A food truck parked at 3490 Rosemeade Parkway at Marsh Lane in Carrollton is frying whole empanadas, slicing them open like a surgical incision, and stuffing them with a second round of fillings — a Venezuelan street food technique that sold out the operation twice in its first two weeks. Empanada Factory, founded by Gloria Romero and Samuel Gómez, serves what's known in Venezuela as empanadas operadas, and the couple says keeping the food quality consistent has been the priority since day one.
The technique itself has deep roots in Venezuelan street food tradition. According to PANNA New Latino Food, empanadas operadas are made by deep-frying cornmeal dough pastries whole before slicing them open down the side to insert additional hot and cold fillings — unlike traditional sealed empanadas that are cooked shut. Per CultureMap Dallas, Empanada Factory's operadas hold up to 4 ounces of filling, compared with the roughly 1.5 ounces a traditional empanada typically carries.
Romero and Gómez, who are from central Venezuela, offer six fillings at the truck, including queso blanco, jamonada, chicken, shredded beef, cazón, and a seafood mix, the outlet reports. Base empanadas run $4 to $6, and customers can pile on extra toppings — among them black beans, cheese, plantains, chorizo, sausage, melted gouda, and avocado — for $1 each.
A Menu Built Around Venezuelan Staples
Beyond the empanadas, the truck's menu leans into other Venezuelan comfort foods. CultureMap notes the truck offers $12 arepa bowls with one protein and three toppings, along with quesillo venezolano — a Venezuelan dessert similar to flan but with a firmer texture — for $4. Drinks include lattes, drip coffee, Venezuelan sodas, and fresh fruit shakes in mango, passion fruit, blackberry, and guanábana flavors.
Romero told the outlet that Carrollton was a deliberate choice, describing the city as established in Latin culture with a location accessible to everybody. That framing lines up with local demographics: U.S. Census Bureau estimates for 2024–2026 show foreign-born residents make up 28.0% of Carrollton's roughly 134,000 people, while Hispanic or Latino residents account for 32.3% of the city's population.
Riding a Wave of Venezuelan Migration to North Texas
The truck's arrival also tracks with a broader demographic shift across the region. Census Bureau data reported by CBS News Texas in January put the Venezuelan population in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex at an estimated 20,000, part of roughly 122,000 Venezuelan residents statewide — making Texas home to the second-largest Venezuelan population in the country behind Florida. The Migration Policy Institute reported in February 2025 that the U.S. Venezuelan-born population grew 318% between 2010 and 2023, far outpacing the 20% growth rate of the broader foreign-born population nationally, with about 95% of Venezuelan immigrants settling in major metro areas.
That growth built on a decade of migration into North Texas specifically. KERA News reported in January 2023 that the Venezuelan population across the state grew 150% between 2010 and 2020, from under 30,000 to more than 62,000 residents, aided by community organizations such as Casa Venezuela in Dallas that help newly arrived families with business and social integration.
The Truck Doubles as a Tech Testing Ground
Romero and Gómez own several businesses, and per CultureMap, neighboring food trucks are already clients of another company the couple runs: Redy POS, an all-in-one ordering platform for food trucks and quick-service restaurants. Corporate records show Redy POS operates under Kickoff Business Solutions LLC, headquartered in nearby Little Elm, and the platform advertises zero monthly subscription fees with dual-pricing payment processing, according to Redy POS. Empanada Factory functions as a real-world test kitchen and showcase for the software, which the outlet reports streamlines ordering and fulfillment for the truck's operations.
The truck offers website pre-ordering and direct home delivery within a 10-mile radius, with no third-party app markup, per the CultureMap report. On DoorDash, individual base items are also listed for delivery to surrounding Carrollton neighborhoods, including the Queso Clasico white cheese empanada at $6.03 and the Pollo Esmechado pulled chicken empanada.
Limited Hours, Big Demand
Empanada Factory currently operates on limited weekend-only hours, from 8 am to 2 pm, and it has already sold out during its first two weeks in business, according to CultureMap. That kind of early demand comes as Carrollton continues to lean into its multicultural food scene — the city hosts the annual Carrollton Culture Fest, formerly known as World of Foodies, every September at Trinity Mills Esplanade, featuring global food vendors and multicultural performances.
The truck's launch also arrives amid a shifting regulatory landscape for mobile vendors statewide. Effective July 1, House Bill 2844 shifted annual permitting and health inspection authority for mobile food vendors to the Texas Department of State Health Services, replacing individual municipal permits while still requiring trucks to comply with local zoning rules, according to the City of Carrollton. Food trucks operating across DFW municipal borders have previously dealt with overlapping city and county permit fees, a friction point KERA News highlighted in October 2023 as an ongoing financial hurdle for mobile vendors expanding beyond a single suburb.
