On a Friday morning, Maria Sanchez stands subsequent to a building web site. Metal beams are being hoisted into the dusty pink sky behind her. The trunk of her Hyundai Sonata is open. Inside is treasured cargo — dozens of carne asada burritos, hand-wrapped in tinfoil. A building supervisor approaches her. If he doesn’t just like the burritos, she has to depart, he jokes. After a happy chew, the supervisor buys 15 burritos for all of his employees.
“I sell out in 30 minutes — less than an hour, and I’m already gone,” she says. A latest Instagram publish says: “Crazy how I first started selling only 10 burritos a day to now selling up to 60 to 75 burritos a day.”
Sanchez’s profession as a beloved burrito vendor began final 12 months in a House Depot car parking zone, however she now sells at work websites.
“Maria la de los Burritos” is a Honduran American residence cook dinner who’s discovered social media fame promoting burritos out of the trunk of her automotive. Rising up in a Honduran immigrant family, Sanchez at all times admired her mom’s cooking. As a mom, Sanchez started cooking for her Mexican husband and their two sons. Whereas battling a bout of despair, she obtained the thought — why not convey her cooking to the employees on the streets of L.A. and, because it turned out, to thousands and thousands on TikTok?
As ICE raids have gripped town and sparked a tradition of worry throughout a number of immigrant communities in Southern California, taqueros have vanished from the streets. The House Depot car parking zone, which was as soon as bustling with day laborers, is empty, Sanchez notes. “A lot of vendors that I usually see around that area weren’t there either,” says Sanchez.
Maria Sanchez makes and sells dozens of burritos, wrapped in gold foil and sporting pink labels.
In Inglewood, the Honduran immigrant neighborhood is struggling to remain afloat, with their companies in peril. “A lot of people are affected by it,” says Sanchez. “My mom has a friend who has a business where she cuts hair. It’s been so slow. Nobody wants to come out of their houses.”
Sanchez’s mom urges her to be cautious when promoting meals, as authorized residents have been focused in ICE raids as nicely. In the course of the ongoing raids, Sanchez was nervous about promoting burritos however determined to after fervent encouragement on social media. Within the morning, she arrived to a line of hungry building employees.
“Sometimes, eight people are right there already waiting in line for me to come. I get nervous when I see a lot of people. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m doing all this on my own,’” she says. “I always tell people: As Latinos, we make it happen.”
Sanchez provides one other factor of enchantment to her work — lengthy eyelashes, French-tipped acrylic nails, maroon lips and curve-hugging denim. The aesthetic resembles a well-liked Mexican type of gown known as buchona, characterised by flashy equipment and cinched waists.
“I’ve always liked dressing like that,” Sanchez says, laughing. At 3 a.m., earlier than assembling burritos, Sanchez rigorously applies her make-up, resembling the timeless great thing about Selena Quintanilla. She loves presentation, she explains.
Certainly one of Maria Sanchez’s bean and steak burritos. And a pink to-go bag for an order of burritos.
“People will say, ‘You get your makeup and hair done. You still manage to get ready and still do burritos. They’ll always be in shock,” she says.
Her immigrant mother and father inspired her to decorate modestly in her childhood. When she moved out, she started experimenting with style. “I never got the chance to dress the way I wanted,” she says. “I moved out of the house and moved in with my boyfriend. I started doing what I wanted to do and how I wanted to dress.”
Sanchez’s profession as a beloved, now internet-famous burrito vendor started within the Inglewood House Depot car parking zone in October 2024.
“People tell me they never see people selling burritos. I see tamales and empanadas, never just a pure standard burrito. I got the idea — let me try selling burritos,” says Sanchez.
Like most kids of Los Angeles, Sanchez has had a lifelong romance with Mexican meals. “I do cook some of my culture’s food, but I cook more Mexican food because my husband is Mexican,” Sanchez explains. Rising up in South-Central, she developed a deep affection for Mexican delicacies, visiting La Luz Del Día restaurant downtown most weekends.
Her burritos had been a direct success. She bought out every time, typically in simply an hour, along with her no-frills, crowd-pleasing classics like carne asada, pollo and breakfast burritos, priced at $5 every.
Sanchez started posting movies of her cooking on TikTok and Instagram, which, to her shock, went viral. She gained over 27,500 followers on Instagram with cooking movies that amassed thousands and thousands of views.
At House Depot, promoting burritos as a lovely 26-year-old lady got here with hazards. Often, Sanchez was subjected to males filming her, whistling and harassment. It may be weak, she explains. “I don’t see young girls my age dressed up the way I am, selling food alone,” she explains. On the building web site, Sanchez has befriended lots of the employees who eat her burritos, which deters harassment. “I’m super talkative with all my customers,” she says.
Weeks handed, and the temper shifted to uneasiness among the many clients as threats of an ICE raid loomed, Sanchez famous. “In that last week in Home Depot, I wasn’t getting as much clientele because a lot of people are scared to go out,” she explains.
In January, House Depot administration was compelled to ask Sanchez to depart. Her burritos had been changing into too standard and making a site visitors hazard.
Within the coming weeks, Sanchez started wandering Inglewood, scouting building websites for potential clients. By then, Sanchez’s enterprise had already exploded. She started posting movies of her cooking on TikTok and Instagram, which, to Sanchez’s shock, went viral. She gained over 27,500 followers on Instagram with cooking movies that amassed thousands and thousands of views.
Sanchez was bewildered by her newfound fame: “That’s what motivates me to keep going because people are watching.”
Sanchez’s enterprise has solely swelled since leaving House Depot. The employees had been delighted along with her home-cooked and inexpensive Mexican meals, which was a scrumptious and cost-effective various to quick meals. “I’ve never had a single complaint to this day,” she says proudly.
Sanchez begins cooking every day at 4 a.m. “Nothing is made the night before, besides the beans, which take three to four hours to cook,” she says. “I want everything freshly made in the morning. That’s the point for me. “
If Los Angeles is crowded with amazing Mexican food, what makes Sanchez’s burrito rival the rest? Her breakfast burritos are filled with fluffy eggs and sausage — each hearty bite packs a punch of flavor, evenly distributed throughout the burrito. The carne asada is accompanied by tangy, vibrant homemade sauces that Sanchez makes by hand. For a construction worker, a burrito offers a generous, portable meal — a missile of nutrition.
She starts cooking each day at 4 a.m. “Nothing is made the night before, besides the beans, which take three to four hours to cook,” she says. “I want everything freshly made in the morning. That’s the point for me. “
Sanchez credits her business savvy to her mother. As a child, to instill independence in Sanchez, her mother would send her to downtown L.A. to sell gum on the sidewalks. “She always put into my head: You can get what you want on your own. You can do it.,” Sanchez says. “She’s always by my side.”
Sanchez hopes that her burrito enterprise evokes different younger girls to begin loncheras, or cellular meals companies. Often, she creates tutorial movies about promoting burritos and reassures girls trying to begin their very own ventures. “A lot of young girls tell me, ‘I want to do this. I’m only 22 years old, but you’re inspiring me to do it,” she says. “I want to show girls that even though you’re young, you could make it happen.”
Sanchez desires of someday proudly owning a truck — a correct lonchera. “I want to do it all pinked out,” she says, smiling. “I’m trying to save as much money as I can for that.”
