Mexican Restaurant A Family Affair

Juana Ramirez started her restaurant the same way so many businesses start. She started by selling food out of her home.

Today Ramirez (pictured at right in the above photo), who hails from Mexico, is the owner of a thriving restaurant, Salsa’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant at 99 Grand Ave. It has been around eight years.

She stopped by the WNHH studio, with her son Brian Palomiro Ramirez, a Southern Connecticut State University student, to talk with ​“K Pasa” host Norma Rodriguez-Reyes about how she got her start in the restaurant business.

Where are you from in Mexico?

Juana: La Scala is the state. We have been here in the United States 25 years.

What made you move to Connecticut from Mexico?

Juana: I came 17 years ago. I came for a better future for my family. Then I got my siblings and my mother over. I’m happy that all my family’s here; I just have a brother left in Mexico. It’s a blessing to have them here. It’s a blessing that we have this business.

I had three jobs at the same time. You get tired of working for other people. I had the opportunity to have my own business. I don’t do it alone; I have my children, my husband, working together, united.

Brian: It’s more of a farmland area. Everything is organic, natural. Like the cheeses, milk. We try to incorporate that in our restaurant. Our goat cheese, where my parents are from, you have fresh tortillas.

Who were the people who helped you here in America? Who helped to get your restaurant started?

Juana: My family first, my son…

Brian: It’s what I like to call a group effort. We started in our apartment selling the most common food which is called a torta. We call it the Mexican cheeseburger. It became increasingly popular and the people did not fit in our apartment. We thought we need to expand.

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While the Ramirez family got some financial help from their family, Brian said the Spanish American Merchants Association guided them through the process of obtaining the proper licenses, permits and other resources.

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Brian: The Spanish American Merchant Association basically guided us, held our hands, told us we needed. Frank [Alvarado] and Jobana Maldonado would come with us to the city to make sure that we had what we needed.

How did you decide on the name?

Juana: It is the authentic name … When we talk about salsa, the mainstream people know salsa as a dance. But where not talking about the dance here. We’re talking about salsa, which means all authentic sauces.The different types of sauces that take place here in Salsa Authentic Mexican Restaurant.

Brian, you work and go to school at Southern Connecticut State University …

Brian: When I was a freshman at I got involved Latin Anerican Students. I got Salsa to cater for them for four semesters. They loved it.

I would basically go tot school Monday through Friday. On the weekend I was dedicated to the restaurant. That’s where I made my money, that’s how I bought my books. My brother helped out, my little sister.

What do you want to do when you graduate?

Brian: Right now I’m majoring in communications. Because my mom is the businesswoman that she is, she inspired me to pursue a master’s in business adminsitrtion.

Click on the sound file above to hear the interview, or find the episode in iTunes or any podcast app under ​“WNHH Community Radio.”

WNHH’s ​“Open For Business” series on WNHH-FM and in the Independent is made possible in part through support from Frontier Communications.