Brewing a small business dream

When Alyssa Azcarate moved from El Paso to North Texas as a high school junior in 2017, she was heartbroken to leave her friends and her last year of high school behind. The adjustment to a new community was also hard. One of the things she missed the most was the food and drinks that had been part of her life and her heritage back home.

Alyssa ended up staying in North Texas for college, attending the University of Texas at Arlington, and majoring in theatre, a craft she had practiced since childhood. After graduating, she immersed herself in the DFW metroplex theatre scene, including working as a theatre director. But after years of giving her energy to the stage and her work, she found herself burning out.

“I had to ask myself, ‘What do I want my career to be?’” she says.

She was in graduate school at the time, juggling her studies with working full-time, and an idea started to brew: a business that could honor her culture, showcase her creativity, and offer something she deeply loved and that was missing in her community—Mexican coffee.

In November 2023, Alyssa launched Teatro Café, a coffee cart featuring bottled beverages that celebrates Mexican coffee culture and her family’s traditions.

“Coffee was always something special to my grandparents,” Alyssa recalls. “My grandmother used to share her coffee with me each morning after breakfast. It became our ritual, and our shared moment together.”

Café de Olla—coffee steeped with cinnamon and spices—became one of her signature offerings, and Teatro Café became her platform to share those memories and her culture. But the transition to entrepreneur wasn’t easy.

“Putting my career aside and stepping into entrepreneurship was scary," she says. “Suddenly I was responsible for my own paycheck.” 

She bootstrapped the entire business, choosing not to bring on investors or take out loans. Alyssa acknowledges that she gets big ideas and thinks she can do it all by herself. But the reality is that she’s one person and there’s only 24 hours in a day. 

One of the most meaningful moments in her journey to entrepreneurship came on July 11, 2024, when she was awarded the Woman of Influence Award by The DEC Network, a local nonprofit that supports entrepreneurs across North Texas. Stepping out of her theatre career had been hard to come to terms with, but this award felt like such a big win, plus it came from an organization that had been pivotal to making it happen.

"The DEC Network has been a huge part of my growth," Alyssa says. They're always uplifting you, checking in, asking how they can spotlight your work, connect you with partners, or bring you into events. Not every organization does that."

Through The DEC Network, Alyssa has connected with new clients, learned how to navigate challenges, and grown her business from one that goes to farmers markets and pop-ups, into a financially sustainable catering concept. Now she's at corporate events, weddings, and private parties with custom menus. She’s also created community-centered events like a Mexican brunch festival last fall where guests shared coffee flights and Mexican sweet bread. And in November (2024), she celebrated Teatro Café’s one-year anniversary with a party.

Next, Alyssa is looking forward to moving into a new commercial kitchen allowing her to expand production of her bottled drinks, which she hopes to get into local grocery stores. 

Alyssa credits being part of a like-minded community like The DEC Network as making a difference for her business, and she wants to be able to return and share resources through that community. 

Regarding Charles Schwab’s recent partnership with The DEC Network, Alyssa sees it as a powerful sign of support for local entrepreneurs. “It’s a big deal to see a corporate company invest in people directly in the community,” she says. “That kind of backing helps businesses grow—and it shows the power of collaboration.”

Teatro Café is not only a small business, but also Alyssa’s family legacy, it’s culture in a cup, and proof that with the right support even the most personal dreams can flourish.