It’s not easy to make it in the restaurant business. In their first year, 17 percent of restaurants fail. Only about half make it past five years. And profits typically average about three to five percent.
Leticia Mitchell has seen both failure and success. And it’s the latter that has her months away from opening her third Mexican restaurant, Leticia’s Cocina and Cantina, in Boulder Station.
As locals have supported her restaurants, she has returned that support to other Las Vegas business owners. Since opening her first restaurant, Leticia’s Mexican Cocina, in 2009, she has tried to buy everything locally — a distinguishing aspect of her career in dining and hospitality.
One of Mitchell’s Southern Nevada partners is Latin food distributor Tortillas Los Arcos, which brings ingredients like Oaxacan cheese and handmade tortillas from Mexico — an example of how she’s established her brand: through both community ties and cultural authenticity. “My whole goal was to bring the real traditional flavors of Mexico to my community,” she said. “We’ve never cut corners on that.”
Mitchell rejects the idea that Mexican food must be “Americanized” for it to be profitable. She believes that diners can recognize and appreciate authenticity in their dishes.
“People have told me, ‘No, you’ve got to do it for the masses, for the Americans, they know what they like,’” she said. “To that I say, no, they know what’s good. That’s what I’ve always gone on.”
That mindset has carried her through challenging times in her career. When one of her previous locations closed due to rising rent, even after hosting large community events, Mitchell saw it as not as a loss, but a lesson.
“There’s no such thing as failure,” she said. “It’s just how not to do it. In this business, you have to suck it up and keep going.”
Which means continuing to focus on strengthening her connection to Las Vegas on both the cultural and business fronts.
“You have to find a way to really enhance yourself into those communities,” Mitchell said. “Hopefully they'll try it. You know, something new.”
Guest: Leticia Mitchell, restaurateur and owner, Leticia's Cocina and Cantina
