Latin Foods and Wines
Despite opening their new Wallace Square store during the height of the Stage 4 restrictions, Latin Foods and Wines has not only survived but expanded, adding Melbourne-wide delivery runs and supermarket distribution to their operation.
Visitors to the Wallace Square store will find an amazing range of fresh empanadas (a house speciality), traditional breads, cakes, smallgoods, sandwiches de miga (finger-food style sandwiches with a variety of fillings), super-popular steak sandwiches, and imported products from across South America.
The business originated from a career break. Maria De La Plaza was working in the banking industry but looking for a change when she met her husband, a baker named Marco. Together they opened La Morenita Latin Cuisine in Sunshine North 13 years ago.
As the business expanded they reopened as Latin Food and Wine in a much larger premises in Deer Park in 2016, quickly becoming a popular destination in the familiar shopping strip on Ballarat Road. Within four years, they were again on the hunt for a new home.
“The demand for our foods outgrew our kitchen and production area,” says Maria De La Plaza.
“We couldn’t continue with the demand for our foods growing, and an expansion in our current premises just wasn’t an option.”
They also needed additional production space. After 18 months of product development, the team was about to launch its new AlmaSol brand, with a supplier secured to take their products into supermarkets Australia-wide.
As Melton locals, Maria and Marco were pleased to find a solution in Wallace Square.
“We preferred close to home, but the most important part was that the space had to work for what we needed. It was great to find that in Melton,” Maria says.
COVID-19 dining restrictions had forced a rethink of their operation even before the business left Deer Park, and as many Victorian food and alcohol vendors found, home delivery provided a solution.
With regular customers from across the metro and nearby regional areas, Maria and Marco used Latin Foods and Wines’ 4700-strong Facebook following to identify delivery routes, and made regular callouts to customers through social media. It paid off: their Facebook page is now a busy place, with regular delivery runs announced in response to enthusiastic orders from customers, placed through private messages.
But, Maria says, the business’s heart lies in serving customers at their restaurant.
“Home delivery has got us through but our focus shifts back to dine-in/production. We are known for our freshness, produced-on-the-spot food, so for Melton, there’s a bigger and better menu on the horizon.”
The Team at Latin Foods can’t wait to welcome back their customers with a new expanded menu launching soon, and home delivery will be gradually phased out as customers return.
To discover more about Latin Foods and Wines, head to their Facebook page, or pay them a visit at 10 Wallace Square, Melton.