Meet Antonio Arocho | Chef/founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Antonio Arocho and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Antonio, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When COVID hit I kinda didn’t know what to do. I had just lost my job. That was my 4th and final time I’ll ever get laid off. I had always told my grandma that I was going to do something for her in life. Didn’t know what it was but then it hit me. She always wanted her own restaurant but we unfortunately never had the funds to do so. Coming from a small/poor town from Puerto Rico. So I gathered all her recipes together and came up with a concept and a menu. On a Sunday I called a friend/mentor of mine that owns a food truck and restaurant and told him about my idea, he shot me down telling me how it will never work. So I took that to heart. He asked me if I wanted to do a Pop up I could on his truck in front of his restaurant and that he would promote it. So me being who I am and being mad at what he said I told him let’s do it. Not only let’s do it but let’s do it this Friday March 27th 2020. That day I created my Facebook Instagram and social media and started promoting my pop up for that Friday. I worked hard all week to make sure it went well. Let’s just say it went so well I did one the following month in April one more in May and by June I was a vendor for Johnson and Johnson. Something that started for my grandma and from a challenge ended up the best decision of my life.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My food truck/ catering business started out as tostonio’s Puerto Rican fusion but now that we have set ourselves apart from your typical Hispanic food we are introducing Tostonio’s gon smokin and Tostonio’s gon Cajun. I have been very lucky on my path on to where I am at today. I think that our food and our customer service sets us apart from any food establishment in the state of Texas. It’s a lot of work but it definitely pays off when you are booked and lots of people are trying to book you. I want to world to know that Tostonio’s truly cares about your customer experience and the quality of the food. We also want everyone to know our support for the military and our vets and that if they come to our establishment they will be taken care of.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would definitely hit an Astros game up. I would take them to eat at all the local mom and pop owned places. Go fishing on lake Conroe.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
People that deserve credit in my success are: my grandmother Blanca Pacheco, also my fiancé Cristina garcia for always having my back. Her parents Alex and Elsa garcia.

Instagram: Tostonio’s

Facebook: Tostonio’sfoodtruck

Yelp: Tostonio’s