Henriquez-Mata is a Student, Entrepreneur, and Restauranteur

Ashley Henriquez-Mata, a student in the School of Business at St. John Fisher University, spent her junior year balancing her course workload with a new entrepreneurial venture: La Salvi, a restaurant she runs with her mother.

The mother-daughter team opened their business in The Commissary, an incubator for restauranteurs located in the Sibley Building in downtown Rochester.    

Henriquez-Mata had been cooking the idea of opening a restaurant rooted in Salvadoran and Mexican cuisine for several years. With guidance from Dr. Chantz Miles, the Rebecca Pelino ’86 Entrepreneur-in-Residence and visiting assistant professor in the School of Business, she was able to put all of the pieces in place. Henriquez-Mata said that finding the right location, filing the correct paperwork, and handling the marketing and social media for the business were all challenges,  along with balancing life as an undergraduate student.

“Opening a restaurant is a lot of behind-the-scenes paperwork, it takes months to have everything ready,” she explained, adding that the dream of providing Salvadorian food to the community is worth the effort. “It was time for someone to do it, and it just happened to be me.”

La Salvi opened to the public on Monday, April 8; and the excitement generated from the Eclipse helped make the day a success. Henriquez-Mata said the community response has been very positive and supportive.

La Salvi is located at 240 E Main Street and can be found on Instagram at @LaSalviRoc.