What started in the trunk of Aaron Barranco's van 14 years ago in East Los Angeles has turned into a stand that has since grown into a pop-up that now sells in more than 7 areas of the county. Alongside Iván Barranco, this father and son duo grew the business and now operate as a family, serving the most popular yogurts in Boyle Heights and possibly all of Los Angeles.

“The idea arose in Mexico; we saw how they sold something similar there, but with gelatin, and I said: let's do that, but with yogurt and fruits,” said Aaron, owner of Barrancos Fruit. “And thank God it has gone very well for us.”

On Thursday morning, Aaron, 57, and his son Ivan, 28, were already at their post in Boyle Heights; Their tables were filled with buckets of yogurt of different flavors, coolers with personal yogurts and, among the team, they prepared the day's sale. By 7 in the morning they were ready to receive their clients.

When visiting their stall, you can see that, on one side, there are other vendors, such as some ladies who sold roast chickens; At the other stand, to their right, they sold delicious carnitas and chilaquiles, but even so, every few minutes several cars passed by that came specifically for their yogurt with delicious fresh fruits.

With every minute that passed, it was noticeable how the mountain of yogurts they had began to disappear thanks to the people who were heading to work in the morning and arriving at Barrancos Fruit for breakfast.

“He gives me two mangoes, one with everything and the other just with honey,” said a customer who was buying his breakfast.

But before they gained 16k followers on TikTok and 26k on Instagram, they started from scratch and, in fact, started with shave ice, not yogurt. For Aaron, who is from Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico, it all started selling shaved ice.

“I started selling shaved ice in '96 and it did well, but when we introduced yogurt it became more popular and that's when we decided to only sell prepared yogurt,” said Aaron. "In a van I removed the back seats and we started from there; I visited factories and businesses; I went to downtown Los Angeles and we walked everywhere."

In 2012 he said that was when he decided to stop selling shaved ice, although the sale was going well; He said he noticed people started seeking out his yogurts more. As an entrepreneur and street vendor, he said that he did have problems with security in the places where he sold, who told them that they could not sell on the street, chasing them from their premises.

But instead of getting discouraged and giving up, Aaron said it motivated him to get his permits and start selling at farmers markets and swapmeets.

"At first, when he told us that he wanted to stop selling shaved ice, I was confused because I asked myself: Why? We are doing very well, but after trying his recipe and seeing how much people liked it, I began to see his vision," said his son Iván.

Iván said that he has been able to see how much effort his parents have put into their business over the years, since from the age of 15 he accompanied his father when he was hired to sell at parties.

Now, as an adult, he helps his dad not only with the operation of the business, but also with the introduction to social media. Although he had a few years in which he focused on his own business, he said that when he sold it, he decided to return to help his father.

“A cousin had taught me the importance of social media and how it can help a business and I started making videos,” Iván said. “Incorporate everything from social networks: photos, reels, telling your story so that people know the person who sells their favorite yogurts.”

And boy, the love they put into their yogurts is noticeable and savored. Each yogurt has chopped fruit, such as pineapple, coconut, mango, passion fruit, and more. And yogurts aren't super sweet; The sweet comes from fruits and honey. Each Barranco-style yogurt is a refreshing and healthy bite, with a yogurt and wheat base and, on top, they prepare it with amaranth, honey, walnuts and granola: something so simple but delicious. The perfect breakfast or snack.

For both of them, their favorite part of the job is not only seeing how much people love their youres recipe, but also being able to coexist as a family, father and son. Each one learning from the other.

“It feels amazing to be able to work with my dad and my family,” Iva said, her eyes filled with pride and tears. "I know how much my parents have worked over the years, and being able to be with them in the business, work alongside them and see how we grow as a family and as a company. I think that has brought us all together even more."

For both of them, the ideal plan is to distribute their yogurts to different stores and have their own location where they can place larger orders. But for now there are a few days in which they work from 7 to 11 doing pop-ups at farmers markets, at events like Smorgasburg and others.

“We want to grow more; we want to be in more cities,” Aaron said. "And of course living as a family makes us stronger; I tell him that he is the future of our business and he is going to go further than us; I know why he is already doing it."

To find out where they sell each week, visit their Instagram page, where they publish their sales days.

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