Felipe Zamudio immigrated to Albany from Mexico and built his American Dream at his restaurant, Mi Casa

ALBANY – When Felipe Zamudio first came to Albany, he said it felt like moving to a big city.

Zamudio was leaving behind his hometown of Oaxaca, Mexico, where there were about 300 residents and three or four cars, at most, traveling along its dirt roads. Wanting to be closer to family, and the desire for better work to support family back home in Mexico, brought him to the U.S.

“The whole thing is just rural dirt and trees, mountains, so, I mean, coming here, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m in a really big city,’” he said. “It was a little overwhelming.”

Zamudio didn’t know how to speak English when he moved to Albany. He became a jack of all trades within the restaurant business alongside his brother who moved with him. Fast forward about 15 years, and Zamudio and his family opened Albany’s Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant, which was featured on America’s Best Restaurants in 2023.

As a Hispanic business owner, Zamudio helps bring Georgia to the No. 4 position in the nation for Hispanic-owned businesses. Of Georgia’s businesses, 8.6% are Hispanic-owned, and that number is growing. There was a 13.1% increase in these businesses from 2022 to 2023, according to a recent statewide report.

Zamudio’s hometown was very rural with little resources. He and his family lived in intense poverty and faced intense food insecurity.

“I came from a family where sometimes we ate and sometimes we didn’t,” he said. “Sometimes we didn’t know if the next day we’d have anything to eat or not. Sometimes we’d go to sleep without eating.”

He said it was hard to leave his family behind in Mexico, especially his mother.

“It’s not what people think … ‘just get in line and get your papers.’ It’s not that easy,” Zamudio said.

Still, he knew how hard it was for his family to feed him, and he said he thought he’d be able to support them more by working in the U.S. Zamudio started out working as a dishwasher. He soon moved up the ranks, making chips, then serving. All the while, he was learning English by communicating with customers and other staff, as well as reading and watching books and movies. Zamudio said he fell in love with customer service.

Now, he owns his own restaurant.

“It’s amazing because I feel like he’s got the whole American Dream story of starting from the bottom and working your way up,” his wife, Jennifer Zamudio, said.

Felipe met his wife while working at another local Mexican restaurant. They married, had two children and in November 2019, they opened Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant with Felipe’s brother and cousin.

Jennifer said they named it Mi Casa because they wanted everyone to feel at home.

“We wanted it to be a place where we had diversity and everyone felt welcome,” she said.

They also wanted to bring authentic Mexican food to Albany. Jennifer said while there are other Mexican restaurants in Albany, they are mostly Tex-Mex. The Zamudios wanted theirs to be different.

Jennifer said stepping into the restaurant is like stepping into Oaxaca. The restaurant uses Felipe’s mom’s recipes for empanadas and flautas. When Felipe goes back home to visit, he returns with a new authentic recipe to try.

“He wanted to be able to share that with the Albany community,” Jennifer said. “He wanted people to know … what real Mexican is.”

Felipe said it’s also a way for him and the rest of the Hispanic community to connect with their culture – something he said there aren’t a lot of options for in Albany.

Jennifer said much of the Hispanic population just works hard and goes home. That’s what Felipe did when he first moved to Albany. He said he was nervous about exploring the community, something that a lot of Hispanic migrants feel when they come to the city.

He said he connected with his culture at church, in Latin grocery stores and by playing soccer. Each Sunday, 16 teams gather at Turner Field in Albany to play. It’s a family event. Wives bring their children to watch and socialize. Stands sell tacos, pupusa and fruits.

Jennifer, who grew up in Albany, said sometimes she feels like she hardly sees Latino members of the community and is always shocked by the large congregation that meets each Sunday to play and watch soccer.

At Mi Casa, the Zamudios try to bring more authentic culture beyond celebrating Cinco de Mayo. They celebrate Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16 and on the store’s anniversary, they hire a live Mariachi band. Felipe said he’d like to do more, like celebrating El Dia de Nino, or Children’s Day.

The Zamudios say they plan to educate their children on their heritage, teaching them Spanish and having them attend International Studies Elementary Charter School, where they feel they are getting more of a worldly education.

On some days, Felipe looks in his fridge at home and sees it full to the brim and is reminded of how he grew up and just how different his life is now. But Mi Casa brings him home, just as he hopes it does for other Mexican community members.

“I feel like everybody’s missing food from home,” he said. “So that’s what we try to bring, comforting food from home.”

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
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