ELK GROVE, Calif. — Since March, Andy Lopez and Larry Rivera have been pulling 18-hour days to keep their business above the water and, against all odds, growing.
The duo runs Mango Crazy, a Modesto-based eatery specializing in Hispanic treats like aguas frescas, mangonadas, and ceviche.
“We incorporate mangos in a few of our items. We’re taking your traditional street vendor snacks and we’re bringing them into a more modern shop,” said Lopez.
They started Mango Crazy back in 2014 with no restaurant experience, so adversity was the name of the game for a while.
Ebbing and flowing with customer interests helped them cultivate the following and popularity that saw their first venture into San Francisco in 2018. In 2020, the company doubled in size despite the slings and arrows of an outrageous year and coronavirus pandemic.
“When COVID first started, don’t get me wrong, we were celebrating before COVID because of the deals that we were landing [and] because of growth. But once COVID hit, we were crying because we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Rivera said.
Lopez said deliveries got pushed back for weeks and left them shorthanded on items for a time. He added that balancing and adapting to the problems proved to be an issue as well with their drive-thru locations increasing sales while walk-in locations took a dip.
They worked double shifts, looked into online ordering, and generally tried to find ways to be more efficient.
“If you could name a hurdle, we’ve been through it - coin shortages, cups, fruit, food in general,” Rivera said. “Just being able to have access to grocery stores was difficult for us, but we found a way.”
For Rivera and Lopez, the hard work paid off. They expanded into Turlock, Ceres, Atwater, and Lathrop, and they are also expecting to open up their newest shop in Elk Grove in about two weeks.
Elk Grove was the culmination of a good opportunity and some previously laid out goals to expand near Sacramento. The new location used to be a Rita’s Italian Ice, and since it had a lot of the materials they needed, they jumped on the opportunity to expand into the city.
Shy of a special ice machine that puts the finishing touches of their aguas frescas, the shop is almost ready to spin together the Instagram-worthy drinks, ceviche, and mangonadas that they're known for.
“People are really all about that Instagram picture,” Rivera said. “They’re really wanting to get that hot new item, and that’s what we try to bring to the table.”