Pilar Guzman loves to share the details of her business. Her eyes light up when she talks about empanadas, and she lights up when she recalls how Half Moon Empanadas has grown from a one-store project into a chain of stores in various U.S. airports, delighting travelers around the world with its delicious empanadas.
“Our empanadas are the best on the market,” Guzman said of the business’s core pastries, which she developed with co-founder Juan Zabala. The key to their success, she said, is attention to detail throughout the entire process, starting with making their own dough.
Since its launch in Miami’s South Beach in 2008, Half Moon Empanadas has expanded to more than 20 locations, including airports in Miami, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, Chicago, Phoenix, Palm Springs and Minneapolis, as well as universities and hospitals across Florida.
The company sold 3 million empanadas in 2023 alone. Guzman was recently named one of Inc. magazine’s “250 Most Interesting Female Founders” entrepreneurs of 2024.
“Our empanadas weigh four ounces; other companies’ empanadas weigh half that. Most empanadas you cut into and they’re airy. You cut into our empanadas and they’re filled,” she says triumphantly, as she admits there are few things more disappointing than biting into an empanada and finding a flavorless void rather than a solid filling.
Empanadas are Latin American baked or fried pastries, mostly half-moon shaped and filled with a variety of fillings including meat, cheese, vegetables and fruit, that have origins in Spanish, Arabic and other cuisines.
“I think it came from Juan’s heart,” Guzman says. “He wanted to bring a piece of Argentina to the U.S. I think he wanted to save a little bit of his culture as an immigrant, and he had a vision for the product.”
A native of Veracruz, Mexico, Mr. Guzman has a background in business administration and holds a master’s degree in finance from Georgetown University.
She believes the company’s success comes from a combination of Zavala’s original dream when he started the business and the “craziness” that made her think, “Why not do this at airports, then across the country?” “And here we are now,” she says with a smile.
Now they sell millions of empanadas a year, but “the challenge is scaling and not letting up. That’s where we need to continue to have control and the right people in place.”
Getting through difficult times
But Guzmán sighs as he recalls the hardships of the past: behind this history of expansion and the sale of millions of empanadas, there was a difficult beginning that required overcoming many obstacles.
“We were losing money and on the verge of bankruptcy, but we managed to get out of South Beach, move into a kitchen in Miami, and start a stand at the University of Miami,” Guzman said, explaining that he barely made any money for several years. “We were in a financial crisis for like seven years, not getting a paycheck every month, so where does the resilience come from? Well, I guess it’s because I’m an idiot. It’s partly my personality, but I hate saying no.”
The businesswoman says 2011 was a defining year: It was at that moment that she realized she needed to break new ground to introduce her empanada concept to a wider range of consumers.
She learned of an opportunity to bid on a small business opportunity at Miami International Airport, “so we bid without lobbyists, without ties, and we won,” she said. Guzman remembers telling Zavala that this was a unique opportunity and that he should participate.
“I told him that if this country was what I believed it was, if this country was a country of opportunity to me, then we had to win this bid, and we won it,” she said.
She remembers people telling her they wouldn’t be able to sell empanadas at the airport, and now she said they’re the top seller per square foot at the airport.
With 150 employees, Half Moon Empanadas is considered a small business (fewer than 500 employees). Nearly all businesses in the United States are small businesses.
“Seventy-five percent of our employees are women, 95% are Latino. As we’ve opened stores in other parts of the country, I think we’re starting to see more people who only speak English, but the majority are still Spanish-speaking,” Guzman said of his staff.
Guzmán smiled and explained that one of her most memorable moments was when she took part in a video call with President Joe Biden in 2021. “There were like 100 screens, and all of a sudden he appeared and said, ‘Hello, Pilar,’ and he was the president of the United States. It was very surreal,” she said.
Her conversation with the president was part of a campaign announcement announcing the administration’s economic relief plan during the COVID-19 pandemic, which also includes aid for small businesses.
Guzman says he made the most of every moment of the conversation, explaining the situation of businesses like his to the president: “I knew there was an issue of money not getting through. The government aid wasn’t getting through. I said to the president, ‘Mr. President, I just want to make a point. The definition of a small business is 500 employees. I want you to know that Latino businesses like mine have, on average, one employee. So the money that’s being given out by the federal government is not getting through to small business owners.'”
Guzman said President Biden then ordered a special 14-day period to allow businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 20 employees to apply for the loans.
Work hard, make sacrifices, and “don’t be afraid”
Besides expanding, Guzman said he is also focused on providing opportunities for employees, especially women.
One example is her employee, Sarah Leon, who in six years rose from head of catering to the company’s vice president of administration and human resources.
Guzman said that despite the challenges of the work, he has a positive mindset and is very encouraging of entrepreneurship.
“I always look at the positive side. In this country, you can do anything you want, but you have to put in the work, work hard, sacrifice when you have to and don’t be afraid to do it. So I tell them: don’t be afraid, just go for it, take the initiative and make the product you wanted to make,” she said. “If the universe gives you the opportunity to have a business, to sell a product and to earn an income for yourself and your family, then your responsibility is to your employees, to society and to the community. That’s the equation.”
A version of this article appeared on Noticias Telemundo.
