Check out the inspiring stories of Intuit IDEAS program entrepreneurs who are making a difference in their communities.
Building a business around family
Jeannette and Ken didn’t set out to build a multi-concept food business together. They set out to build a life.
After meeting in San Francisco in 1993, the couple spent years working in restaurants and retail, often on nights and weekends. However, when they started thinking about having kids, they knew they wanted something different.
“We wanted to be with our family. We wanted to be with our kids,” Jeannette says. “I wanted a job from Monday to Friday so I could be home by 6 p.m.”
That idea became Buenos Días Café, which they opened in 2013 on the campus of Georgia State University. The concept was simple: fresh, high-quality food, served during the day.
It worked. The café became more than a place to eat. It became a space where students gathered, connected, and felt at home.“ We had a really strong community at Georgia State,” Ken says. “They were like our kids—without us paying for their tuition!”
Creating something people didn’t know they needed
From the beginning, Jeannette and Ken approached food differently. Jeannette grew up in El Salvador on a small family farm, surrounded by fresh fruits and vegetables. That experience shaped how she thinks about food and community.
“I grew up in local markets,” she says. “Sharing what you have with other people was part of it.”
At the café, they noticed something quickly: students were looking for fresh food they couldn’t find elsewhere. “Nobody else offered fresh vegetables downtown,” Ken says. “We realized that was going to be our differentiation.” That mindset carried forward as they expanded beyond the café.
Today, La Bodega Market is a community grocery and food space in Atlanta, offering local produce and packaged goods from other food entrepreneurs. It’s become a place where people can access fresh food—and discover something new.
“It’s not just to serve people,” Jeannette says. “It’s to find out what they actually need” and provide access to it.
Changing everything with a pandemic-era pivot
Like many small businesses, the pandemic forced Jeannette and Ken to rethink what they were doing.
They began making pupusas, a Salvadoran flatbread stuffed with fillings like cheese, beans, and pork, for a local farmer’s market. The response was positive and immediate, and what began as a pivot quickly became one of their biggest opportunities.
Jeannette and Ken expanded into new variations, including vegan, vegetarian, and breakfast pupusas, and began selling them frozen so customers could take them home.
For Jeannette, it became something bigger than a product. “It’s a little bit of our country, a little bit of our culture,” she says.
Growing with Intuit IDEAS
As the business grew, so did the complexity behind it. Through the Intuit IDEAS program, Jeannette and Ken gained software and support across financial management, marketing, and leadership.
Their QuickBooks software became especially important after they purchased their building, which introduced a new level of complexity. “We were already using QuickBooks,” Ken says. “But buying the building brought in things we didn’t understand.” Working with a QuickBooks expert, he was able to clean up and better organize their books.
Jeannette points to using Mailchimp as another area of growth. “I had no idea how that was working. Now it’s something we can use,” she says, to create effective email marketing campaigns.
Beyond tools, the coaching they received helped Jeannette rethink how she leads. She learned how to better manage employees with different expectations and how to balance her own high standards with where others are. “It’s not just the numbers,” she says. “It’s also how you deal with people.”
Giving back to the community
For Jeannette and Ken, the business has always been about more than what they sell.
At La Bodega, they host pop-ups and share their kitchen with other food entrepreneurs, giving people a way to test ideas without the cost of opening a restaurant. Some go on to build businesses, while others realize they need more time and learning.
With a permanent home now in place, Jeannette and Ken are focused on what comes next. They see opportunities to expand their products and grow La Bodega Market beyond Atlanta, while staying rooted in the same goal: building a business that serves both their family and their community.
About Intuit IDEAS
IDEAS stands for Invest, Develop, Empower, Accelerate and Scale.
Intuit IDEAS is a program empowering small business owners in cities across the United States to help improve entrepreneurs with their functioning, efficiency, earnings, and capital readiness.
Through Intuit IDEAS, small business owners receive free access to Intuit’s AI-driven expert platform and products, including QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and TurboTax. In addition to support from Intuit’s expert network, Intuit IDEAS participants also receive business counseling, executive coaching, and a grant to help them grow their businesses. Small business owners are boosting their revenue by an average of 23% and saving 16.5 hours monthly, enabling them to focus on growing their businesses and make a bigger impact in their communities.