Starting her business in March of 2014, Renee Snow and her Tacos de Nieve observed its 10th anniversary earlier this year and is still growing strong.

“For years, it was word of mouth,” Snow, a longtime Escalon resident, said of how people learned about her traveling taco business. “The community helped me a lot. I always wanted to do something like this, but I didn’t know if I could do it.”

With a small start, doing pop up events and gaining momentum as people tried her food, the business began to grow.

“My husband is a comic book collector; he sold three comic books for $1,500 and we bought all of my stuff, the grill, all my supplies, that’s what we started with,” Snow explained.

The name, Tacos de Nieve, is a play on her last name, as ‘Nieve’ means snow in Spanish. The businesswoman also said getting into the taco business came at the right time.

“I was super lucky that not a lot of people were doing taco parties,” she said.

Snow also had two active young sons, busy with youth football practice and school events, and she was able to work some tacos in to the mix.

“They would have (youth) football practice from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.,” Snow explained of sons Sebastian and Cruz, and she would bring the taco trailer in for Taco Thursdays.

“I figured we were all there, all the parents, we might as well have dinner at the same time,” she said.

Formal events followed, with appearances at the Dent Elementary School annual carnival, the Escalon Educational Foundation’s Edible Expo, and more.

She credits April Adams and Melanie McPherrin of the EEF with booking her for those early community events, getting her name out there.

“That helped things open up,” Snow said, noting that the addition of a website by AmbraJoDesignCo also was a key piece in publicity.

But it’s also about giving back, she said, as Snow has been involved in many community events through the years. She has taken on leadership roles in the Escalon High School Sober Grad tri-tip drive-thru fundraiser, participated in National Night Out in her neighborhood, and this year stepped in as a co-coordinator for the Miss Escalon and Little Miss and Mr. Escalon pageants during the community’s Park Fete celebration.

For the well-known ‘taco lady,’ family is very much a focus, going back to her grandmother, who instilled in her a love of food and a commitment to service.

“Her door was open, there was always food on the stove,” explained Snow.

From her traveling grill for local events, Snow and her Tacos de Nieve business has expanded to now include three separate crews; she heads up one while her sons – Sebastian, now graduated and Cruz, a senior this year at Escalon – lead the other two, so they can handle multiple events on any given weekend. A nephew, Ethan, also works with them and Sebastian, who is now 20, was just 10 when his mom started the business. Snow hopes he takes it over one day.

Each team can do three parties in a day, as they do have time slots for their bookings.

She does make sure her sons and nephew have time to be involved with school and community events as well, offering a balance of work and fun.

“So many of their friends reach out to me,” she said, and she is often able to use them to help out with parties so they can earn some money as well.

Their food is very much in demand, from parties to weddings, birthday celebrations to Farmers Markets and more.

“Usually my weekends are booked,” she admitted. “It’s a family business and it’s gotten down to where we all know our roles.”

She starts her prep work for weekend bookings well in advance, making sure her meat has two days to marinate.

“One of the things I love to make is the rice, it’s my grandmother’s recipe,” Snow added. “You just know the measurements by eyeballing it.”

She prides herself on the fact that people keep coming back, with quality and flavor two key hallmarks of the business.

“Your food has to be good,” she said.

And, she recently had a woman reach out from the San Ramon area, asking if Snow could mentor her through starting a similar business. With people believing in her and giving her a chance 10 years ago, Snow said she was honored to be asked.

“Somebody helped me,” she said of turning it around to help another entrepreneur.

Ultimately, Snow said, the family business is a blessing and it couldn’t have happened without the support of husband Matt, her sons, her nephew and a community that embraced her.

“I can choose when and where I work; I’m as busy as I want to be,” Snow said. “It’s a lot of fun.”