Paul Bass Photos
The mangonada.
Miguel Xicohtencatl needed a hot seller to get his dream businesses going. He found it in a cold cup of mango.
Draining savings from years of double-shift kitchen work, the Mexican native had purchased a grocery near Christopher Columbus Academy at 271 Grand Ave. But the groceries weren’t selling enough to make a profit. Xicohtencatl (pictured above) needed a new concept.
He revamped the store, brought in dozens of Latin-accented cold drinks and ice-cream treats and fruit salads to supplement the breakfast and lunch sandwiches he cooked. One day a supplier slipped him the recipe for a popular Mexican treat called the mangonada.
The rest is history. Every day people line up at the cozy shop to order a mangonada. It’s his biggest seller; business has risen enough for Xicohtencatl to hire a few workers and start planning to open a second store.
Xicohtencatl and his partner, Cecilia Serrano, were assembling mangonadas one after an other the other in the narrow confines of their sunny, colorful shop. They started by assembling a bed of fresh mango slices in a plastic cup, then spritzing them with three separate spicy/sweet sauces: chamoy, a Mexican mix of pickled fruit and powdered chiles; Valentina, another Mexican hot sauce of chiles, vinegar, and salt; and a lime-based Tajin sauce. Next came a scoop of mango-flavored Italian ice, which they then encircled with more freshly cut mango slices. Then came squirts from the three plastic sauce bottles on top of the concoction.
The small, at $4, took quite a while to consume — a sweet-sour-salty delight at each spoonful. (The large sells for $7.)
Other concoctions, like Chamoyadas snow cones, the Colombian Cholado drink, combine strawberry and mango and papaya and cucumbers with cilantro and sweet milk, for a clientele accustomed to Mexican and Latin American products of all varieties.
The mangonada remains “our biggest seller,” Xicohtencatl said as he finished assembling an order. ““They make this a lot in New York. The Spanish people eat this kind. I brought the menu from there to here. Nobody else in the neighborhood was selling them.”
That was about three months ago. At the time, Xicohtencatl said, “what I was doing was not good.”
Miguel Xicohtencatl started dreaming of succeeding in business since not long after he came to New Haven from … Xicohtencatl — a state in Mexico from which many new New Haveners hail.
Miguel’s dad came along to New Haven (where he knew a friend) to escape poverty and build a better life for the family. Miguel followed at age 15, in 2002; he paid $3,000 to a courier who led him by foot across the border through the desert one night.
In New Haven, Miguel spent a year at Wilbur Cross High School. Then he dropped out to start chasing his American dream.
He worked up to 12 hours a day, first six hours at a deli in Hamden, then at the Subway at Temple and Chapel streets in downtown New Haven. His dad returned to Mexico in 2007; Miguel stayed behind and picked up dad’s position as a cook and cleaning person at Duffy’s Tavern in West haven.
He saved his money, dreaming of starting a business, either here or back home. He saved some money here, sent some money back home so he wouldn’t lose it all in the event of getting busted: “At that time I was illegal. You never know what could happen. Any day they could throw you from this country.”
Cecilia and Justin at the store.
Through a friend he met and fell in love with Cecilia Serrano. They began living together seven years ago; three years ago Cecilia gave birth to their son, Justin.
In between working, Miguel enrolled in Adult Basic Education. Then, thanks to the DREAM Act, he gained legal permission to live here.
“When I got that card I was so excited. I couldn’t believe it,” he recalled. “It’s so exciting — it’s something that everybody wants. If that happens, you can do anything.”
Including opening a legal business. A friend hooked him up with the owner of the small grocery at 271 Grand Ave.; the owner’s business was suffering, so he wanted to sell. Miguel was sure he’d do better. He collected his savings plus some more help from family back home, and bought the business this February for $25,000. Jobana Maldonado at the Spanish American Merchants Association offered crucial help in filing for permits and finding bookkeeping and other advice.
“When you get the business, you never think it’s going to go down. I had always had in my mind that the business would go up,” Miguel recalled.
But it didn’t go up. Three months into owning the store, he and his wife were running the joint alone with the help of one part-time cook, staying open from 7 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. seven days a week. Miguel had to rush over to Duffy’s in West Haven to continue his shifts there to make ends meet.
He knew he needed a new approach. In May he jettisoned most of the grocery items — Grand Avenue has plenty of groceries. He brought in all the fresh-fruit drinks, fruit concoctions, salads, and ice cream, keeping the sandwich operation as well.
It worked. Soon he was able to quit the Duffy’s job. He and Cecelia still work long hours, with Justin present most of the time (after staying with a sitter in the morning). But they have three part-time helpers. And they’re paying the bills.
Which has now led Miguel to pursue his next dream.
“My dream is to open another” outlet of this store, he said. “I’m so happy with the business. That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”
The dream remains focused on America. He’d like to return to Mexico to visit family, he said. But he’s here in the U.S. to stay.
Click on the above sound file to hear an interview with Miguel on WNHH radio.
WNHH’s “Open For Business” series on WNHH-FM and in the Independent is made possible in part through support from Frontier Communications.
Their tacos are also delicious.