Melinda Arquero’s dream of owning a food truck business came true in 2019. Spurred by childhood memories of selling frybread from a roadside tent alongside her mother, the Cochiti Pueblo native purchased a truck to maintain the Pueblo frybread tradition and honor the dream she shared with the mother she lost to cancer 10 years earlier. Her plan was to serve frybread to Cochiti Pueblo residents and visitors at tribal events.

And then the pandemic hit. Pueblo communities were placed on lockdown prohibiting visitors from entering tribal lands where they could pass the virus to Native Americans – a population that suffered virus deaths at one of the highest rates of any race or ethnicity. Arquero’s new Over The Moon food truck was forced to sit idle.

A Chance Meeting

Arquero, known by family and friends as Moon, learned about the nonprofit lender Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) by chance soon after pandemic health regulations loosened. She was invited to bring Over The Moon to a regional housing meeting at the Cochiti Housing Department. Hosted by RCAC, the meeting focused on RCAC housing and development programs, but conversations revealed RCAC’s work with rural small businesses. Subsequent conversations resulted in a loan and a relationship that has put the business on solid footing and given it more opportunities than Arquero originally envisioned.

RCAC is a Community Development Financial Institution that partners with rural and Indigenous communities to achieve their vision and well being through technical assistance, training, financial resources and advocacy. RCAC offers loans for affordable housing, environmental infrastructure, community facilities, and small businesses.

A RCAC Re-Emerging Loan Fund (RELieF) loan, specifically for rural small businesses impacted by the pandemic, helped Arquero purchase a new generator and increase capacity to pull the business out of the pandemic.

In addition to the loan, RCAC taught Arquero and her longtime boyfriend Adam Suina about financial statements, business management, and compliance – like the fire suppression system that is obligatory for food trucks. After the training and signs the business was on track, the loan funds were forgiven. In other words, the short-term pandemic RELieF loan turned into a grant.

Impetus for Growth

Over The Moon was intended to be a part-time venture while Arquero works full-time at the Santa Fe Indian School. She manages the business and does preliminary food preparation while Suina handles operations and takes the truck to events.

“We were only event-based,” reflected Suina, who said the business model was based on serving Indian tacos, frybread, and Frito pie at Native American events. “Sandia would call us whenever they had an event,” he said. Other events have included arts and crafts shows held at Buffalo Thunder over Indian Market Weekend, the Miss Indian New Mexico event, and drive-in movies shown at Santa Fe Downs by its owner San Juan Pueblo.

The business is now expanding to take on a wide range of catering jobs. A recent multi-month, 6-day-a-week job serving a construction crew building a Netflix movie set demanded a new menu. The couple worked with a friend who is a chef to create a menu that now includes lasagna, shrimp tacos, brisket “street” tacos, hamburgers, and garden salads. Children have also been considered. A new shaved-ice machine was a big hit last summer, and kids love the frybread-wrapped hot dogs.

Plans are on tap to purchase a larger truck that would accommodate new equipment like a double-door refrigerator, a deep fryer, and an oven. 

“We are definitely looking to try and get one of the 18-footers,” said Suina. “We recently acquired an industrial-size dough mixer and that would be one reason for the bigger food truck so we could put this bad baby in there.” Arquero used to prepare the frybread dough by hand the night before every event – a monumental task.

Learn more about RCAC and the RELieF loan that is still available for pandemic-impacted businesses. Find Over The Moon on Instagram.

Finance New Mexico article 814