NEWBERG, Ore. (KOIN) — When she was 15, Miriam Sangabriel moved with her family from Mexico to Newberg. The community has always been supportive and her family felt confident in opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant, Kopitos Cocina.
Four years ago, Kopitos Cocina began as a food cart during the pandemic, which Sangabriel said was surprisingly great “because everything was outdoor, everything was takeout.”
But having an actual brick-and-mortar restaurant was always a family dream.
“My parents had a restaurant. Seven years ago they retired,” she told KOIN 6 News. “My siblings and I decided to continue the family dream of having a restaurant.”
But it was wasn’t easy getting to this point, especially when language barriers can be a roadblock while trying to set up a business.
“I found myself in a lot of situations when I didn’t know who to ask, where to go what to do, especially in my first language, which is Spanish,” she said. “It was really hard to find that in the community.”