In Barrio Logan, a restaurant called Café Maggi tells a story that’s as much about perseverance as it is about food. Owners David Granda and Argelia Ventura first met as teenagers busing tables and hosting guests at a restaurant in Old Town, decades before either of them had any thought of running a business of their own.
That early job turned into a friendship, then a relationship, then marriage — and eventually, a shared dream of building something of their own. David climbed through nearly every job in a restaurant kitchen, learning the trade from the ground up, while Argelia built a reputation for remembering every regular’s name and order.
Their first venture wasn’t a restaurant at all — it was a modest fruit stand near Mission College, where a $100 sales day felt like a victory worth celebrating. When they eventually sold the stand to open their first full restaurant, their roughly $15,000 in combined savings barely covered the basics: rent, permits, a remodel, and kitchen equipment. At one particularly tight moment, a supplier extended them credit so they could keep the shelves stocked — a gesture David says he’s never forgotten.
The couple pushed forward, and by around 2019 they were ready to open a second location. Then the pandemic hit just months later, forcing them to rethink nearly everything about how they operated. Many of their employees came back once things stabilized, and today the two Café Maggi locations together support more than 40 jobs across San Diego.
The restaurant’s name is a tribute to Argelia’s mother, Maggie, who dreamed of opening her own restaurant but never got the chance. Breakfast is the busiest time of day, and David points to the chilaquiles as the dish he’s proudest of putting on the menu.
Their sons, David Jr. and Luís Ángel, grew up around the restaurant’s rhythms before choosing their own paths — one into computer science, the other into medicine. David has said that watching his sons find their own direction is an investment that beats anything money could buy.
For small business owners across San Diego, Café Maggi’s path is a reminder that a lot of big businesses start small — sometimes with nothing more than a fruit stand and a $100 day worth celebrating.
Source: Times of San Diego
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