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FRESNO, Calif. - Teresa Cruz is wearing her favorite apron with watermelons painted on it as she stands over a large metal flat-top stove, traditionally called a comal.
She is preparing a tlayuda and a picadita – both popular dishes from her native Oaxaca.
A picadita is a small round patty made of masa that is topped with beans and fresh cheese. A tlayuda is a much larger crispy tortilla, topped with refried beans, Oaxaca cheese, cabbage, sliced tomatoes and avocado. There is also chorizo on it, and a meat called “tasajo.”
These two dishes are the best sellers at Cruz’s restaurant.
Except she doesn’t operate your typical eatery. It’s a backyard in central Fresno.
On a recent summer day, Cruz is surrounded by colorful flowers and potted plants in several shades of green. The inconspicuous entrance to her restaurant is found on the right side of her house: a metal gate with plastic vines hanging from the rods, holding a metal sheet sign that announces her restaurant’s name: Sabor Oaxaqueño.
Cruz says she first started selling food to help her daughter raise money for the high school track team. Between working at restaurants, and later a dry cleaner, she was able to fundraise funds for the team.
But even after the track expenses were fulfilled, she kept cooking. Eventually she made more money in her home than she did with other businesses. So her restaurant became her full-time job.
Others have caught wind of it.
“Before a TikTok [video] that someone recorded, it was already busy on Sundays,” Cruz said. “But now, it is much busier and I need to prepare even more food.”
The food Cruz serves up honors her Mexican heritage. She is originally from a small town called Ayoquesco de Aldama, near Oaxaca City.
That’s also where many of the ingredients she uses come from. Cruz imports tortillas for the tlayudas and several other dry ingredients that she uses in her food.
But there is one recipe that comes purely from her.
“The secret recipe is love and the dedication that you put in, because everything that you make, you need to make it as if it were for you, and that, more than anything, it is done with love,” Cruz says.
People have driven hours just to eat at Cruz’s. While the food satisfies her hungry customers, the sales have managed to give Cruz and her family financial freedom. She was even able to pay for a study abroad trip that her daughter took to the Netherlands.
This booming business has also made her think of one day owning a food truck. But, first, she wants to be able to formalize her home business, which is hard, she said.
At-home food sellers have rules, too
To sell home-baked goods, residents have to go through a permitting process. The state’s health department typically allows for the sale of items that are listed on the so-called “Cottage Foods” list.
California Cottage Food Laws allow people to produce and sell certain kinds of foods directly to consumers from their homes. These operations, known as Cottage Food Operations, are subject to permitting requirements, labeling regulations, and sale limits.
Currently, the rules leave out many of the foods Cruz likes to cook and sell. But as she develops her gig, she said she has lots of food safety knowledge to go off of. She would prefer earning the proper licensing for her business, however.
"The secret recipe is love and the dedication that you put in, because everything that you make, you need to make it as if it were for you."Teresa Cruz, owner of Sabor Oaxaqueña
Many people who choose to sell their products do so in other environments, like on the streets. And more recently, officials who have seen the value of the industry in Fresno County have tried to formalize it by bringing vendors up to code.
The new support and resources are primarily targeting street vendors.
Cruz said for business owners like her, support would also go a long way.
“It would be a source of the family income…if they give us the opportunity to do it formally or if they give us licenses to prepare food at home and sell it, that would be excellent,” Cruz says.
Cruz said in the meantime she tries to stay up to date with food handling rules, to ensure she is as careful as possible.
Passion required to run a business
Residents who have decided to monetize their skills by building home restaurant businesses sometimes still keep fulltime jobs.
David Rossette does, but he said he is especially passionate about his home business – Lardo’s Pizza. Recently, he even catered his first wedding, which, he adds, was successful.
“We know times are tough for everybody, and so if people are willing to buy our product, we want to make sure we're giving them the best product they can possibly have,” Rossette says.
Rossette said he wants to someday open up a patio pizza shop in town and bring along his musician brother.
“I envision the string lights, I envision tables…while I'm cooking and people are eating, he was serenading them with his guitar,” he shares.
The business brings in extra cash, and Rossette is thankful for it considering his background in cooking is "absolutely nothing,” he said.
“I didn't really like the food here or here or there. So, instead of just complaining about it, I figured I might as well just trying to experiment and learn how to make my own pizza,” Rossette said about kickstarting his business.
"We want to put out quality product. It's not just about cranking out numbers. It's not trying to get into the big street scene."David Rossette, owner of Lardo's Pizza
It started in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, he baked the pizzas for his family, until someone gave him the idea to expand.
“Somebody said, ‘Man, you should sell this. It's really good.’ And I was like, ‘It's not that good, is it?’” Rosette remembers.
He, his wife, and son run the business.
Each pizza they make takes 72 hours to make because the dough goes through three days of fermentation.
And, to add another tasty touch, Rossette said many of the ingredients he uses to make his pizzas are also locally sourced.
“We want to put out quality product. It's not just about cranking out numbers. It's not trying to get into the big street scene,” Rossette says. “I do believe ours is up there on the top shelf.”
