The ‘American Dream’ is sought out by many, but not everyone is able to achieve it. For one Mexican family, the Alonso family, their eldest son, Bryan Alonso, was able to execute and make his parents’ dream a reality. 

Martin’s Grill, what started as a pop-up canopy tent at Gazebo Gardens and a family delivering meals in their car, has turned into an established small business thriving in the heart of Fresno. 

Martin’s Grill has now been an established food truck for one year. The business celebrated its one year anniversary on Sept. 15. 

On Nov. 20, the Alonso family will debut the first Martin’s Grill restaurant in Prather, CA. 

“It’s a realization of the American Dream that our family has held close to our hearts,” Alonso said. “For years, we’ve worked towards building something from the ground up, a place where we could not only work together but also create something meaningful and impactful for the community.”

Alonso said the goal with the business is to create a homey atmosphere for anyone who visits. 

“Martin’s Grill is our way of sharing our generational recipes and traditions through Mediterranean spices infused with Mexican-Oaxacan cuisine,” Alonso said. 

The business is named after Alonso’s father, Martin Alonso, who has been a cook for over 21 years. His mother, Alejandrina Garcia, has also been cooking since Bryan was young.

Alonso said growing up, his parents encouraged leadership and were very involved in his and his siblings’ lives. 

“Growing up, my parents would always put this mindset to be your own boss, take on that leadership role and help out your community as much as you can,” Alonso said. 

Paul Chen, Alonso’s accountant, recognizes that he is from an underserved, minority community, but says he’s using it as motivation. 

“I think his motivation comes from just inheritance from his parents’ hard work and he’s also smart enough to know, to form a corporation and operating as a business,” Chen said. 

Alonso’s parents are very proud of what their son has accomplished so far.

“What we admire most about Bryan is his character and his self confidence and his ability to maneuver complex situations,” Garcia said. “We admire his initiative and overall his ambition when he dedicates himself to something he is passionate about. Bryan always finds solutions and persists to reach his goals, which is what really makes us proud as parents.” 

Ultimately his upbringing led to his choice to major in business at Fresno State. Now as a junior, Alonso is operating and managing the business under his name. 

Alonso says he had to take this step for his Oaxacan Mexican parents because due to their immigration status, they are unable to acquire the proper permits to own and run a business. 

“He [Alonso’s father] was always that type of person that’s like, ‘One day I’m gonna have a business, one day I’m gonna have this type of business,’” Alonso said. “So I pretty much had to take that step forward and secure the permits.”

Had immigration not been an issue, Alonso’s parents would have opened a business when he was much younger.

“If we had taken the step to start a business earlier, it would have been before Bryan was older,” his parents said. “Actually, since Bryan was very young, we dreamed of opening a food business.”

Although Alonso is a U.S. citizen, he says it was still difficult for him due financial reasons and credit requirements.

“It was a very complicated, intense process, because we went to different banks, different loan officers, on private lending as well and it was very hard to secure a loan, because usually they require for you to be an established business from, like, two to four years plus, and then they require taxes, good credit score, I mean, all these things that an 18-year-old wouldn’t have,” he said.

Along with the permits, Alonso also had to secure all the necessary equipment his family needed to get started. He purchased the grill, the canopy and worked hard for his family to be able to take off. 

The greatest challenge, however, was the paperwork and health code requirements.

“The biggest one [challenge] would be, I want to say securing, making sure that the permits are right, making sure that the trailer is up to code and everything,” Alonso said.

Daniel Betancur, health inspector and consultant, helped Alonso through the process.

“I helped him navigate that whole permit system,” Betancur said. “Then he had construction plans, so I helped him submit the construction plan and everything that I told Alonso, boom, he did it. So because of that, there was no pushback.”

Betancur says Alonso was great at responding to feedback and using it to better himself and his business. 

“He was able to take all that information and navigate that whole permit process and now he’s got a fabulous mobile unit, a trailer, and he puts out a great, great product,” Betancur said. “His whole philosophy is, I want to learn and I want to be successful, and to learn and be successful I’m going to listen to the people that are giving me advice.”

Although Alonso is now a successful 19-year-old business owner, he says this wasn’t always his plan. 

“I never thought of actually going into the food industry,” Alonso said. “I always thought that I would go into management, consulting or politics especially.”

Ultimately, he says it’s gearing in the right direction.

“But it turns out that it’s all playing, it’s all pivoting in the same direction I want to,” Alonso said. “I think this is where I’m supposed to be heading.” 

Alonso’s success has led him to big contracts with the Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) and local politicians.

He’s made connections with city leaders to strengthen his experience in politics, which is something he plans to pursue in the future. 

“So that basically looks like us attending their fundraisers, like dinner nights or community events as well,” Alonso said. “It’s mostly like community events where they want to have more people come in, learn about the resources they have…”

Alonso potentially wants to run for city council. In high school he was very involved in student government and the Fresno High Senate, the longest active club in the country.

Building up his resume is currently a top priority for Alonso.

“Right now, I want to really build up on my personal experience in terms of learning more about the local politics, collaborating with the leaders currently in those positions, whether it’s advocating for the community, being involved with them as a secretary or Chief of Staff,” Alonso said. “So pretty much getting that experience with them, seeing what they represent for the community, seeing the current interest that there is in the community, and building up on that.”

The contract with FAT is his most recent achievement.

“That contract with the airport, it’s been in the works for almost a year or so,” Alonso said. “So just recently, we got confirmed, about like five months ago, that we were gonna get that spot at the airport. It was very exciting for us.” 

Alonso says this contract is extra special because of his love for planes. During his time at Fresno High School, he participated in a summer aviation camp in 2020. Through the program, his interest in aviation grew and he developed a passion for planes and piloting. 

A few months after the program ended, the instructor, Joseph Oldham, saw his profile on Linked In and saw his business. Oldham is also the president of New Vision Aviation. He reached out to Alonso and asked him how he was doing and encouraged him to go after the contract at FAT.

“I was just encouraging Bryan that he’s got a good business and he should try to go after any contracts that he could see that would come up,” Oldham said. “And so, you know, I guess he did, and that was great. We were just really, really pleased that he was able to pursue something he was passionate about and be successful at it.”

In six months, Martin’s Grill will be stationed at the airport from 8 p.m. – 3 a.m. The grill will accept Doordash services and will serve the entire community, not just those flying in and out, according to Alonso.

“Airports need food, pilots need food,” Oldham said. “Oftentimes we say, yeah, all of us, general aviation pilots, we fly for food, and that’s kind of about what we do. If an airport has a restaurant, that’s a destination we choose. So you know, food and airplanes have gone together ever since the beginning. So, yeah it’s a good, good match.”

The Alonso family’s business serves a variety of food including several traditional food truck items. However, Alonso says that the flavors are what set them apart from any other place that serves burgers and fries.

A lot of the recipes come from things they’ve learned from friends and family and also incorporate the family’s Mexican culture.

“I would say it’s a fusion of the [Mediterranean] spices combined with Mexican cuisines,” Alonso said. “I wouldn’t say we fall exactly under one category, but I would say we incorporate different styles that we’ve learned throughout the years, and also from relatives, friends and connections we’ve had in the past.”

Alonso’s father worked as a cook at Don Fernando’s restaurant for several years.

“They’re a very simple family, very pleasurable, very hardworking,” said Teresa Madrigal, lead hostess and operations manager at Don Fernando’s. “Bryan’s father is a very hardworking man, a person who always arrives to work with a smile on his face. They’re a very lovely family, very simple and very hardworking.”

Madrigal said she’s known the Alonso family for nearly 18 years and has witnessed nothing but hard work from them. 

Another thing that distinguishes Martin’s Grill is that it’s family oriented and the owners are also the face of the business.

“With Alonso, he’s actually having his family working with him, so that’s always nice to be able to see a family business going and prospering,” Betancur said. 

Alonso credits a lot of the business’ stability to his family values and the ability to rely on one another. He says that the fact that its family run and owned helps with maintaining order and keeping things running smoothly.

“It’s heavy, it’s very heavily oriented in our family core values,” Alonso said. “So I think that’s what’s really keeping us stable and steady, compared to other businesses where the owner comes in every now and then, or the owner doesn’t really show up in their establishment.” 

Martin’s Grill is an exact replica of the Alonso family. The only employees who work there are relatives, which makes it easier to communicate and also allows for the Alonso family to bond in three different ways. 

Seeing the different personalities everyone has makes for interesting days.

“We’re very family oriented, where we’re seeing each other almost all day,” Alonso said. “We’re working together all day, and then we’re in the same house all day, so it’s like, we have to get accustomed to the different personalities. It’s very interesting to work with your family, live with your family and then also talk to your family at the same time all day. You see three different sides of them.” 

He also says it’s beneficial that because it’s family, he doesn’t have to worry about who he can trust with the business. 

The work is easily divided among the family and Alonso isn’t always required to be at the truck at all times. 

“That’s, that’s the cool thing about having a family [business], that you can divide up the work, because you can trust in them, and you know how they’ll project themselves, because you’re around them all the time,” Alonso said.

Something Alonso would like to broaden is the special services the business offers. 

Martin’s Grill currently offers a private chef and catering experience. This consists of his family going and cooking for people in the comfort and privacy of their own home with their own ingredients and cooking tools.

“We go to their homes, we come out, they either watch or they want to just experience the food side,” Alonso said. “But most of the times, they actually like [to] watch us cook the whole experience and we cook with their stuff, with their ingredients.”

In the future, Alonso says his family hopes to expand the business by acquiring another food truck. 

The hope to expand comes from the need for more flexible availability. When the truck is stationed somewhere the same day another client needs services, Alonso sends a group with the original canopy pop-up tent to man in the meantime. 

Alonso would like to be able to be at multiple locations at once, with the same comfort they have in the food truck. 

“When we’re at gazebo [gardens], or when we’re at different private caterings, or we’re doing a private chef experience, we can be in multiple places at once, instead of being at our canopy or food truck,” Alonso said. 

He says that for the time being everything is going exactly the way he has envisioned. 

“Currently it’s actually going the way I want to,” Alonso said. “There was a bit of delay, of course, but right now, I think we’re moving in the right direction toward expanding. We definitely want to acquire different locations as well and convert into a restaurant as well. We want to have a base for our clients to come in and see a different side to us, a different experience more personal and intimate.”

Alonso’s passion, pride and Oaxacan culture are conveyed through the food the business produces and the family atmosphere that surrounds its workplace. 

“What makes me more affluent and sets me apart is the double nationality I have from not just being American but also Mexican and from the most unique and rural part of Mexico, Oaxaca which not a lot of people in power can say they are part of the Oaxaqueño community and let alone say they represent our values and our people,” Alonso said.

His parents are especially proud that he is able to share their family’s culture and where their roots stem from. 

“Through our dishes and unique foods, he has this enthusiasm to share the history with our customers in every plate,” Garcia said. “This is one of the reasons why he started the business, to be able to share his culture and share these unique recipes that our family has.”