They said she wouldn’t sell ‘a single empanada.’ Now this Miami CEO sells 3 million a year

Pilar Guzmán had $46 in the bank and her business was on the verge of bankruptcy 16 years ago. Today Half Moon Empanadas, which opened in 2008 in Miami, has 22 stores throughout the country, 11 of them in airports.

“Last year we sold about 3 million empanadas, half in Miami and the other in the rest of the country,” says Guzmán, CEO of Half Moon Empanadas, which is among Inc.’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in the U.S.

The Mexican businesswoman was included on April 9 among the most prominent business women in the United States. The Female Founders 250 list, compiled annually by Inc. magazine, “honors 250 women whose ideas and innovations in different industries contribute to making the world a better place.”

In addition to her company’s success, and the Argentine-style empanadas made from scratch in Miami, Guzmán is proud of the team she has created and the opportunities for growth she gives employees.

“If you can get a person to believe in themselves, you can change their life,” says Guzmán, Her company, which has 120 employees – 95% are Latino and 75% women – is an “empowerment machine,” she says.

“Many managers at the Half Moon Empanadas stores started as cashiers or putting filling in the empanadas,” says Guzmán, who encourages the women in her company to grow and aim for executive positions.

“I know what it’s like to arrive in this country without speaking the language, without a family,” recalls the businesswoman, who came to the US two decades ago. “I was able to open doors in Miami thanks to the fact that I always believed in myself and the purpose of the company.”

From bankruptcy to airport kiosks

Guzmán tried her best to remain positive when the first Half Moon Empanadas store, which she opened in Miami Beach with a partner, was failing.

“Like a great vision,” Guzmán describes her partner’s original idea that the very delicious baked Argentine empanadas would appeal to the American palate. But there were many challenges that led them to hit rock bottom.

The store’s rent was raised to $11,000, and the bank closed their line of credit, which was common in the midst of the economic crisis of 2008.

That’s when Guzmán’s entrepreneurial spirit awakened. Sales at the Washington Avenue store were not good, so she began selling the empanadas at festivals and street fairs.

“We realized that in one day on the street we sold more than in a week in the store,” she said. This later prompted her to take the empanadas to the cafeterias of the University of Miami and Florida International University.

In 2015 they won the bid to open the first Half Moon store at the Miami airport.

“We are the business that sells the most by square feet at Miami International Airport,” says Guzmán, noting that they will soon have four stores at the Miami airport.

In Denver they are the kiosk that sells the most in the entire airport – “more than Starbucks,” she points out – and at some point, they will have three stores in that airport, one of the busiest in the world.

Positioning in airports is very complex because 90 percent of the real estate is owned by five large companies, explains Guzmán.

Half Moon Empanadas has a minority business certification, which has allowed it to win bids and compete with those large companies.

Since airports receive federal money, they must meet certain requirements, including giving participation to minority businesses, Guzmán explains.

It has also been key for the business to have its own factories. They have one on 79th Street and NE 8th Avenue, and the other in Little Haiti, which supplies South Florida and the rest of the country, and where they have “ventanitas” for walk-up customers. They are also available through Uber Eats and on the company’s website, www.halfmoonempanadas.com.

“After the pandemic we have grown 60% in sales and we are going to grow 80% because we already have many signed contracts,” said Guzmán, saying she is ready to become a unicorn company, those that reach a value of $1 billion without going public.

Good mentors and a great team

On the path to business success, Guzmán highlights the importance of mentors and the help of community banks to obtain loans to grow the business.

In her case, the fundamental mentor was Cuban American businessman Mike Fernández, executive president of MBF Healthcare Partners, an investment firm focused on health companies, based in Coral Gables.

Fernández left his native city of Manzanillo, in the eastern region of Cuba, at the age of 11, and today he is a successful Miami businessman.

“Fernández has opened doors for me, he has advised me, he has connected me, but the most powerful thing he has done is that he believed in me. It is very important that there is a small light out there, saying: ‘I believe in you, Pilar,’” says Guzmán, who feels satisfied that, by being distinguished among the women entrepreneurs and founders of 2024, she can inspire at least one entrepreneur.

“You face a thousand rejections, which makes you question yourself, so you have to believe in your project and its purpose,” she says.

One of her employees, Erica Valencia, head cashier at the Half Moon Empanadas stores on FIU’s main campus, remembers the day she was able to save enough money for something she had long dreamed of.

“I called Pilar and told her: ‘Today I was able to buy my own car and it is thanks to this job and the growth opportunities they have given me.’ I thanked her — and we both cried,” said Valencia, who started in the company five years ago filling empanadas.

By the end of the year Half Moon Empanadas plans to have 19 stores in 13 airports in the country. Gone are the days when Pilar was told that ‘she was not going to sell a single empanada at airports’. Now the positive impact of the business is added to the earnings.

“I want to show Latin women that they can have leadership positions and be mothers, and I want to leave my mark so that this leadership flows more authentically,” concludes Guzmán, who has her two children as her greatest inspiration.