Rio Grande Valley native Melissa Guerra, an expert on Latin American food, has a clear vision for her eponymous Latin American cookware and ingredients store located at The Pearl in San Antonio. Melissa Guerra Tienda de la Cocina is on the threshold of becoming the Latin American Williams-Sonoma, the go-to place for aficionados of Latin American cuisine. It would be more accessible and less twee than the California specialty-cookware giant, of course.
“Latin American cuisine is known for affordability,” as well as for its authentic dishes, steeped in the cultures, said Guerra, who was a James Beard Award nominee.
Guerra sources ingredients, kitchen equipment and selected folk art from small suppliers in Mexico, Columbia, the Andes and beyond. “What I’m doing is challenging, and that’s why Williams-Sonoma doesn’t do it. Sourcing in Latin America is really hard. The vendors are Third World artisans. They don’t have inventory. You have to pay in advance. You are hoping you will get what you ordered.”
With deep roots in the Valley’s ranching heritage, Guerra began hosting the PBS cooking show “Texas Provincial Kitchen” in 1997 and came out with her first cookbook the next year. “I started everything out of my house. People asked me for ingredients and implements. I opened an online store in 2001.” Soon after that, she opened the Melissa Guerra store in Edinburg
After publishing “Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert,” Guerra realized her business needed to operate on a broader scale. Around that time, The Pearl realized that her store would make a perfect addition to its upscale mix of shops. The final destination on the Museum Reach segment of the River Walk, the Pearl is the home of the Culinary Arts Institute of America, which has a Latin American focus, and the CIA students’ restaurant NAO, which showcases south of the borders cuisines. Guerra’s relocated her store there in 2008.
Guerra’s company has four divisions: retail, online, Amazon sales and wholesale.
“This year our focus is to improve our online business. Retail keeps our name there, and it is our largest source of income,” she said. She has seen retail margins getting slimmer and slimmer and a shift to purchase of more functional items. “People aren’t buying decorative items as much, but I do believe in the store experience.” Valley native Tina Mendez Ballesteros is Guerra’s highly competent store manager.
To read more of this story by Eileen Mattei, pick up a copy of the March edition of Valley Business Report, on news stands now, or visit the “Current & Past Issues” tab on this Web site.