HOLA AREPA LLC

What HOLA AREPA LLC does

Hola Arepa is a privately held, single-location Latin street food restaurant operating at 3501 Nicollet Avenue in South Minneapolis. The business was founded in 2011 by Chef Christina Nguyen and Birk Grudem as a food truck and converted to a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2014; the food truck has since been mostly dormant. The core product is handcrafted Venezuelan-style stuffed arepas — cornmeal dough pattied by hand, griddle-cooked until golden brown, then split and stuffed with meats, vegetables, cheeses, and homemade salsas, alongside Latin American-influenced small plates and tropical craft cocktails. Most menu items are gluten-free, and the dining room atmosphere is themed around the founders' travels to beach towns and cafes in South and Central America and Mexico.

The company operates a direct-to-consumer restaurant model with multiple revenue streams: dine-in service (the dominant channel), takeout and delivery online ordering through the Chownow platform, gift cards sold for curbside pickup or USPS delivery in denominations from $10 to $250, and branded merchandise including an embroidered patch beanie at $20. Reservations are managed through the Resy platform. Operating hours span dinner service Monday through Friday, with brunch and extended hours on Saturday and Sunday, plus a happy hour program. Marketing is primarily organic, centered on the @holaarepa Instagram account and extensive earned media coverage (Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, James Beard Foundation, Eater, Star Tribune, City Pages, MPLS/St. Paul Magazine) accumulated between 2012 and 2019.

The business has no external investment, no parent company, and no disclosed funding rounds; ownership remains with the two co-founders. The technology stack is limited to off-the-shelf restaurant SaaS — Chownow for ordering, Resy for reservations, and standard social sharing integrations — with no proprietary platform, no mobile app, and no AI or data capabilities. Headcount stands at approximately 16 employees, and the founder's social profile references a related concept (Hai Hai), suggesting some adjacent multi-concept activity, though all Hola Arepa revenue is generated from the single Nicollet Avenue storefront.

Name

HOLA AREPA LLC

Legal name

HOLA AREPA LLC

Website

https://holaarepa.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hola Arepa is a founder-owned, single-location Latin street food restaurant in South Minneapolis serving handcrafted Venezuelan-style stuffed arepas, Latin American small plates, and tropical craft cocktails to local diners via dine-in, takeout, delivery, and gift cards.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Dine-in Restaurant Service: Revenue from customers dining in the restaurant, with operating hours Mon-Fri 4pm-10pm, Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-9pm.
2. Takeout and Delivery: Online ordering through Chownow platform for takeout and delivery, including safe curbside pickup service.
3. Gift Cards: Gift cards sold for curbside pickup or mailed via USPS, available in denominations from $10 to $250.
4. Merchandise: Branded merchandise including embroidered patch beanies sold at $20 each for curbside pickup.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Hola Arepa LLC operates a single-location Latin street food restaurant in South Minneapolis that handcrafts Venezuelan-style stuffed arepas daily from cornmeal dough and pairs them with Latin American-influenced small plates, tropical craft cocktails, weekend brunch, and happy hour. Beyond dine-in, the restaurant sells takeout and delivery orders through the Chownow online ordering platform, gift cards (curbside pickup or USPS mail), and branded merchandise such as the Hola embroidered patch beanie.

Product overview

Hola Arepa is a Latin street food restaurant offering Venezuelan-style stuffed arepas, Latin American-influenced small plates, and tropical craft cocktails. The business operates primarily as a dine-in restaurant with full dinner, brunch, and happy hour menus, supplemented by takeout and delivery services through an online ordering platform. Additional revenue streams include gift cards (available for curbside pickup or USPS delivery) and branded merchandise such as embroidered beanies. The restaurant accepts reservations through Resy and handles online orders through Chownow.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Venezuelan-Style Stuffed Arepas

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Empellón: Chef-driven modern Mexican/Latin restaurant in NYC with national press recognition. Comparable full-service chef-led Latin concept with similar upscale-casual positioning and culinary acclaim.
• Caracas Arepa Bar: Venezuelan arepa-focused restaurant group based in NYC. Closest direct peer: same cuisine (arepas), same casual full-service model, and similar single-cuisine chef-driven positioning.
• Hai Hai: Sister restaurant from the same Hola Arepa founders (Christina Nguyen and Birk Grudem) in Minneapolis. Same chef, same ownership, same chef-driven Southeast Asian street food positioning—most directly comparable operator and brand extension.
• Arepa Lady: Iconic NYC Venezuelan arepa food cart turned brick-and-mortar. Comparable trajectory (food truck → restaurant) and similar Venezuelan arepa specialization, making it a directly comparable concept.
• Cosme: Mexican/Latin fine-casual restaurant in NYC. Comparable chef-driven Latin concept at similar price point and acclaim level, often referenced alongside peer-recognized Latin restaurants.
• Javelina: Modern Mexican/Latin restaurant in NYC. Comparable chef-driven Latin full-service concept with similar craft cocktail program and tropical-influenced positioning.

Regional players

• Barbette: Long-standing Minneapolis upscale-casual bistro on the same Nicollet Avenue corridor. Comparable single-location chef-driven full-service restaurant in the same market, useful for local benchmarking.
• Tilia: Minneapolis upscale-casual neighborhood restaurant. Comparable scale and chef-driven positioning in the same metro, useful as a local benchmarking peer for cover counts, check averages, and operating hours.
• Coup d'Etat: Minneapolis upscale-casual restaurant and bar. Similar chef-driven full-service model with strong beverage program in the same Minneapolis dining market.
• Red Cow: Minneapolis casual upscale dining group. Comparable full-service chef-influenced concept in the same metro; useful as a comparable for single-location economics in the Minneapolis market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/holaarepa
• Facebookfacebook.com/holaarepa
• Instagraminstagram.com/holaarepa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hola-arepa-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about HOLA AREPA LLC