A dream that crossed the ocean

After the pandemic, my wife and I started our own businesses in Colombia. We both came from modest families and, like so many parents, worked each day to give our daughter more opportunities. Those years brought hard work, lessons learned and fierce competition. Still, we kept trying.

Eventually we realised that to keep building the life we wanted, we might need to begin somewhere else. We considered the United States, but it was beyond our means. Then Poland became a possibility. We did not speak the language or know what awaited us. We arrived with a bag of personal belongings and a deep determination to start again.

In Poland, we began working and learning, one day at a time. We adapted to a different culture, searched for words in a language we did not yet know and slowly found our place in a new country.

Later we had the opportunity to work in a Polish restaurant. We came to understand more about local food and traditions. And through all those shifts and discoveries, one thing stayed close to us: the flavours of Colombia.

My love of cooking began long before Warsaw. As a child I cooked on my grandmother's farm in Colombia, and later gained experience working in restaurants. Those memories and skills became the starting point for our own food business.

We chose two dishes deeply rooted in our home region of Tolima: tamal tolimense and lechona. We had no restaurant or professional kitchen. Our first orders were prepared in the accommodation where we lived, despite the challenges of working in such a small space. We invited friends, acquaintances and friends of friends to taste the food. That is how our first customers found us.

We worked on weekdays and weekends alike. After our regular shifts, we went out to buy ingredients for the next batch. Eventually we moved into our own rented apartment, organised production more comfortably and began catering for events. Every recommendation brought our dream a little closer.

After roughly three years of work and gradually building a community of customers, the opportunity came to rent our first premises and establish our company. That was how Rincón Colombiano took shape: not through a large investment, but through family, persistence and the trust of many people.

Everyone who tried one of our tamales, recommended us to a friend or shared a meal with loved ones added something to our story. Colombia is rich in regions, flavours and traditions. We could never represent it all in one place, but we hope to share a small and heartfelt part of its food and culture here in Poland.