In North Fort Collins Latino-owned food trucks find strength in community.

By: Tyler Hickman and Gabe Allen

If you stand at the intersection of Conifer and North College in Fort Collins, CO on a Friday night, you can see four separate latino-owned food trucks without even turning your head. In recent years, the North College business community has seen dozens of mobile Mexican eateries move in.

There’s a sense of camaraderie in the neighborhood. Even owners and workers who don’t know each other can connect over shared culture.

“They come here, I go over there. We kind of know each other,” an employee at the Mexican ice cream and snack shack Nieves y Botanas Del Bajio, Stefany Moreno, said. “Speaking Spanish is so nice because we kind of can connect in that way.”

The pandemic was a difficult time for all restaurants, and food trucks were no different. However, there was a silver lining. A former Fort Collins city employee, Jose Luis Ramos, founded the Northern Colorado Latino Chamber of Commerce. The organization initially helped latino business owners access COVID-related funding. Now, it provides assistance to non-english speakers that need help filling out forms and organizes social events.

Board member and owner of Nieves y Botanas Del Bajio Melissa Zuniga has grown her business through the chamber.

“I’ve gained a lot of clients and my husband has gained a lot of clients — he has a construction company,” she said.

Even before the chamber of commerce, the latino-owned businesses on North College were interconnected. Daniel Estrada, a taco truck entrepreneur, has known Zuniga for years. When Estrada first immigrated to Fort Collins from Oaxaca, Zuniga connected him with a lawyer. Now, she orders tacos from his truck every Friday.