When the Long Beach restaurant where Brenda Apolinar worked, closed its doors for not surviving the impact of the wave of covid in the winter of 2021, she did not imagine that the lack of employment would lead her to start and create her own sauce business.
“My friends every Every time they tasted my food, they complimented me a lot. And then my husband would say ‘oh yes, very cool’ when they told me that everything was very tasty”.
In Mexico, a chingona is a very capable and competent woman in an activity.
Brenda baptized her sauces with the name Salsas Chingona
“My husband made me the business logo.”
Brenda Apolinar, owner of Salsas Chingona. (Courtesy)
It all started when two months after losing her job, Brenda organized a party in San Pedro – where she lives – to celebrate her son’s birthday.
“When they tasted the sauces I had made for the tacos, a friend told me that I should sell them. I asked him, would you buy them little by little? Of course, she answered me.”
Encouraged by the positive comments about her red molcajete sauce and the raw sauce she had prepared, Brenda published on the Internet that she would be selling sauces the following Monday.
“In a little while they came out 38 orders. That encouraged me to post on Facebook that I was making sauces, and one after another the purchase orders began to arrive.”
That was how Brenda launched herself as a small businesswoman with her Chingona Sauces
“I started going with my mom to sell. My mom is a single mother who raised all five of her children, selling everything. I started accompanying her with my sauces”.
Later on they gave her the opportunity to participate in a pop-up shop Nude Juice
Red molcajete sauce. (Courtesy)
Mango sauce with chile de árbol. (Courtesy)The hot sauces of Salsas Chingona. (Courtesy) Brenda considers that her sauces have been very popular because they are homemade, based on family recipes; He packs them in glass jars and they do not contain chemical preservatives.
“I have 7 different types of salsa, the avocado salsa, the red molcajete salsa, the mango salsa with chile de árbol, the raw salsa, and three hot sauces: the brown one made with dried chiles, the red one made with Fresno chili; and the spicy one with habanero chile.”
she Later she created her own mole so that the housewives have it ready just to add the chicken or the ingredient they want.
“My friends say that I am saving many marriages with this mole because they no longer waste time preparing it.”
But he also created his own version of pickled jalapeno peppers; and vegetables (cauliflower and carrot) in vinegar”.
He has also created red and green sauce to make enchiladas.
In her next plans is to offer the sauces that the tamales have to facilitate the preparation of these delicious appetizers.
“My priority is that my sauces have a lot of flavor. Even when the tomato became very expensive, I maintained the quality so that they were not just water but were chunky
Brenda of 12 years old, who was born in Mexico but came to the United States as an immigrant with her mother at the age of 2, is very happy that her small business of Salsas Chingona
“I feel like I’m in control. The sauces have allowed me to be financially independent. I already earn more than what they gave me in the restaurant, and this job allows me to be closer to my two children of and 9 years. Now I can take them to their classes and I even volunteer at their school.”
Brenda, she married very young and has 12 years of marriage.
“I always worked in restaurants. Even in my pregnancies, I always worked almost until the last day before my delivery.”
And he says that always in her jobs, he gave a lot of her and put the extra of her.
“Now instead of giving more to other companies, I give more to my own sauce business and I still have time to enjoy my children.”
Vegetables in vinegar.(Courtesy)
Brenda Apolinar’s Chingona Sauces. (Courtesy) And she shares that she is happy because her family and friends are so proud of her.
“Even my daughter Izzy tells me that I am proud.”
Brenda says that she never imagined having one day she started her own business, especially when after losing her job, she began to worry when she realized that although her husband is a very good provider, he did not have a stable job and his income was needed at home. However, two months later she was already launching her Chingona Sauces
The results obtained have led her to wonder what is What do you want to do in life.
“Everyone tells me that what I cook is very good. Now my dream is to open a Mexican food restaurant, which is very homemade”.
The Chingona Sauces
You can find her on Instagram like Chingona_en_la_cocina; and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/salsaschingona
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