Kimberly Avila had a college degree in hand, a bachelors in cognitive psychology, and worked in law offices and as a car sales manager among a variety of jobs tried.

Nothing in those employment fields, or others she could think of, felt or sounded fulfilling. Avila then decided to go way outside of her comfort zone and venture into something her parents warned had little chance of being successful. Avila decided to go into the food services industry.

“I had never worked in a restaurant,” said Avila, a Weslaco native. “My parents were scared for me. They told me the chances of it working were very slim.”

What Avila lacked in experience she compensated for in enthusiasm. She also possessed a fierce work ethic to succeed in something that would give her freedom “to do my thing.” The path to that goal would go through, of all things, hot dogs, but not just any hot dogs. They would be Qweenie hot dogs, “where the hot dogs are savage – not average.” To underscore that point, there’s a cartoon version of Avila’s miniature schnauzer, Diego, seated in a vintage looking UFO. The depiction also serves as Qweenie’s logo.

Going For It

Avila started out in a borrowed and modest-looking food truck.

She took her version of California street dogs with Rio Grande Valley sensibilities on the road. From Harlingen to communities throughout Hidalgo County, her new business found willing and supportive customers. The vision of combining pizzas with hot dogs and dressing them up with Hot Cheetos, cilantro and pico de gallo overwhelmed taste buds. Avila soon built a following.

Word of Avila’s offerings then grew via social media and vivid photographs of her culinary creations. By 2019, Weslaco was launching its first food truck park in the community’s downtown. Avila was among its first commitments with a bigger and higher capacity food truck. Qweenie with Diego as its mascot was taking off and becoming legit. The next big step came in 2022 when Avila opened a physical location in Edinburg, with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley main campus across the street on University Drive.

“I put everything I had into it,” she said of starting her savage hot dog business. “It drained my bank account. I had to make it happen.”

Taco Dogs & Macaroni

Walk into Qweenie’s in Edinburg and the immediate impression is that it’s a business owned by a female entrepreneur.

The walls are painted in pink with images of butterflies fluttering and girls with flamboyant hair styles and big glasses. In the counter area where Avila takes orders, the background is again pink with crescent moons, stars twinkling, and Saturn and its rings floating in space. A Winter Texan couple walks in and the husband declares himself “a hot dog guy,” bringing a smile to Avila’s face as she shows the customer a menu.

“I have Winter Texans come in and ask if I have a Chicago-style dog,” she said in firing up her kitchen to prepare the order. “I say, ‘no I don’t have those but I do have Rio Grande Valley dogs.'”

The Qweenie menu testifies to that fact. There’s a Hot Cheetos Dog selection with beef smoked sausage between a hot dog bun topped with fries, grilled cheddar, a pickled spear and of course the key ingredient – Flamin’ Hot Cheetos crumbs.

“It’s the Valley,” she said. “Everyone here loves Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”

Move down the menu list and there’s a Taco Dog. The smoked sausage dog is topped with beef, grilled onions, cilantro, cabbage and spicy guacamole. A Street Dog features some of the same ingredients with grilled cheddar and pico de gallo. It’s no wonder when her food truck opened up for business in Weslaco that Avila was swamped with customers waiting in long lines.

Thinking Outside The Bun

“It’s putting familiar foods in unfamiliar ways,” she said in talking about another menu item, the Mac Dog that features slow cooked macaroni. “You get a hot dog and add comfort food to it. Put your own twist to it.”

Avila appears to have a good handle on the business despite her previous lack of restaurant experience. She and her initial co-investor, Bryan Nunn, are on to something good with hot dogs that are savage and not average. 

“I’m a serial entrepreneur,” Avila said. She adds that her business also incorporates marketing and fashion retail into the food services industry. “I created the Qweenie brand to remind people not to be afraid to take risks and follow their dreams regardless of how big they might sound to others.”

Hot dogs with Hot Cheetos shows what an entrepreneur with imagination can do when she goes outside of her comfort zone.