The life of a young entrepreneur has changed completely in the midst of a pandemic. After a few weeks cooking from home, Rosa Oriana Castellanos Reyes was able to open her own restaurant, La Toxica, thanks to the support she received on social networks, in particular on the Snapchat app. Wallet met her in Plaza Saint-Hubert, where her business is located.
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The adventure begins last January. The Laval resident of Mexican origin has the idea of selling tacos de birria to her subscribers on social networks. “I was zero in the world of gastronomy,” admits Rosa Castellanos, 24. At the time, she devoted herself to it only on weekends.
Quickly, the Quebec rapper Tizzo added him to Snapchat and then became a fan of his tacos. “I advertised him on Snapchat because it was [vraiment] good ”, explains Tizzo, contacted by Wallet. “I went there every weekend, then I postais every time on Snapchat, ”he continues. It had a snowball effect. “The more the world went there, the more the world posted on Snapchat. It has become viral, ”develops the rapper, who has no less than 27,000 subscribers on the social network.
Photo credit: Edwin Basora
Rosa Castellanos claims that hundreds of people have added her to the app, including a few well-known rappers. They promoted his tacos like influencers, but without receiving any money. “Honestly, I didn’t ask any singer to advertise me,” she says. They did it with the heart. “
Ex-flight attendant, Rosa Castellanos never studied business management or cooking. It was the health restrictions and the closing of the borders and the temporary loss of her job that plunged her into the gastronomic world.
A project born from social networks
The young entrepreneur is still surprised by the sudden success of her tacos on social networks. If Snapchat gave it a serious boost, the idea was born on TikTok. A trend around birria tacos, little sold in Greater Montreal, motivated her to go into business.
After polling her Instagram followers, she concocted a menu and her activities subsequently migrated to Snapchat.
After a few weeks working from home, Rosa Castellanos had to find a place to cook. “My mother thought it smelled in the house,” she tells us. It was there that she moved into a snack bar closed on weekends.
Photo credit: Edwin Basora
Rosa Oriana Castellanos Reyes in front of her restaurant, La Toxica.
Things get tough when the owner of the snack bar wants to increase his rental price. Rosa Castellanos resigns herself and leaves with her team.
It is at this moment that the investor Mauro Cruz indicates his interest to him to continue the adventure with her and allows him to open his restaurant. Since then, she has been learning the ropes full time.
Even if it is well established, the Snapchat clientele that Rosa Castellanos has built up serves it still today since its subscribers remain a large part of its customers.
The entrepreneur will soon open a second restaurant, Birrieria Miss Tacos, downstream. She admits that she dreams of one day launching her own restaurant chain. Until then, we can visit him at La Toxica, at 6794 rue Saint-Hubert.