Jill Schramm/MDN Operating Mi Mexico is a family affair for, from left, Alejandro Lopez, his sister, Laura Lopez, and sister and brother-in-law, Maricela and Ricardo Vazquez. They and other family members who are involved in the restaurant are the backbone of the business.

From struggling to help put food on the family table in Mexico to feeding numerous patrons daily at their popular Minot restaurant, Ricardo Vasquez and Alejandro Lopez have come a long way in more than just miles traveled.

“It’s not easy, but working hard and dedication makes possible all your dreams – and maybe more. We weren’t even thinking of growing this much. This is a blessing from God. It is a blessing to get the community support,” Lopez said.

In addition to Mi Mexico, which opened in 2008, Lopez’s businesses include Magic City Car Wash, which was operating at the start of 2023, and Lopez Boxing Gym, which launched at the end of 2023.

Lopez said the boxing gym opened not as a money-maker but to help the community’s youth, offering a sport that gives them a positive activity to counter the potential draw of negative activities. He said he and his family continue to look for ways to help the community because of the gratitude they have for the support shown to them over the years.

Lopez and Vazquez came to Minot from Mexico after first gaining restaurant experience in the southeastern United States.

In 2007, when the Walmart area was being built out in Minot, a developer sent letters around the country to Mexican restaurants to try to entice owners into opening in a building on the property.

Lopez was working in the kitchen of his brother-in-law’s Mexican restaurant in Kentucky, which received one of the letters. It wasn’t the first letter of this type received, but this one caught their interest. Lopez traveled to Minot to check it out.

Vazquez, who is married to Lopez’s sister, had lived in Tennessee for 13 years but also decided to make the move to North Dakota to help operate the new restaurant.

Vazquez arrived first with his family in September 2007. Lopez followed in December, stopping on the drive south of Minot to take photos of his first experience seeing fishing houses on a frozen lake.

Vazquez ended up staying in a hotel for a month while hunting for apartments for his and Lopez’s families. Forced out of the hotel by pre-bookings for Norsk Hostfest, Vazquez determined he might have better luck finding a house to buy. He said the Realtor who assisted him was a blessing, not only helping him find a home but opening a portion of his own house to Vasquez’s family to give them a place to stay until the home they purchased was ready to be moved into.

Vazquez said he was amazed when the bank lent him mortgage money with nothing but an identification card and even increased his borrowing limit without question when the price of the selected house turned out to be more than expected.

“I was surprised,” he said. “It was a nice thing to find good people in Minot.”

Lopez added they weren’t sure what type of reception they would find but they found Minot to be welcoming.

“They were so happy to see the restaurant open. It’s like every business, there’s a lot of things to do and it’s hard work and it’s time consuming,” he said. “But just to see the anticipation from the community – how happy they are. That’s the fuel to our bodies to keep working hard and doing what we do.”

Vazquez and Lopez, who became naturalized not long after coming to Minot, took somewhat different routes to U.S. citizenship.

Lopez was one of nine children in his family, who lived near Guadalajara, Mexico. His father worked hard but it wasn’t enough to keep food on the table. Lopez began working full time to help out at age 13, making bricks for construction. Even then, the income was inadequate to get ahead.

Lopez had older brothers who had crossed illegally into the United States. In 1998, at age 17, Lopez decided to do the same.

“It is risky. It is dangerous,” he said. “Even if, back in Mexico, I was in a hard economy, when you come in that situation, you see the real bad thing. You’re thinking ‘Oh, I was blessed back in Mexico. This is bad,” he said.

The couriers who brought illegal immigrants across the border treated them as animals, and no one in the group cared about anyone but themselves, he recalled. In the middle of nowhere with venomous snakes and scorpions, there was no option for rapid medical care if something went wrong.

Lopez survived the two-week crossing to join his brothers, who since have returned to Mexico to operate businesses. Lopez’s first stop was North Carolina, where he had to navigate the new country without familiarity with the English language. He later moved to Tennessee, where he lived with Vazquez and worked in a Mexican restaurant with him before later moving to Kentucky to work with a restaurant there.

Lopez said he wanted to establish a reputation as a hard worker, spending his money, time and energy on supporting family back in Mexico and on paperwork necessary to eventually gain legal status. His belief in positioning oneself to seize opportunities when they arise is one he now passes on to his own children.

“If you want something in life, you need to work hard for it and not expect to get anything for granted,” he said. “You need to work and be good people. Keep your base and keep going because if you are distracted with other things, time goes. Time never comes back.”

Lopez married during a trip back to Mexico and went through the process that eventually allowed his wife, Rosita Camarena, to come to the United States.

Also looking for economic advantages, Vazquez was 20 years old when he obtained a visa in 1995 to work temporarily in the United States. Also from the Guadalajara area, he returned to Mexico in 1999 and received a visa that enabled him to come back to the United States and begin working toward gaining residency.

Vazquez said he had a career in Mexico but it wasn’t enough to support a family.

“You find so many walls in trying to become better,” he said. “You never grow. You stay low. It’s just hard to save to make a family, to help your family at the same time. It’s very difficult.”

Lopez said the experience of gaining citizenship was “big time” and much appreciated because of the additional opportunities it opened, including simply having his voice count. He said it provides confidence to enter new business endeavors, and Vazquez added it opens more doors.

“You feel grateful and you want to give back to the community, to the country,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez and Lopez are quick to praise the community, crediting its support for promoting their success in their new country.

People in the community were patient with the language barrier as they continued to work on their English, they said. The Minot Adult Learning Center helped with a citizenship course and language skills. Vazquez was able to pass a test to receive a general equivalency diploma (GED) at the center.

Vazquez said community members were eager to help sustain and better the restaurant. If he mentioned to patrons that he needed to hire work done on the restaurant, he would have someone unexpectedly show up to fill the need.

“They feel they are part of the restaurant, too. It’s a very nice experience,” he said.

Improvements to the restaurant are their way to show appreciation to their customers.

“Every year pretty much we try to do something new, something different,” said Lopez, who noted they import all the decor from Mexico to keep the atmosphere as authentic as possible. “We try to offer the best possible to show how much we appreciate everything from the community.”

The latest improvement is the construction underway on a rooftop patio, tentatively expected to open in May or June.

Lopez said another major factor in their success in Minot has been their family unity, striving toward one goal and growing together.

Three of Lopez’s sisters also live in Minot with their families, including his sister, Maricela, who is married to Vazquez. Their children all are in Minot schools or are attending Minot State University, with the exception of one who is with the North Dakota Army National Guard in Bismarck.

The children all have helped at Mi Mexico. They started young in cleaning tables and seating customers and have grown up in the business to become servers. Some also have helped at the car wash.

“Our family is the backbone of the business,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez and Lopez say their families also appreciate Minot for its small-town values and family focus.

“I think it was a good move,” Vazquez said of the decision to come to Minot 16 years ago.

While Mexico will always be a part of him and he enjoys taking his family back for visits, Minot is where he wants to be, Lopez added.

“We’re from here now,” he said. “When somebody tells me, ‘Where are you from?’ I say, ‘I’m from Minot.'”

“This is home for us,” Vazquez agreed.