Jose Luis Valdez. Image Credit: VoyageKC
Valdez and Lucia launched their business with $14,000, but the amount was not sufficient to make the journey easy. The first store opened on Southwest Boulevard in 2004. The Kauffman Foundation reported that he began as a dishwasher before progressing through other positions, including waiter and captain.
Banks were unwilling to lend them additional money, leaving the couple to rely on help from family and friends, according to the Kauffman Foundation. After emigrating, Valdez joined his brothers in Chicago and entered the restaurant industry. The journey was not easy. Starting at the bottom meant long days and constant effort, but Valdez gradually built his experience and worked his way into positions at leading restaurants in Chicago. The experience also changed the way he thought about his future. A successful career in the restaurant industry could provide a comfortable living, but Valdez eventually concluded that he wanted to use his knowledge and experience to build something for himself. That decision brought him and his wife to Kansas City. The weather, the local community and the possibility of growth all influenced their choice. Valdez later recalled how difficult those early days could be. At times, there was so little business that the family slept in the store and woke when they heard the doorbell. There were moments when he questioned whether he had chosen the right business concept. But rather than abandoning the idea, he continued. The company was built around the idea of bringing a piece of Mexican culture to Kansas City through homemade, Michoacán-style ice cream and paletas. Traditional flavours sat alongside options inspired by Mexican ingredients and tastes, while the business also expanded its menu to include smoothies, churros, fruit cocktails and other food.
With his wife, Lucia, Valdez moved to Kansas City and invested $14,000 in a frozen-dessert business inspired by the flavours and traditions of Mexico. He was only 7-years-old when he started selling ‘paletas,’ or Mexican-style popsicles, on the streets, in markets and at bus stations in Mexico, according to the Kauffman Foundation. It introduced him to the idea that selling something could create an opportunity.
José Luis Valdez arrived in the United States with ambitions that required years of hard work to realise. After joining his brothers in Chicago, he entered the restaurant industry at its lowest level, working as a dishwasher before gradually moving into other roles. Yet the experience he gained did not make him abandon his childhood dream of running a business of his own. Instead, it gave him the confidence to take a risk. The early years were difficult, and banks refused to lend them money. Family and friends helped them continue. Over time, their small business grew into a recognised company with multiple locations and its own production facility. Valdez’s connection with frozen desserts began long before he arrived in the United States. The experience gave him more than spending money. As a child, he was able to earn money and share it with his family and friends, while also beginning to imagine that he might one day own a business himself. That early experience stayed with him as he grew older and eventually left Mexico to pursue his ambitions in the United States.
