running by the summer of 2011!

How the truck came to be:

It’s a sweet little story actually. The truck in question has been owned and operated by the parents of head chef and the man behind Black Bean Deli, Andy Corton, since 1991. Mami and Papi Corton ran a low-key operation selling Cuban sandwiches across east Orlando for 20 years, and it was on that very truck that Andy got his start in the food biz!  Recently retired and now in our hands, the old truck needs quite a bit of repair and improvement before we can take it back on the road as La Empanada!

So exactly what is an empanada, you ask? The short answer is that they’re goodness inside and out. Savory pastry dough formed into a pocket and filled with just about anything you can dream up (grilled shrimp and sweet corn, spinach & feta cheese, vegetarian sausage & peppers, guava preserves & queso blanco, cured ham & cheese, BBQ chicken, etc.). Then they’re baked or fried to a golden perfection!

Originally from Spain and hugely popular across South and Central America, empanadas are what’s referred to as an ‘envelope food’ – something pretty much every culture has its own popular version of (i.e. calzones, samosas, dumplings, hand pies, knishes, turnovers, meat pies, spanakopita and pierogies).

(Sweet Corn and Shrimp Empanada with baked tomato on top!)

(Baked Spinach & Feta Empanada) 

As you can see, by design, empanadas are the ideal form of street food! 

Alright, now let’s get down to business.

We’ve got the truck. We’ve renovated it to the best of our financial ability. But we’re out of dough (pun intended).

Here’s where you come in:

We’ve already taken out personal loans and credit cards to get us going, but unfortunately those funds are running thin. We require $7,500.00 of additional start-up capital to make La Empanada Truck a reality. 

Your investment would go toward the following: 

* Paint job (full exterior and interior ceilings) and minor body work.

* Automotive fixtures (driver’s seat, bumper, mirrors and lights)

* Signage & menu board

* Flooring

* A/C unit

* Plumbing and electrical work

* Interior & exterior lighting (electrical work and fixtures)

* Generator repair

* Branding and graphic design (logo, etc.)

* Additional state and local licensing fees

* Liability insurance

* Additional roll out costs (printing menus, to-go containers, ingredients, cooking utensils, etc.)

Your investment will help us meet the minimum monetary goal needed to get on the road. Any additional funds raised above our $7,500.00 goal is welcomed and will be put toward paying down our outstanding balances/loans, as well as fulfilling donor rewards. 

Thank you so much for reading this far and we appreciate ANY amount you can donate. If a monetary donation is not possible, you can support the cause by simply spreading the word! 

Lots of LOVE and empanadas, 

Andy, Janelle & Gabi

P.S. For more info on the kinds of empanadas we're making, check out this link when you're done here. 

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