SALT LAKE CITY — Erick Pernia calls his mother, Sandy Arrieta, a “serial entrepreneur.”
In his native Venezuela, Arrieta ran a cell phone branch for a national telecommunications company. Since immigrating to the United States in 2000, he has run a daycare center, started a housecleaning business called We Clean Homes and recently opened a Venezuelan restaurant called Arempas, which will soon open its fifth location in Utah.
“She's always been an entrepreneur,” Pernia said.
But Alempas holds a special place in Arrieta's heart: “I love the idea of getting Americans to try Venezuelan food,” she says. And it's perhaps her most visible venture, and also her most ambitious.
Pernia helps run the family business with his mother and sister and says he hopes to one day franchise it, while Arrieta dreams of Venezuelan food standards — arepas and empanadas — to one day challenge the ubiquity of the taco, a Mexican staple made of tortilla and meat, in the U.S. market.
It won't be quick or easy, she said, because tacos are “king” of Hispanic food. But she, like Pernia, is determined.
“We want to have our day, and little by little we think we can get there,” Arrieta said.
Growing up in Venezuela, Arrieta cooked for her younger siblings and continued that work in the United States, selling Venezuelan food to friends and others and eventually using her cooking skills to run a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Alempas, whose name combines the Venezuelan culinary staples “arepa” and “empanada,” first opened in Salt Lake City in 2019. Locations in Orem and Midvale will follow in 2022, a new location opened in Sandy last year and a fifth location is set to open in South Jordan, possibly later this month.
“It wasn't something I planned,” said Arrieta, who first came to the United States in 2000 to escape what she perceived to be repression under President Hugo Chavez, who came to power in 1999 and instituted socialist reforms that have continued under his successor, Nicolás Maduro.
In fact, Allen Pass's popularity was something she didn't expect, and the past five years have been a whirlwind. “It happened so quickly, I was surprised, and it was exhausting,” she said.
Either way, with the South Jordan store opening soon, she's prepared to work hard for at least a few more months to establish the store.
Food is undoubtedly key to Alempas' success, and Pernia says the restaurant serves authentic Venezuelan fare exactly like the food his mother used to cook for his family when he was a child. “Everything just tastes like home cooking,” he says.
Arepas are made from cornmeal flatbread that, depending on the version, is stuffed with a mixture of meat, cheese, beans, vegetables or plantains. Pernia says the simple arepa is like the tortilla in Mexico or bread in the United States, and is the foundation of many meals.
Alempas empanadas are made with corn flour instead of wheat flour, which is more common in other South American countries, and come with a variety of fillings, including shredded beef, pork, chicken, potatoes and cheese.
Other menu items include pabellón, a platter of black beans, shredded beef, rice and plantains, and main dishes featuring Venezuelan staples cachapa and patacón.
“Once you try this food, you'll go, 'Oh my gosh, where have I ever had this before?'” Pernia says. Similar to her mother's dream of taking on the taco, Pernia dreams of making arepas as commonplace as pizza, burgers, and other staples of American cuisine.
Still, he believes there's a lot more to Alempas' success than his mother's recipes and culinary know-how, however important they may be. He and the others who run Alempas locations are also motivated by a desire to support Arieta and her drive to make the restaurant a success. “It might sound corny, but I think love is a big part of it,” Pernia said.
Fix: In an earlier version, Sandy Arrieta's last name was incorrectly spelled as “Larrieta” and Erick Pernia's last name was incorrectly spelled as “Bernia.”
