Teen’s tweet helped keep family place in business
She urged Houstonians to try father’s bakery and restaurant in Near Northside
I T was a long shot, but Jacqueline “Jackie” Garza was desperate.
The 18-year-old has long dreamed of someday running the family business, but in early December it looked like the dream would never be realized. Sales were plummeting at La Casa Bakery and Restaurant, with no recovery in sight, and her father, Trinidad, revealed his intention to sell the Mexican eatery specializing in homemade dishes such as enchiladas, fajita quesadillas, and T-bone steak topped with cheese and shrimp.
So the younger Garza posted a tweet in all capitals, pleading with people to stop by the Near Northside restaurant and taste her father’s handmade pan dulce, a sweet bread, and included a short video of her father’s baking skill.
“He been thinking about closing but I can’t let that happen, spread the word,” the tweet read.
Whether it was the desperation in her message or the video or just plain luck, the post was retweeted 67,000 times, pushed along by people with large followings, including Mexican singer and actress Paulina Rubio and Houston Dynamo player Adolph Joseph DeLaGarza.
That viral tweet not only brought lots of customers into the restaurant and initially quadrupled sales, it also showed what many small businesses have learned: that quality — even delicious — products are not enough to ensure success. In today’s world, with so many choices, so much competition and so
many ways to reach customers, marketing plays a key role.
With sales staying strong after her Twitter success, Garza, a senior at Heights High, began to modernize La Casa’s marketing efforts. She saw the power of social media as lines stretched out of the door and customers from out of state mentioned her tweet when they came in. She set up Twitter, Yelp and Instagram accounts for La Casa. She even created a website for the restaurant.
“I have a vision for this place,” she said.
Garza’s father, 73, learned the art of bread making at the age of 12 when he worked at his family’s bakery in Mexico. When he immigrated to the United States in 1977, he continued perfecting his ability to make everything from bolillos, a variation of a baguette, to conchas, sweet bread rolls, at a shop in San Antonio. Two years later he moved to Houston, where he left his craft to repair industrial refrigerators, working his way up to a managerial position.
Yet he never lost his love of baking. Eight years ago, he purchased an abandoned restaurant, which over time became La Casa, his daughter’s home away from home.
When she’s not in class, doing homework or working a part-time job as a hostess at the Pappasito’s downtown, Jackie Garza can be found waiting tables at her family’s store, chatting with customers and updating the store’s online presence at her favorite table.
She wants to study business in college, at the University of Houston or the University of St. Thomas if possible, and apply what she learns to building La Casa into a franchise.
Already, she has ideas. She wants more traditional Mexican tile inside the restaurant and a cohesive design for the ceiling and walls. She wants to add a second story to offer rooftop seating from where customers could see the downtown skyline. She wants to add pan dulce ice cream sandwiches to the menu.
“In 10 years, I’m going to make this my own,” she said.
Her father originally dismissed her ideas as impossible fantasies. The only daughter and second oldest among four siblings, she was always sure of herself and reaching for the stars, he added.
While he’s thankful for the thousands of Twitter users who convinced him to keep the store open, Trinidad Garza said he’ll leave social media to his daughter.
The most he knows of computers, he said, is how to use the power button.