“I just wanted to open up my own business so my brother and I could live our dreams,” Bucio said, referring to Arturo, who is the co-owner of Gabriela’s Group.
Bucio was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and moved to McAllen when she was 5 years old. She lived in Austin off and on before moving to the area permanently in 2010.
Gabriela started Gabriela’s Group in 2018 with Gabriela’s Downtown and has grown to a burgeoning empire with eight locations.
Bucio said she always knew she would be successful, but she did not think her company would grow so big so fast.
The company now has around 500 employees. Her mother and brother Salvador are also involved in the business.
Gabriela’s Group includes two locations of Mexican restaurant Gabriela’s, two locations of the pink-themed taco spot Taquero Mucho, seafood restaurant Seareinas and Revival Coffee.
The group also opened nightclubs Mala Vida in downtown and Mala Santa in Southeast Austin that focus on Mexican regional music. Bucio said that her businesses are loved by a broad swath of groups, but her initial success stems in part from the support of her “Mexillenial,” a combination of the words Mexican and millennial, followers.
“At first, we were just being ourselves. That’s who we are: we’re younger Latinos, and the community really responded to it,” Bucio said. “So once we started to grow, I started to understand the importance of what we were doing, but it didn’t hit me until Mala Vida opened. And it’s like, ‘Oh, OK, we needed this.’”
Bucio also recognizes the importance of businesses catering to women.
“When you think of a seafood restaurant, you think of a captain or the fishies and the pirate, super masculine. But I wanted a mermaid as the logo, and I wanted a nice interior, and I wanted to stay away from the cliche,” Bucio said.
