Meet Isis Arrieta-Dennis | The Arepa Place/Colombian Restaurant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Isis Arrieta-Dennis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Isis, how does your business help the community?
As a black, Hispanic, female business owner, I would like to think that I embody the area’s cultural and ethnic diversity, and minority-owned businesses have proven to have a positive impact on the overall stability and morale of the diverse communities in which they operate. Also, I believe my business contributes to local economic growth by offering local residents employment opportunities, by providing food items for all income levels, and lastly, by satisfying the growing demand for Hispanic products.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My name is Isis Arrieta-Dennis, and I am the owner of The Arepa Place, a Colombian restaurant with two locations in Cincinnati, Ohio. The restaurant specializes in stuffed arepas and empanadas. I am an Afro-Colombian woman who has lived in the United States for over 15 years.

I have always celebrated my cultural identity through food. In fact, my passion for cooking blossomed once I started preparing Colombian dishes for friends and acquaintances as a way to share my culture. This naturally served as motivation to officially start my business in the spring of 2016. With little restaurant experience, I decided it was best to start slowly and ease my way into the industry. I was fortunate to find Findlay Kitchen, an incubator kitchen in Over the Rhine, Cincinnati where I was able rent equipment and storage space. After preparing the food at Findlay Kitchen, I then sold my dishes from a pop-up tent on the weekends at Findlay Market, local events, and festivals. With help from both my mother and husband, we served food this way for over two years as a way to gain experience and build a customer base before finally opening a brick-and-mortar at Findlay Market in the fall of 2018.

In February 2022, I also opened a restaurant in Wyoming, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.

Owning a business based on a cultural product that forms a significant part of my identity is not only motivating, but also empowering. My family is also a huge motivating factor for me. My mother, who is a now US resident, helps tremendously with the business, and in fact, many of the restaurant’s recipes are hers. She has sacrificed so much for her children, and I want to make her proud. Above all, I hope to serve as an example of a strong, intelligent, and successful woman for my son and daughter.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I have a friend visiting me for the first time, I would do the following: First of all, I would invite my friend to go to Findlay Kitchen where I started making my Colombian dishes, and then, we would visit Findlay Market, the oldest continuously operated market in Ohio. I would take my friend out for lunch to The Arepa Place and visit all the different vendors around and inside the market.
Since we have excellent breweries in Cincinnati, we would visit places such as the Samuel Adams Taproom, Rhinegeist Brewery, MadTree, and Taft Ale House. We would ride the streetcar and see the city, making stops at Washington Park and then Fountain Square where would go up to the roof of the Carew Tower for a panoramic view of the city. We would also stop by the Banks to see the Ohio River, the Great American Ball Park, and the beautiful John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge.
We could also visit the Cincinnati Museum Center where I would show my friend the exhibit called “Made in Cincinnati” where The Arepa Place is featured. We should also visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and then have dinner at Mita’s. I would also suggest an actual guided city tour since I too am still learning about the rich history of many places in Cincinnati.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Arepa Place came to fruition largely due to the guidance and support we received from our small business coaches Dave Riggs and Dan Nagel, family, and former Findlay Kitchen director, Marianne Hamilton, former manager, Anthony Berin, and former president and CEO of Findlay Market, Joe Hansbauer. Anthony, especially, shared his knowledge about the restaurant business, cooking equipment, and vendor licenses needed to serve our food from a booth outside at Findlay Market. And Findlay Kitchen provided the cooking equipment and the space needed to start working toward my dream of having my own business. In the end, all of the above-mentioned individuals shared essential knowledge, wisdom, and advice that contributed to the eventual opening of The Arepa Place brick and mortar. It was a great way for us to get started. This particular dish had been growing in popularity in other parts of the country like Washington D.C., Chicago, New York, and even Columbus. I wanted to contribute to the arepa’s growing popularity here in Cincinnati.

Website: arepaplace.com

Instagram: @arepaplace.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arepaplace

Image Credits
Amy Smethurst