Growing up in Cali, Colombia, the crisp yet soft corn dough of an arepa was a constant in Olga Muriel’s life. So was the dream of one day owning her own business.

It was only natural, then, that to realize that dream she reached for an old comfort.

For the last 18 months, Muriel’s Cali Arepa has brought a signature recipe and sauces that she crafted with her mother to the capital region’s breweries, events and streets. She purchased a food truck last fall, opening more doors to the festival scene and allowing her to open periodically along Loudon Road.

Muriel is deeply proud of both her Colombian culture and her new city, and Cali Arepa allows her to marry the two.

“I’m very, very, very Latina, even though I’ve been here for 20 years,” she said. “What I’m prepping is where I am from, and so the people who are enjoying it, now they know a little bit of Colombia. I feel like I am bringing a little bit of Colombia into here and making a difference.”

This past year of finding her footing has been hard work. With friends and family helping her to prepare and serve her menu, the business is Muriel’s passion outside her day job as an accountant. She hopes to one day scale up to a storefront. In the meantime, she’s buoyed by the thrill of sharing Colombian tradition with those having it for the first time and of bringing a taste of home to locals who share her background.

Muriel said the best moments come when she hears a customer say, “Oh my God this is delicious,” or when someone from Colombia says something like, “It’s been years since I’ve eaten this. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“That,” Muriel said, “that makes me feel like, yeah, all my hard work is worthwhile.”

Muriel came to the United States around 20 years ago at the age of 18. She left college to be closer to her mother who had recently married a man from Concord. Muriel lived in New York for a while, finishing business school while working in a Mexican restaurant to support her young son. She moved to Concord in 2012.

It was friends here for whom Muriel cooked arepas that gave her the idea of making a business out of it.

“I’ve always wanted to work for myself,” she said. “I tried a few different things but they didn’t work. Then one day my best friend said, ‘You should bring this to the fairs.’”

Muriel researched possible funding she could qualify for, and subsequently received, then linked up with State Street Kitchen, a new commissary kitchen that lets burgeoning and small-scale food businesses use the equipment of a large commercial food prep space.

Cali Arepa made its debut in the fall of 2023 with pop-ups at local breweries. Since then, Muriel acquired a liquor license, allowing her to cater private events with cocktails. She purchased a food truck last fall, working with a custom trailer builder out of Mexico.

It’s a true family business, with Muriel making food and honing her recipes alongside family, including her mother, siblings, her older son, aunt, nieces and friends.

Having a food truck opens a lot of doors. Having a mobile kitchen means Cali Arepa isn’t limited to “pop-ups” and doesn’t have to load and unload equipment every time they open. It also brings with it access to more festivals, more cold-weather events, and the hype and community growing around food trucks. At Winterfest downtown, for example, they quickly sold out of empanadas and visitors waited in the cold for steaming, savory handfuls of arepa.

As Muriel was gearing up to launch Cali Arepa, she heard a common refrain that she’d be better off in a bigger, more diverse city like Manchester, Nashua or Boston. But those cities never called to her.

She believes Concord has an appetite for what she’s serving, and she wants to be part of what she hopes continues to be a blossoming international food scene here.

“I love my town here. That’s why I want to keep it here — I want to make it work here,” she said. “I want things to do to enjoy here. More different food should come.”

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com