It started with his love for food.
First came Frida’s Patio Modern Mexican Cuisine. Then came Cartel Tacos. One food truck became two, and before I knew it, his world in the kitchen had become my world too.
I wasn't the one cooking. I was the one thinking about what was next. Talking to people, finding opportunities, handling the behind the scenes, and constantly coming to him with another idea.
That became our thing.
He cooks. I make it happen.
This deserves more than a food-truck window.
I love what we’ve built with Cartel Tacos, but I’ve also spent years watching him cook food most of our customers never get to see. Italian. American. Asian. Mexican. The kind of food he'd make outside the truck that would have me thinking, people need to try this.
And honestly, we were tired of looking around and seeing the same catering over and over again, food that felt predictable, setups with no personality, and prices that didn't always match what ended up on the table.
I kept thinking: why can't we do this differently?
That became The Step Up.
A place for him to cook without being put in a box, and for us to create the kind of catering we wanted to see more of: colorful food, creative setups, tables people actually want to gather around, and an experience that feels anything but ordinary.
The name is personal. He’s my stepdad, his craft is what brought me into this world, and after everything we’ve built together, this is our next chapter.
Frida's Patio taught us. Cartel Tacos grew us. And The Step Up is where we get to show you everything else we've been building toward.
His passion started it.
Everything we've built together brought us here.