Description
LOS CARBALLOS
Getting people together through Latin American food and music
Admin | Comune di Milano
20/06/2022
Can you please tell us something about yourself?
My name is Nacho Carballo, I am of Cuban descent, but I am also a Mexican citizen thanks to the 12 years I spent in Mexico. I have worked in various hotels as a restaurant manager in Cuba and Mexico for many years. I came to Hungary in 2012, where my older son lives with his Hungarian wife and children.
Can you please tell us how you had the idea to start your business?
When I arrived in Hungary, I started to take an active part in my son’s, Michel’s band. This led to the idea to create a family business by combining the two activities, music, and food. Having worked in several Latin American countries, I didn’t want to lose this experience of more than 30 years of. I also wanted to introduce to the Hungarian local community the Latin American culinary and music traditions. And of course, I also wanted to share my background with my grandchildren so that they could enjoy this wonderful culture that is part of our lives.
Can you please tell us about the main obstacles you have encountered and how you managed to overcome them?
Hungarian language is still the biggest difficulty for me. Luckily, I have the help of my wife, who is also part of the family business. 90% of our customers are Hungarian, so it’s a big task.
The other difficulty, in my opinion, is that Hungary is still not so open to Latin American culture. I tried to open this up a bit with the Latin American Festival events I organized in the days before Covid, so that the Hungarians living here would get to know our diverse culture and culinary delicacies better.
Has the recent pandemic affected your business and how did you overcome the challenges?
The pandemic, like for most businesses, has hit us. We had to rethink how we could provide our services better and more securely. During the first lockdown, we made a detour to the online world.
We launched free cooking shows on Facebook on how to make Latin American dishes economically and easily from the ingredients available in Hungary. With this, we wanted to help those living and working in home isolation and bring a kind of colour and cheer into their lives. We received a lot of positive feedback.
How do you see the future of your company?
After 2 years of Covid, due to the current war in a neighbouring country, raw material prices have now soared, which poses new difficulties and challenges for our business. We are still looking for a way to move forward with these difficulties.
Is there anything you would like to tell to your fellow entrepreneurs? #somethinginspirational
Faith should never be given up and you should always be open to seizing new opportunities. You can only do business with a positive attitude, whatever the world around you.
