Casa Amigos - Customer Spotlight

Yareli Guitierrez, Co-Owner
IncredibleBank Customer
Anyone who speaks with Yareli Guitierrez (or Ya-Ya, as her friends call her) can sense it right away. It could be her youthful enthusiasm. Her passion for Mexican culture, food, and flavor. Or her confidence and true grit. Who would open a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic in the town of Merrill, Wisconsin, population 9,000? But Ya-Ya and her two partners were set on bringing their experience in the restaurant and hospitality business to Merrill, and a pandemic wasn’t about to interfere with their dreams.

On September 20th of 2020, Casa Amigos opened its doors after months of exhausting work, a total re-build of a space that was formerly a tavern, and a steadfast commitment to follow CDC guidelines for the restaurant industry that had a checklist of procedures longer than a $450.00 receipt from the local supermarket. But the three partners prevailed with a lot of assistance from IncredibleBank. The partners were long on know-how, but needed help with their finances. All three partners had experience working in Mexican restaurants, but none had ownership experience.


They Started Something Incredible

The Margaritas Started Pouring with IncredibleBank

At the suggestion of their new landlord, Ya-Ya contacted IncredibleBank. A Mexican restaurant has different needs than your average tavern - from commercial blenders for mixing margaritas to chip warmers, grills, and freezers, and IncredibleBank was able to help finance these major purchases. To save money and to provide a unique dining experience, the partners and their families handmade the tables and other furniture, painted the interior, and decorated the restaurant in the vibrant colors of the Mexican culture.

As Ya-Ya said, “We’re doing great. It was difficult at first because suppliers wanted to be paid the same day for food, equipment, and supplies, but we found some people who gave us more time. That helped us put more time and effort into our food which is very important. All three partners have different food philosophies, but we agreed that the presentation must be beautiful and colorful.”

They’re Not Done Yet

And now that Ya-Ya and her partners have the success of opening their first restaurant under their belt, their dreams have gone into overdrive. Now their eyes are on a new dream: expansion to two or three more locations with “the amazing help and support of IncredibleBank.” She says the IncredibleBank team remains active in their assistance with Casa Amigos.

“IncredibleBank is so amazing and so easy to work with. I interact with them all the time and they always answer my questions – and I have a lot of them,” said Ya-Ya.




























































































































“We are so thankful to IncredibleBank for their help and continued support. Business ownership was new to us so all of the paperwork, the accounting, the financial part of owning a restaurant, and many other things were so new to us. We just weren’t able to open Casa Amigos without our friends at IncredibleBank. They are so amazing.”

Yareli Guitierrez
Co-Owner
Casa Amigos

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