How it began

Hello, I'm Jorge, founder of Cassava.

The first time I tried making an apple pie at home, I was shocked to learn that it can be made entirely from scratch with about 5 ingredients. I was used to grocery store pastries made with dozens of unpronounceable ingredients. It was a simple yet clarifying moment, and since then, I’ve made a concerted effort to keep myself, my family, and now my customers, away from those frankenfoods.

[store-bought croissant]

What have we done to our food?

Ditch the artificial mystery ingredients and nasty processed oils and grab some of the highest quality and best tasting empanadas available.

In 2010, I opened a small restaurant in Chicago selling empanadas similar to the ones I grew up eating in Ecuador. The crust is naturally gluten-free, derived from the tuberous root of the Cassava plant, and the fillings are made with fresh vegetables and meats, with nothing artificial and cooked without processed vegetable oils. In fact, we cook everything using only coconut oil, butter, or our own grass-fed tallow. That’s how food should be made. My food philosophy is:

If I wouldn't feed it to my kids, I won't put it on the menu.

The City of Chicago required us to move out of our restaurant in 2018 to make way for a large city project, so we took that opportunity to transition to a large catering facility that has allowed us to expand our wholesale, catering, and online capacity and deliver our empanadas nationwide.

Thank you for being part of this journey!

-Jorge