Meet Fernando Lopez of I Love Micheladas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Fernando Lopez.

Hi Fernando, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I Love Micheladas sprang from our Guelaguetza Restaurant when your amazing customers began to ask for our in-house mix to take home. It was then when we decided that we might as well give people what they want and thus, the OG Brown mix was born. We began to showcase our Michelada mix at food events throughout L.A., and it was at one of the LA Street Food Fairs when during a michelada fueled conversation, the idea for the Michemobil was born, a ’69 VW Type2 Bus with a hinged roof that swings up to show a 50″ TV, swing-out speakers, vinyl turntable set up, and a door on the side that opens to expose four beer taps. The MicheMobil was born and shown for the first time at the LA Street Food Fest one year from when the idea was first planted. With that buzz, we managed to place our I Love Micheladas Mix in Northgate, Vallarta, the iconic Ramirez Liquor, and various other stores throughout Los Angles. We are now even the in-house Michelada Mix at most Shakeys Pizzerias. And the Miche Mobil has found a home at Smorgasbur’gs I Love Micheladas Beer Garden, where we pour the best micheladas every Sunday and have DJs from all over the city spin on the 1s and 2s every Sunday, until recently. We look forward to when we can serve up once more, but in the meantime, you can pick up a bottle at one of the hundreds of stores that carry our product or online at www.ilovemicheladas.com.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. The biggest hurdle for us initially was that when we started our journey, Micheladas were such a niche product that most stores and liquors had no idea what it was or what type of people would know it enough to buy it. We had to educate an entire city about Micheladas. Even to this day, when we serve up at events, or we’re talking to new customers, we have to explain what a michelada is and how it’s enjoyed. A Michelada is a Spicy beer cocktail, and it’s enjoyed cold with your choice of beer! Heck, it can even be enjoyed with your favorite hard seltzer or sparkling water. The flavor will change depending on what you mix it with, from a mango hefeweizen to a grapefruit seltzer.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I Love Micheladas began as a maker of a 32oz Michelada Mix company. However, we’ve since developed into a Michelada experience company. We do everything from direct to consumer Michelada sales, wholesale to Markets, renting out our MicheMobil for weddings and events, setting up entire beer gardens for large-scale events like Smorgasburg, to even our own events like our partnership with Taco Madness with L.A. Taco. We are so proud that when you have an I Love Michelada Experience, be it in your house with a bottle of our Mix or at an event with three plates of food, you are having the best and most authentically L.A. version of that that you can have,

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck is something that we are so aware of and are grateful for. We are so lucky, first of all, to have had the privilege to have come from such an amazing state like Oaxaca, and have gotten exposed to this amazing flavor which is the Michelada, and to have had the opportunity to share that with everyone in LA. And every time a customer enjoys it, we are so lucky that we live in a time when recommending it is one picture away on their social media. And of course, the amazing luck of having such wonderful friends who keep referring us to other great friends who are in need of some sort of Michelada Service.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@ilovemicheladas.com
• Website: www.ilovemicheladas.com
• Instagram: @ilovemicheladas
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ilovemichelada
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ILoveMicheladas
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgkeTP0cpt8enyOSWSX0mw

Image Credits:
Jennifer Sosa Sandy Altamirano