Stefania Fochi, 36, and her empanada company, Empanada Girl, have been a fixture at the downtown Sarasota Farmers Market for nearly 15 years. But it all started as a small side hustle attached to her parents’ Peperonata Pasta booth, which sells fresh, homemade pasta.
“My mom gave me some recipes for beef, chicken and spinach empanadas and my dad gave me the dough recipe,” Fochi recalls. “I started developing them a little further and playing with proportions. Now none of the recipes are like theirs, including the dough.”
Fochi had just graduated from culinary school when she established her farmers market booth, but quickly began selling 500 or so empanadas each week. The high demand encouraged Fochi to expand her operation into its own booth. Today, it’s a sprawling multi-market attraction, with eight employees who assist long lines of customers downtown, at the Lakewood Ranch farmers market and at the Phillippi Farmhouse Market. Every week, Fochi and her team make nearly 5,000 empanadas in 25 different flavor combinations (the breakfast empanada is the most popular)…