WESST Client Profiles

Ronsuelvic Cavalieri has always had an entrepreneurship spirit. She came to WESST in March of 2017 with the idea to start her company based on a popular Venezuelan pastry called cachos. She knew she had to learn the basics of forming a business, design her business plan, learn about the food industry regulations, save some money to pay for the startup costs and get proper advice and mentorship. She worked for about 9 months on developing her plan, attending trainings and consultations and getting connected to our partnering organization the “Kitchen Bowl” at the SVEDC.

Ronsuelvic followed many of WESST’s recommendations on starting a successful business. She met with Margarita Guarin and Kim Blueher of WESST to do her break even analysis. She came ready with her homework, had her spreadsheets with information and knew her costs. However, she soon realized that one of the pastries she wanted to sell, “pan con jamon” would not be a profitable product to sell. The numbers told her a story and she figured out she could make a bigger profit margin with the tequeños and the cachos. Once she learned how to do a break even analysis she performed the same exercise for her empanadas, arepas and other foods in her product mix.

Ronsuelvic wanted to participate in the Rail Yards Market in Albuquerque set to start on May of 2018. She envisioned herself with a booth in the fair and put her passion, time, and effort into making that dream a reality. She was able to get all her permits, inspections, and together with her children’s help she started selling. And sell she did. Her pastries were an outstanding success and she ran out in a matter of hours on the first day! “Perseverancia” (perseverance) her son says, is the one word that best describes the force behind his mom’s success.

Besides attending individual consultations at WESST, Ronsuelvic completed her Dreambuilder training and also applied to WESST’s IDA Program.  She wanted to use her IDA savings to help her pay for the kitchen expenses and her insurance. Through her partnership with WESST, Ronsuelvic continues to receive assistance in developing a system to track her business finances, learn the importance of cash flow, managing expenses, and marketing her brand. She believes the training, IDA Money and encouragement from WESST prepared her to launch her business. WESST will continue to work on goal setting on a monthly basis. This will ensure the growth and health of her business as it approaches the next phase of the business life cycle.  Just recently, she was accepted into the commercial food space in Sawmill, located across from Hotel Chaco.

“It has been a lot of work but little by little I am making my dream a reality. My family is so excited to see our business grow and see where it will take us!” said Ronsuelvic.