Meet Claudia Barrera of BurritoBreak in Jewelry District

Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Barrera.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started BurritBreak a month after graduating from Cal State LA with a degree in business. The first weekend after my last final exam, I took a trip to San Francisco, taking a bus from DTLA to SF. Waiting for the bus early in the morning, realizing there was no food nearby. Which made me think that there was a problem here I could fix. After the trip, I came up with the menu of selling only burritos and coffee. One month of researching online and in walking into stores, we opened our first stand. I say ‘we’ because I started BurritoBreak with my mother and my aunt knowing that there was work behind this new venture. I just did not realize how much work.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think it is important to note that I had no experience in the food industry and neither did my family. At the beginning of BurritoBreak, we did not know what we were doing, so every day felt like a struggle. It was hard for us to tell if what we were doing was right or wrong. The one thing I did know is that we had returning customers by the first week. After a couple of months of playing with the menu and changing locations of the stands, we found our 7TH&FIG location. At this point, we had two stands, our returning customer had become a lot more than just a few, and we had lines of customers every morning. Selling out of burritos almost every day. BurritoBreak opened in February of 2019 after a year of operating the biggest struggle that we have had face yet has been COVID-19. A week before the quarantine was placed in California, I had signed a lease for a restaurant in DTLA. We were all very excited because this was going to allow us to produce more burritos.

Please tell us about BurritoBreak.
BurritoBreak is known for its breakfast burritos. What sets us apart from other breakfast burrito places is that our burritos are small, at a great price, and ready to go. Any customer can go to the restaurant or any of the two stands and get their favorite burritos within seconds. All burritos are made with the freshest produce including the tortillas, eggs, and more.

The menu offers choices for everyone from vegan and vegetarian options to the classic Bacon and Egg Burrito, and even to those seeking more authentic Mexican flavors such as our Rajas and Cheese or Beans and Chicharron Burritos. And of course, all our burritos go great with either of our family recipe salsas. There is the option of the green salsa, which is milder, or the orange salsa, which adds some heat to your meal. We have also added a new lunch burrito, Chipotle Chicken, and a new series of Tortas for those looking for a more filling meal.

We also do catering for large events such as weddings or conventions as well as smaller gatherings such as corporate events or holiday parties.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I spent the majority of my childhood in Ensenada, B.C., Mexico. Ensenada is a beach town, so it is very common to go camping on the beach there. I have a lot of fond memories, enjoying the waves while eating ceviche and listening to music with the family. The food in Mexico was a big part of my life and a lot of the inspiration for BreakBreak. Some of the best eateries in Ensenada are small food stands that you will see people lining up around the corner for. And the food there is so fresh and a lot of places are small businesses or family-owned so you don’t see frozen or processed foods a lot, which is something I wanted to replicate here with BurritoBreak.

Pricing:

• Breakfast Burritos $2.00
• Lunch Burritos $2.50
• Tortas $6.00

Contact Info:

• Address: 600 St. Vincent Ct, Los Angeles
• Phone: (323)609-4950
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: burritobreak
• Yelp: Burritobreak

Image Credit:
Sam Silvia, Claudia Barrrea and Yu Azawa

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