By Lucy Haro
I opened Qusqo 15 years ago as a way to share my Peruvian heritage with my neighborhood of West Los Angeles through the art of cooking. My mother and grandmother were both amazing cooks. In Peru, my grandmother ran a small meal delivery service – and in her free time made home cooked meals for the local orphanage. The food I serve at Qusqo is how I carry on her legacy of serving the community. But the pandemic nearly ended that for me like it did for many other small restaurant owners. My restaurant survived the pandemic, in part, because of the help I received from third party delivery apps. Without them, I would not be where I am now – in a place where I feel empowered to share the culture that raised me through the food I serve at Qusqo.
Pre-pandemic, my restaurant’s business was 95% dine in. But when COVID hit, everyone shut their doors, and I needed to find a way to become a delivery and takeout restaurant on the fly. I knew I could not afford to hire a delivery driver on staff. I found a great and creative delivery partner in DoorDash, which took delivery fulfillment off of my plate and gave me the time and mental capacity to keep my doors open, focus on marketing, keep my staff employed, and most importantly, continue sharing my heritage through my food.
DoorDash went above and beyond in helping restaurants by selecting me to be a part of their Accelerator for Local Restaurants program. The Accelerator came at one of the most trying times of the pandemic. The training sessions, the support from other restaurant owners in the program, and the $20,000 grant were incredibly uplifting assets to me as a business owner. As a chef, I know how to make delicious food to keep people coming back to my dining room. But marketing to new customers and encouraging them to come try my Peruvian home cooked dishes, I don’t know how or where to start. That’s why the training in the Accelerator program on marketing was so impactful. I came out of the program with tools and skills to help me grow my business and reach new customers that I didn’t have before the pandemic. And the $20,000 helped me keep my lease and focus on reconnecting with my customers.
Today, my restaurant is growing again, and I’m more equipped than ever to pursue my larger goals. Qusqo is the beginning of a larger project to get more Peruvian super foods and sauces in stores, to educate consumers about the diversity of Latin American cuisines, and for that diversity to be on par with the diversity in Asian and other global cuisines.
When I think about sharing my heritage, I think about the myriad ways we bring the cultures that raised us to the communities we live in. I grew up in East LA, went to UCLA, and opened Qusqo on the Westside of LA specifically to share my culture and heritage with a different community. I’m grateful to the companies that provided critical services and programs that helped me keep Qusqo open, and have empowered me to keep telling my family’s story and sharing my heritage through the food I serve.
