Family-owned meat market finds fresh start after devastating fire
By Jodi Long
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DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Music, friendly greetings and a busy meat counter welcome customers to Cerro Grande, a family-owned Mexican market.
Owner Jose Lopez, a fourth-generation butcher born in Mexico and raised in Iowa, designed the shop to serve both Latino customers and the broader community. Its shelves carry familiar Hispanic groceries, while its meat counter offers Mexican specialty cuts and unconventional sausages, including mango habanero and chile relleno.
“I grew up in Iowa for such a long time,” Lopez said. “I told my dad, ‘Let’s put a twist on our own shop.’”
The business is a family effort. Lopez’s father works behind the meat counter, his mother works in the kitchen, and his sisters, wife and 1-year-old son help create its welcoming atmosphere.
For customer Brenda Diaz, the market provides a connection to home.
“You come in and then you can speak your language,” Diaz said. “You feel like you’re home.”
The family opened the Des Moines location after an electrical fire destroyed its Ottumwa market last summer. Lopez also lost his home, job and nearly everything inside the building. The family rebuilt, opening Cerro Grande’s new location in July.
Lopez now uses the market’s social media following to promote other Hispanic community members and businesses.
“If you’re not taking care of the community, your community doesn’t take care of you,” he said. “First things first, we have to take care of the community.”
Although Lopez has considered expanding, he wants Cerro Grande to remain small enough to preserve its family atmosphere.
“You could say hard work,” Lopez said, “but I’d say it’s just life.”
Cerro Grande is located at 2517 Hubbell Avenue in Des Moines.
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