Airport Experience® News - ACDBE & Small Business Issue 2024

Right: Half Moon Empanadas opened at DCA earlier this year. Washington DC is a special city for Guzmán, who made the city her home when she first came to the U.S. from Mexico.

EMPANADA EMPIRE Pilar Guzmán Is Leading Half Moon Empanadas On A Rapid Expansion Path

BY CAROL WARD

Pilar Guzmán learned the hard way that her company’s signature empanadas would appeal to people in high-traffic locations, and to people who were looking for grab and-go options. Guzmán launched Half Moon Empanadas in 2008 with a large-footprint location in Miami’s South Beach. “It just didn’t work financially,” she recalls. “All of the assumptions that you can make – about the location, the rent, the price of the product – everything was completely off.” With struggles at her first street location, Guzmán began setting up at festivals in the area, carting her table, tent, empanadas and gas-powered warmer to different locations in an effort to save her business. She approached the culinary team at University of Miami and, after a few rejections, the school finally offered her a cart for selling on campus, Guzmán says. That move was successful, so she looked at other non-traditional markets for opportunities. An acquaintance suggested Miami International Airport (MIA), and Guzmán landed a presentation in front of the concessions team. “I had no idea what I was doing, but later they came up with an empanada location [bid] package that was for ACDBEs only,”

Guzmán says. “The Miami airport was very visionary and conscious about giving these opportunities to small businesses – this was six kiosks that they built just for small businesses.” Bringing The Bid “My first seven years as an entrepreneur, I made no money,” says Guzmán. “We were almost bankrupt from the South Beach restaurant. I had a kitchen and two or three locations in the university, I couldn’t make ends meet.” But with the RFP from MIA coming out, Guzmán decided to put her final stash of money – about $10,000 – into responding to the opportunity. She was successful, and the first airport of Half Moon Empanadas was locked in, opening in 2015. “So that’s how we started in airports,” she says. “It was by hustling, and by luck of showing up at the airport [at the right time]. We opened the store and started selling like crazy.” Guzmán says Half Moon Empanadas quickly became the most successful small business concept at MIA. “When you look at sales, we were and still are the best-selling location per square foot in the entire Miami airport,” she says.

Above: Pilar Guzmán, CEO, Half Moon Empanadas.

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AX NEWS JULY/AUGUST 2024