Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Ramirez.
Hi Melissa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up hispanic, raised in San Diego and Tijuana, in both sides of the border you would always see the paletero man walking down the street. It was not a really big deal seeing this growing up because it was a very normal thing to see. As a kid, buying ice cream from the paletero was just as normal for me as walking in to a 7-11 and getting ice cream from their coolers. But getting an Ice Cream from the Paletero was even better and a cool thing to do back then. As a teen, the “cool” thing were the Ice Cream Trucks. Bigger and with more variety. My mom owned an Ice Cream Truck when I was in High School and I would go with her and help her sell. I was the driver and I loved it! I was also her official taste person and would eat all the snacks and Ice cream possible when she let me. Now fast forward a few years later, I celebrated my son’s first birthday party. Of course we went all out and wanted to have snacks and variety of things the guest could eat. One of the party additions we had was a Paletero Cart. Full of flavored Paletas, Cones, Ice Cream Sandwiches, you name it! We had it all! When the cart arrived to the party venue, my husband came in with the cart shouting Paletaaas Paletaaas! Just how you hear it in the street when the paletero man is walking by you. I thought it was hilarious at the moment. Thinking about my son’s party, my husband’s image would keep popping up in my head and that’s when I had the Idea of buying an Ice Cream Cart and renting it out for parties. It was such a great hit in our party no just with kids but also with adults so i said why not try it. I got in contact with with the person who rented the cart out to me and right there and then order my brand new cart that was going to be shipped from Mexico City to Tijuana. The name of my business? Of course PALETAAAS.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Having a party addition will always come handy because someone is always celebrating something! My cart gets rented out for any occasion. We’ve been at birthdays, weddings, graduations, get togethers, holiday celebrations and even at school events. My family has supported me 100% and we all work together when delivering the Cart. My husband is the muscles of this business and carries the cart to our truck, and my kids help me clean the cart, and also deliver the cart to the location. They get $5 per delivery but their preferred payment method is Ice Cream. They love to help with the pick up because our clients have always been awesome and my kids always walk away with some kind of goodie.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
You will not regret having our Paleta Cart in your next event. We have so many delicious flavors of Paletas, Cones and Bolis. We offer different packages to have a variety and mixes of greatness. We offer milk based paletas, water based paletas, cones and bolis. We buy our products in Tijuana so know that you will always get authentic Mexican Paletas. We work with a distributor who makes everything from scratch. Different seasons means different flavors too so you will never just stick with the same flavors. Our service is Self Serve. We deliver and pick up the cart. We also offer simple decoration to the cart to keep that authentic Paletero Cart image. We recently added a service of ToGo munchies. Individual cup of chips and goodies for your event. We only work on weekends due to our Monday-Friday professional employment.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up I was always in sports. I did gymnastics since I was 2 years old and by the age of 4 I was already competing. At that young age, I broke my arm during my gymnastics routine. I keep competing until I was 8 years old. At 8, my mom put me in swimming to help my arm as therapy. That same weekend, I was already swimming in my first competition. I don’t know how I manage to swim through that whole 25yard pool with me just being a “backyard swimmer”. But I did it! I made the Swimming Team right away. My swimming years were the best years. I met wonderful people and wonderful parents that became part of my life. 20 years later, I still keep in touch with many of my swim friends and their parents. As an adult. Seeing an Olympic pool and getting in the water for lap swimming brings so many good memories, and it’s also a great workout! My kids have been learning to swim and it has been an amazing bonding moment.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @_paletaaas
