Macon Magazine

62 maconmagazine.com | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 "We risked it all" Angelica has never been a fan of fast food. To her, a meal should always be homemade with fresh ingredients, just like her Abuela taught her. "It's important for me to make tortillas made from scratch, whether it's for my children or for whoever I cook for," said Angelica. From-scratch tortillas and other authentic Mexican dishes couldn't be found downtown until La Bella Morelia opened in 2017 on the corner of Poplar St. and MLK. La Bella Morelia means 'The Beautiful Morelia', referring to Morelia, the state capital of Michoacán. "I wanted to bring the flavor of my rancho to Macon. We make everything from scratch, down to the different salsa made for each plate," said Angelica. "For our salsas, it's peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt, and pepper. The most natural ingredients possible." Opening a business was not easy for the Marin family. They didn't know where to start, but they learned. Before opening the restaurant, German worked at El Sombrero as a bartender, where he learned about the restaurant business and what it took to run a successful one. Once they found a location, they hit the ground running. "We used all of our savings and risked it all," said German. ABOVE German mixes a cocktail at La Bella Morelia. That risk would pay off. They had lines out the door some days as their customers from Smiley's followed them to their new location and spread the word across the county. They had no plan for marketing, and they did not need it. They stayed busy thanks to the people of Macon. "Our customers are very special to us. They're more like family at this point," Angelica reflected. It wasn't even a year before they knew they had to expand. Their location was getting too small for their growing business. Their customers agreed and even helped them learn about new building leases, with the understanding that they wanted to stay in downtown. Growth on Mulberry As luck would have it, a spot on Mulberry St. became available as their lease on Poplar was ending in 2018. This space doubled their footprint, with room to spare for a full bar. Even then, there were some doubters who said the restaurant would not thrive on "that side of downtown," but Angelica knew they would be okay. "I always tell my kids to have faith and work hard, and that's just what we did," she said. As the restaurant grew, even the skeptical enjoyed the new space, expanded menu, and full bar. The convenient location near the Bibb County Courthouse even attracted new customers.

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