Houston, TX- With the holidays quickly approaching us, I have the perfect item to bring your holiday parties! Four years ago, Native Houstonian and Mexican-American entrepreneur, Marco Castro, started selling his homemade michelada mix to close friends and family. Due to being preoccupied, he took a break to focus on school and work. A year ago, Marco made a grand return to the michelada business and is the owner and founder of El Jefe Micheladas. He kicked off his new established business in being a regular vendor in local Houston Michelada and food festivals, including traveling all the way to the valley to partake in sharing his mind-blowing michelada mix.

I recently had the pleasure in interviewing Marco and taking pictures of him and his team, who also happen to be his family, in action at the Michelada Festival in Baytown, Texas.

What inspired you to start El Jefe Micheladas?
“What inspired me to start El Jefe Micheladas, was the fact that I always had this inner motivation to start my own business, with my own twist, my own touch, and my own interest. Not only in working my a** off at a young age with my dad and seeing him be the boss, motivated me even more into starting my own brand. It’s not about following others, it’s about standing out that makes you who you are.”

Back in August, El Jefe Micheladas had its grand opening at the Michelada Festival and also won first place for ‘Best Michelada’ What were your thoughts and feelings on this memorable victory?
“I wasn’t really intimidated or in it for the competition. For me, it was more for the exposure to get my brand out there, especially growing my customer base. At that time, I received a custom vendor tent, so I was pretty excited about that and competing with other well-known vendors. The amount of people that kept coming to my booth and the total amount of micheladas I was selling, I knew that this is just the beginning for greater things.”

What is the most popular type of Michelada you sell? What are other Michelada flavors you offer?
“The most popular Michelada flavor is ‘OG’ This is the one that started it off for me. The meaning behind the name resembles the day that I won the Michelada festival with my original flavor. The only rule at that festival was to compete with a cucumber flavored mix. One of the other vendors sold out of that flavor, so when it came time for the competition, they allowed us to do a flavor of our choice. I choose my OG flavor and that’s the one that won the competition. I currently offer four flavors, OG, cucumber, spicy and mango.”

What are long-term and short-term goals you have for your business?
“I actually just got asked this question this past Saturday at an event I participated in. My long-term goal, if everything goes well in the near future, is to continue growing my brand, as well as growing my michelada mix into stores. In addition, I would love to be able to open up my very own restaurant/bar/club with music and a live band. My short-term goal, is to pretty much do better than the day before, to be a better person in every aspect and to grow with others in the industry, because everyone is going to win and winning with others makes you grow bigger. Overall, my goal is to show others not everything is about competition, but to show them that the sun shines on everyone and that everyone is going to win, as long as you see it from that perspective. I would also like to expand, not only in the state of Texas, but as well as all over the United States.”

Do you have any big plans for El Jefe Micheladas, such as new flavors, participating in festivals in 2023?
“Well, let’s just say that I definitely be attending every big festival/event is coming. I do already have a few events that I am planning for, some of them I’m planning a road trip. And I am also working on a few other flavors, but those are top secret, you guys will have to wait until I release them.”

How and where can we purchase EJM products?
“You guys are able to find my business on Facebook, Instagram (place orders through Instagram), and Tiktok (Hopefully Youtube in the near future) all under @ElJefeMicheladashtx

What cultural awareness are you striving to deliver from the Mexican culture when selling micheladas?
“The cultural awareness that I am trying to deliver with my business as a young Hispanic businessman, is to unite all kinds of people, introduce them to the Mexican culture and have them try new things they didn’t know about.”

Follow El Jefe Michelada on social media to stay updated with what events they will be attending in the Houston area, as well as purchasing products.

Instagram: @eljefemicheladashtx https://www.instagram.com/eljefemicheladashtx/?hl=en

Facebook: El Jefe Micheladas https://www.facebook.com/ElJefeMicheladasHtx/