Rising Stars: Meet Omar Vargas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Omar Vargas.

Hi Omar, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story. 
Yes, it all started back in 2017. Well, as you guys know, the fruit carts are an iconic staple of Los Angeles, and so my background and professionally is advertising marketing so I’ve been doing that since I graduated college from the University of San Diego in 2002 and started my advertising career so as I escalated in my career and you know the latter of you know, moving from agency to another agency, working on different brands, I was able to gain a lot of experience on creating you know different design brand strategy, design, looking feel, and so forth and so in back of my mind, I always wanted to own my own business, but I don’t know when the time was so fast forward to 2017 I was always a big advocate of the Fruit cart benders, but I never would see a Fruit cart that was nicely presented on the street in mind you know hard-working folks and everything so that inspired me to do a little bit more investigating on you know what it takes to own one cut the fruit, etc. so I did the research on my own. I went to different fruit stands. I would talk to, you know, the folks that were working there started to analyze and see, you know, how it’s done and how it served and so forth, so that propelled me to out of the blue I just got inspired to do it. The investment level wasn’t too much as I did my research, and so I worked with a designer of mine that I worked with from the past in my advertising agency, and she helped me kind of come to life the look and feel that I wanted Ana’s Fresh Fruits came to mine because in honor of my mom, you know growing up we always ate very healthy and we lived very healthy lifestyle so that also was a steppingstone for me to really promote this business, and to start this business because it was also personally advocating to what I believed in and living a healthy lifestyle so that led me to the rendering of my first cart. I started my Instagram page and is fresh fruits and the rendering that my designer designed I was putting I put my first picture there, and Ironically enough, I started to get a lot of likes, and all of a sudden, I got a direct message a DM from Hilton hotels in Long Beach saying that they this is exactly what they were looking for as they had a Mexican kind of themed VIP party for their clients for their guests and so the cart wasn’t even made and that’s where I said wow this is gonna become a reality so I hustled the cart started to go into production. I got it wrapped and everything, and so then I started to look at the rest of the way that I wanted to. You know, envision my business to be and you know, uniforms, the packaging, everything was nicely presented, and so Holden, you know, Lord and behold, the first event that I did with Hilton Hotels was that, and it was a success, and so that’s what kind of kept me going and ever since then my business model was all of it driven I Did. I did a couple of times you know I was out on the street like a Melrose Avenue in a little bit more of a higher end places but just never really from a business perspective you know since I’m also an entrepreneur in a business person I needed to do and see what made sense and where my business model and where my niche was my opportunity was to do private event, so that’s where I started to hit up you know movie studios, priv Gyms, gyms, and so forth, and so that escalated to for me to be known, become known and pitch my business and so from 2017 to 220 right before the pandemic I mean I started to really Gardner a lot of great clients that supported my business model and you know I’ve worked with I was very fortunate to work with Netflix via com Warner Bros. Sony studios Equinox gyms luxury apartment complexes throughout the city of Los Angeles that they were hiring me for the resident events so I was starting to get really you know nice exposure and started to get really busy with my business unfortunately as we all know, the pandemic hit us, we took a shot, and especially my business took a shot, because since it was all event driven, you know, obviously there was we were shut down so that it propelled me to move to Miami and expand the business since Miami at that time was the only kind of city that was Semi open and so I said listen I have nothing to lose I got laid off from my advertising job that I was at the time we all got laid off and so I said listen there’s you know I either I do this now or never and so I did it and I got to say you know it’s I’ve been here in Miami now for four years and I’ve done a couple of events in Miami but I am now focused on bringing to life the first Fruit cart in Miami and as weird as it sounds, there’s nothing like it here in Miami from what we are used to in LA so that’s one of my goals is to bring that to life and bring that LA staple to Miami now I did pivot a little bit during the pandemic I started to do more of like the fresh fruit bowls s ready to go because of you know folks still being scared of you know attending live events, and so forth so I’ve been doing that here in Miami that’s been working very well and within the last two years, you know I’ve been flying back-and-forth to LA in Miami because my previous clients have been contacting me. I’ve also been able to get you know new clients. I did the grand opening of JOHN REED in Santa Monica. You know, other apartment complexes, I’ve been very fortunate, you know; I got to do a private event during Coachella with Buchanan’s Buchanans has become a very good client of mine a good partner that believes in my business as well, so things are starting to align, but you know my main focus now is Miami and I mean yeah that’s how my story is you know I think in life I’ve been very very good about taking risks all throughout my life of moving you know I moved to Chicago back in the day in 2008 2009 to start. It was a great move for my career, and so I’ve been able to kind of, you know, been fortunate on the advertising side of my career to work for global brands, but my baby is my Ana’s Fresh Fruits, where I want to take it to the next level so that’s pretty much my story how I got started And You know I’m at a level now where I would love to you know meet with an investor I have a thought out business plan to show them what this is this business is capable of because it has a lot of legs. It has a lot of opportunities, so now I’m out of the point where I would love to meet an investor that could help me fund, you know, certain avenues I want to increase my social media engagement, my videos, and look and feel and so forth so I did go through a little rebrand when I was in Miami so I made it a little bit fresh and a little bit much more sexier, so that’s the new look that you guys see in my Instagram page But yeah, I mean I am very proud of myself. I’m very proud of the support that I’ve gotten from strangers, friends, business colleagues, you know, vendors, and that’s why it’s so important to always have a very solid relationship with people, you know, and be humble and that’s one of the things that I think my mother Really heart and always have humility and at the same time you’ve got a work hard but be humble because when you’re humble, you appreciate the good and the bag that comes your way so that’s pretty much my story and I’m excited to see what’s to come, and I’m not gonna give up on expanding to Miami up on expanding to Miami 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been smooth, but it hasn’t been rough either. I gotta say as a business owner what I’ve realized is that you know you’re gonna get a lot of nose I mean I would pitch my business to a lot of I would literally go door-to-door, you know apartment complex to another apartment complex I even would walk into offices and drop off my brochures and you know even deliver fresh fruit bowls to gyms and different businesses and I got a lot of nose but then I also got a lot of yeses but I feel like You know that struggle makes you stronger makes you more confident I know that’s it made me more confident made me more assure that when I did get the yeses is that you know there’s there people out there that are believing in my business and there’s definitely always a need for that and so I take the struggles as opportunities to Grow to really see how committed I am in doing this you know sometimes I know a lot of I’ve read a lot of books about you know entrepreneurship and sometimes you know businesses and at year four year five but people give up but I know in my heart of hearts that I know I have something valuable here and I’ve been able to make something of it so now it’s just taking it to the next step but yes to answer the question I’ve had some struggles you know there’s times where I’ve had to do it by myself the events and you know it sometimes it’s hard to rely on people to trust but I feel like when you do things on your own and it’s your business you’re the only one that knows how hard you’re working towards the end goal and that at the end of the day that’s what matters so when I do get the greenlight when I do get that email approval, saying yes, let’s move forward from Netflix or a big movie studios all of the struggles worth it because at the end that hard work that I’ve put in is paying off 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Yes, as I mentioned earlier, my career path has been advertising marketing and I’ve been very fortunate to work for very reputable advertising agencies throughout my career and been able to work on global brands you know I started off with universal pictures in the media department that I moved to account management where I was able to also work for his top, Hispanic advertising agencies in the country where I was able to work for Jack Daniels Xbox, Farmers Insurance, general motors Lexus, North America, Nissan, North America Turnover card now currently I oversee the Bacardi portfolio for the global travel, retail side, which entails of activations and providing consumer experiences on the group with the cruise lines with their partners airport, activations, and so forth and so I don’t know I think I’ve been very lucky and very blessed along my career because I’ve been able to open the doors for myself I’ve always been a very go-getter and ambitious person And when I have goals I usually and I’ve been very dedicated and accomplishing them so I’ve been very proud of myself of where I’m at. Yes, you know this part of life. I think you know you when you’re younger, you make certain decisions that now you look back in like, man, I shouldn’t have done it, but everything is a learning experience. You know now, currently, I’m even though my side, business and fresh fruits. I’m trying to grow it my career right now. I’m in a very good position. I work for a very reputable experiential agency here in Miami, and as I mentioned, I run the Bacardi business, which is a big you know, overtaking not just for the US but globally, so I worked very closely with the Caribbean on the Bahamas Mexico, Puerto Rico Aruba, and so forth so I’m proud of myself, and I love what I do I genuinely do I have a gift about you know Looking at the big picture of the business, being able to put partnership sponsorships together and so forth and so I feel like that experience that I’ve had throughout my career has helped my business Ana’s Fresh Fruits excel and as I mentioned, I don’t want to give up I’m not going to give up on my business, and that’s gonna be one of my priorities come 2024, and I believe what sets me apart is my resilience. I don’t like to give up when I see something and I know there’s an opportunity I like to. I might get annoying at times, or I might get, you know try to sell it to my clients or to my peers or to my colleagues, but I have a vision, and when that vision I manifested, and I see it come to life, and it usually works out and so, what set me apart is that I’m resilient I feel like I’m very dedicated and when that when I’m when I said something in my mind, I go after it if that’s personal even myself you know with my fitness goals or health habits you know I like to always challenge myself I always have personal trainers every you know year or two just to you know take me to the next level, so that’s one of my strengths I feel that it’s a very powerful strength that I have is my resilience to Keep going and not giving up even no matter what I don’t like to give up. 

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My advice for those that are starting out is really believing in yourself. I feel that when you believe in yourself, anything is possible and I know we’re human, we have self-doubts, we have insecurities, and sometimes we feel and could we really do this, but yes, the answer is yes if you really want it bad enough, you can do anything, and so my advice would be is trusting yourself whole hardly with what you wanna do you know you look at now where the marketplace with social media and you see you know kids that are making more money than ever, and it’s not just about the money, but they found a voice, and I feel like now with social media, and where we’re at with the digital space if we’re if we use it correctly, it could be our advantage. It could be our best friend, it could be our moneymaker, it could be our platform to really make a difference into motivate other people, so that would be my advice is believing in yourself at times, I didn’t believe in myself, and I would wanted to give up, but then there was always that that self-love that I had for myself and that I’ll make no I have to do this. I wanna do this, and that’s the most important thing is if that fire inside you, if you really really really want it from the bottom of your heart, you’re not gonna stop, so that would be my advice to those that are starting out is if you have a plan, you have a vision, a realistic one you know go after it And at the end of the day life is so short that the last thing I would want for anybody to live is by regrets and saying man I should’ve done this so that’s one of my biggest advices is believing yourself and love yourself and know that you’re capable of doing anything you set your mind to 

Pricing:

• $9 per bowl | $185 set up / delivery fee / 2 Brand Ambassadors on-site for the duration of the event

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Anasfreshfruits