Balancing Tradition, Culture, and Change: Dora’s Recipe for 50 Years of Success

Q: First, congratulations! We saw your Good Morning America video when Glenna shared it with the team - everyone got emotional watching. Are you ready to get started?

A: I cried when I watched it. I watched it later. I was like, “Oh…” It’s amazing. I looked over your questions and they seem like I would be able to answer them.

Q: To start, can you share a quick overview of your business and how long you’ve been in business?

A: Well, come April 1st, 1976, we’re gonna be 50 years old. And it was my mom’s dream. She wanted to have a little space where she could cook and people would line up around the block. We found Yuca’s - or, you know, the little space - and everybody told her it was too small, too ugly, too expensive, and she just, you know, put her arms up like a photographer and said, “It’s perfect.”

It has been. It got me through college and helped us buy a home and connected us to - I’d like to say - a million people. I’ve never counted them, but we definitely have a community that is dear to our hearts and four generations deep.

Q: Do you have other team members working with you? About how many?

A: We have two locations, and at each location, I think we have four, sometimes five employees. A testament to my mom, I think - and probably also myself - is that most of them are long-term employees. At the original in Los Feliz, our main guy has been with us probably 48 of the 49 years, and then we have a couple other employees that have been maybe 37 or 38 years.

At the new Pasadena location - we’ve only been in Pasadena eight years - but the workers, the majority of the workers, are from 2008. So we must…

Q: When you joined the Geek Pack and Verizon cohort, what problems were you trying to solve?

A: I had taken some Verizon courses previously and I always got stymied in the follow-through. I had questions, and I thought, “Okay, well this would be a live person and if I get stuck on a certain part of the program, I can say, ‘Hey, I’m not getting it. Help me.’” So to me, that was very important - to have access to someone who knew what they were doing and would be able to reply right away.

Q: Had you tried to learn about improving your digital presence before?

A: I’m constantly doing that. I think since 2008 when I was approached by a marketing guy who said, “You have no presence, and I’m willing to give you six months free to build your presence and then you can hire me if you want.” And I thought, “Well, that’s a super opportunity.” So I took him up on it, and here we are, 2026, and I’m no longer with him because he grew so big - he was doing rock stars and stuff - and he’s like, “I’m gonna pawn you off on one of my employees.” But I feel like we’re still connected in that sense.

So, yeah, constantly. And I figure the algorithms are constantly changing, so if I don’t keep up with it, I’m gonna be doing something that is obsolete.

Q: Have you seen any tangible returns - more money, more customers, feedback - from implementing what you learned in this cohort?

A: I don’t think more money, but we have attracted new customers. And learning how to be consistent for us was a big thing. I do have someone that posts, but I’m told we’re supposed to be posting every day, which I’m not gonna do. But I figured maybe two or three times a week instead of twice a month or something.

We did have a consistency of “this is when we post,” so people were looking for that. And people love what we’re doing. We get feedback of “I love that,” or “Thanks for the history,” or “I haven’t tried that - let me go and try that.” So yeah, that’s a very positive response. I don’t think it’s transferred into money yet, but I’m hopeful that it will.

Q: Do you feel more confident with digital skills for your business now?

A: Yes and no. I feel like I know more digital skills, but I have this - you know when you stand at the edge of a pool and you know you’re gonna enjoy it once you’re in the pool, but it’s the diving in that takes a lot of courage and you vacillate. I feel like I’m there right now: use the AI, use this, use that. I haven’t done it yet, or at least, be consistent about the usage of the tools that will make things better.

And, you know, Glenna was very good at saying, “You don’t have to be perfect. Try one thing, and if it doesn’t work, it’s not the end of the world.” To have someone saying that over and over was like, “Oh, thank God.” Because I get it - I just don’t feel comfortable implementing it yet. And then eventually just saying, “Oh, what the hell, Glenna said it was gonna be okay.” So she was great in that.

Q: What were your biggest challenges during the cohort?

A: Unexpected things popping up and not being able to make it live. So having the recordings available was really good.

And also, sometimes being there, being present, loving the thing - and then not converting it. Not using it, not turning around and doing it, even though I thought, “Oh, that’s gonna be easy,” and then I didn’t do it because life got in the way.

Q: Did you feel supported going through the courses and in the community?

A: Yeah. It took a couple of sessions, I think, but then a lot of the same people kept showing up, and the fact that we were learning together made it nice. And also, it was Glenna and I think Christina - there’s a couple of people that knew what they were doing and they kind of played tag team with each other: “You say this, the other one says that, and - oh - how about this?” It encouraged us to ask questions.

The more questions we asked, the better the class was because then we were dealing with something we actually wanted to learn instead of “Here’s the set course and we’re not gonna deviate from it no matter what problem you have.” Towards the end, I felt a little more like I could unmute and say things if I had a perspective that would be helpful. I like that openness of “I’m not just teaching at you.” Part of teaching is listening and dealing with our pain points - or at least acknowledging them.

It’s like, “I don’t have the answer for you right now, but I’m going to research it and then we’ll get in touch. You won’t have to walk through this valley of death alone.” There’s always somebody there to help you out. That was a good feeling.

Q: Did joining the cohort help with your progress in the Digital Ready courses?

A: Yeah, exactly for that reason. You take the course and you have a question, but there’s nobody to ask. Either having the class and then doing the program made it easier - or doing the course and then coming in and listening to other people’s questions. That helped ground what you had learned because you were repeating it.

Usually, if I have a question and there’s nobody to ask, I just go, “Okay, well… later. I don’t have time.” But knowing I could write it down and bring it to the cohort and ask - that was very valuable.

Q: What was your most impactful takeaway from your time in the cohort?

A: That it’s okay if you don’t know all the answers - and it’s okay to try and have it not be exciting. The fact that you tried it and now you know what doesn’t work - it gave us freedom to try new things without feeling bad about it.

A lot of people aren’t willing to implement things because they don’t know it well. To have the Geek Pack advisors tell us, “It’s okay. We’re not going to be perfect. Don’t worry about it,” was amazing. I like that.

Q: Can you tell us a little more about the grant and the Good Morning America moment?

A: Over the years I’ve gotten better at grant writing and grant finding - where can I find out where money is available for my business to grow? I originally applied to the Siete Juntos Fund two or three years ago for a small grant and didn’t get it. I was like, “Oh, that would’ve been really nice to have.”

It reminded me of years ago, like 2005, we got a call from Oprah. Not her personally, but they said one of their guests mentioned we were a “napkin Nazi” and they wanted to know if they could mention that on the program. I was like, “Okay.” Anyway, any way to get the word “Yuca’s” is fabulous. Then they cut it after I’d told all my friends we were going to be on Oprah. My sister said, “Don’t worry. Oprah made a mistake - she’ll call you back.” And a year later, Oprah called us back and said they wanted us on the show as the Best Burrito Ever.

So from then on, when I didn’t get the grant, I thought, “It’s okay, because something better is coming my way and I just have to wait for it.”

A month ago, I got an email from the Siete Juntos Fund. They wanted to do National Taco Tuesday throughout the United States, and they’d picked us for a grant - $7,000 to throw a party and bring joy to the community, especially during these ICE raids and stuff that’s going on. They wanted to uplift the community, so I said yes.

Then they emailed again and said, “How do you feel about being on Good Morning America to announce these grants?” They gave 25 restaurants throughout the United States $7,000. I thought, “Yeah, I’m a ham, so why not?”

On Good Morning America, they said, “You think you’re getting a $7,000 grant, but you’re wrong,” and then they showed me the check - and you know the rest. It was amazing.

We had been struggling for a long time - recession, minimum wage, cost of goods, tariffs, ICE raids, COVID. It felt like one thing after another. We kept slogging forward, saying, “We’re going to keep persisting because we know what we do matters to people. It brings joy and it builds community.”

Just before you, I was on the phone with an advisor from the LA Chamber. Once we got the money, it was like, “Okay, how do I use this to better my business, not just spend it?” How can I multiply it so I can implement ideas and grow my catering?

The woman I talked to today, Shenell Glover, was like, “There’s mobile food carts, there’s A USD, there’s tech companies, Airbnb…” I couldn’t write that fast! She basically exploded a thousand ideas at me. Now I’m going to sit down and go, “Okay, which one talks to me?” You can’t do everything. If you look at something and go, “Eh, I don’t know if I want to do that,” and you do it, then you’re going to be “eh” about it. I’m picking the ones that help the business and also bring joy to what I’m doing.

The program (the LA Chamber’s “Getting in the Game”) is amazing. There’s so much assistance out there - SCORE or women’s… I forget the acronym, but it’s basically like SCORE and PACE and those workforce development companies that help you figure out business questions. I really like that.

Q: How has your participation in the Verizon courses, resources, and cohort contributed to your business growth?

A: I talked about wanting to put the GMA experience - and KTLA, the day of the party - on my website so people can see it and click through. I didn’t know how to do that. Glenna and I are still working on it. Learning how to put a thumbnail or a URL into my website will be great. Even if it’s just an online article, we’re very grateful we get a lot of mentions. We’re a taco stand that has a great burger, and people are like, “Wait, a burger?” If you can cook Mexican food well, you can cook anything well.

And again, about Glenna - after a session I might hang up and have 10 other things to do, and she’d send a note like, “Hey, don’t forget, we’re going to do this. I need you to do this, this, and this.” It was like having an executive assistant who doesn’t let you forget the important things.

All in all, the GeekPack experience was fabulous. You should keep it going. If you need funding, whoever funds you should definitely renew your funding.

Q: Anything else you want to share - about your business, your story, or how this experience helped you?

A: We like to say we’re lucky to be in business for almost 50 years. A lot of that luck comes from persevering and being willing to learn new things - and sticking to the old things. Finding a balance between tradition, culture, heritage, and what the customer wants… when you meld those, that’s fabulous.

If you’re going to start a business, do it because you love it. Maybe you’ll get the experience of being alive for 50 years. But don’t do it to make money. Money is the gift of having your business - it’s not the end-all.

The reason I kept going was because four generations are depending on me to feed them. Sometimes the money wasn’t enough. But eventually, it was. Life’s a rollercoaster. You’ve got to enjoy the “aaargh” and also the “oh my God, oh my God!!” parts.