NYS SBDC Minority Entrepreneur of the Year: Ariel Barbouth of Nuchas
From the Brooklyn SBDC: Ariel Barbouth recognizes New York City as the culinary capital of the world. Ariel started Nuchas in 2008 after visiting his native Argentina and re-discovering restaurants there that only sold empanadas: pastries stuffed with a variety of meats and vegetables originally from Latin America. After returning from Argentina, Ariel developed the Nuchas concept - selling empanadas as convenient, natural handheld food with an ethnic twist. His experience as entrepreneur in a previous venture in the food industry helped him quickly develop the concept. Nuchas started baking and distributing empanadas wholesale. Nuchas’ empanadas quickly became a success and were picked up by gourmet stores across the city. Ariel contacted the Brooklyn SBDC in January 2011 for business plan assistance to grow his business and open his first retail outlet. As the Brooklyn SBDC and Ariel worked on the plan, a Request For Proposal was published by The Times Square Alliance and NYC