Buena Papa Fry Bar: Creating A Latino French Fry Specialty

At Buena Papa Fry Bar, which has four locations in N.C. and Florida, Latino-style Fries are the … [+] specialty item building a clientele. Pictured is its Raleigh, N.C. Morgan Food Hall location.

Courtesy of Buena Papa

When the pandemic in 2020 shuttered the cleaning business that husband and wife James and Johanna Windon were running, they started preparing various food dishes in their kitchen. Since Johanna hailed from Bogota, Colombia before immigrating to New Jersey when she was 8, she started making tasty, tangy Latino-style French fries.

And since James’ dad was a line cook, his roots growing up in Morristown, N.J., were in the restaurant business. After consuming one meal that Johanna concocted and loving the taste of his wife’s fries, James exclaimed, “Kids, we’re starting a fry business.”

And so the couple launched Buena Papa Fry Bar as a pop-up at the Morgan Street Food Hall in Raleigh, N.C. in 2021, specializing in Latino-infused French fries.

Latino French fries are creating a whole new category at Buena Papa Fry Bar and with an investment from a Shark Tank member is primed to grow.

When they debuted, they did so on a limited budget and kept their spending in check. In fact, James Windon says they debuted in a compact space of about 200 square feet inside of a food hall. That cost them $40,000 to finance, which they did with personal savings without having to tap additional funding.

Most people, outside of a city like New York, aren’t familiar with these Latino flavors, James suggests. So they use the French fries as a base, instead of rice, and then add Colombian flavors such as beans, chorizo and pork belly and it turns into a satisfying meal. “Not just a side dish,” James notes.

But it opened during the pandemic, James Windon said, and times were tough, and the food hall made it cost-effective. “You have built in food traffic; it’s a destination.”

The husband-and-wife team, who were new to the restaurant business (she had been an elementary school teacher and he was in marketing), learned many important lessons. James explains, “Most of all we learned to know our numbers, about food costs, buying too much product and being overstaffed.”

But they also learned that tapping Instagram and TicToc with reels, short videos, with clips of the food being made could draw a crowd. And when an influencer Raise Is Crazy showed up and disseminated clips to her 60 million followers the brand took off and lines were forming out the door.

They opened a second location at a Durham Food Court and then the Carolina Hurricanes invited them to the PNC Arena, and added a fourth in Wynwood, Florida. Most of the subsequent spaces are larger than the initial one at 800 to 1,000 square feet.

Then they started franchising. “From the beginning, we wanted to explore these flavors and take them across America,” James Windon said. And franchising enables them to grow with the least amount of capital needed.

Currently Buena Papa Fry Bar has 8 franchised locations, with 5 in N.J., 2 in N.C. and 1 in Atlanta.

One of its most popular dishes is the bandeja paisa, a traditional Colombian dish, which consists of beans, rice, arepa, chorizo, plantain, avocado and beef.

Then the duo appeared on an episode of “Shark Tank” in October 2023 when one of the Sharks, Robert Herjavec, acquired 19% of the company for $400,000. Since then, it has been deluged with inquiries about franchising.

Herjavec was impressed most with the margins, James Windon notes, since one major product is potatoes, which are relatively inexpensive.

Despite their emerging success, one lesson on the show they learned from Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran was “go slow and don’t expand too fast,” James says. Based on their feedback, which the due absorbed, they’re keeping expansion in 2024 down to 10 to 15 despite the glut of responses.

On the show, Kevin Leary declined because he prefers to dine on a healthy diet, not one revolving around French fries. And what do nutritious minded people choose at Buena Papa? Sweet potato fries with smoked salmon, James replies, which isn’t really healthy, but not as heavy as other dishes.

Like most eateries these days, off-premises plays a major role. Windon estimates that about 30% of its revenue stems from take-out and delivery.

Yelp reaction was mostly positive such as Rachel from Orlando saying the “fries were fresh, and the Columbiano with pork belly was yummy.” Though Surelayne from Apex, N.C., liked it she noted, “It’s definitely not for someone on a diet.” And Michalea recommended they create more vegan options.

Asked the three keys to its continued success, James Windon replies: 1) Strategic planning, 2) Don’t change the culture, 3) Customer service is everything.