How a Miami Craft Croqueta Company Turned Into a Ham-Filled Empire

How often do people order dos croquetas (two ham-filled croquettes) at a typical ventanita in Miami? Alec Fernandez, cofounder of Dos Croquetas, would say every day.

More than five years ago, Fernandez ordered dos croquetas through a Miami bakery's ventanita, and so did the next person in line and the next. It was at this moment that an idea was born — Dos Croquetas, Miami's first croqueta-centric restaurant.

"In line, I thought to myself, people really just say, 'dos croquetas' a lot in Miami; it's almost like saying 'Google,'" recalls Fernandez. "At that moment, I remember looking down at my phone, and right then and there, I bought doscroquetas.com, and I immediately went to Instagram, and I got the 'Dos Croquetas' Instagram handle. I just started getting anything and everything that had to do with that because I realized there was an opportunity to create a craft croqueta company."

While the idea was a simple one, the five-year journey to success was anything but. Fernandez wanted to create something special yet accessible, and he knew he needed the right partner to make his vision come to life. He immediately turned to his aunt, Vicky Carballo, who had a culinary background and a job at a catering company.

After a lot of convincing, Carballo finally agreed to embark on her nephew's "crazy" idea, and in 2016, they officially started testing flavors. For about six months, the duo worked arduously in the kitchen, taking inspiration from dishes they liked, such as Buffalo wings, to create the perfect croquetas.
Once they were happy with the results, it was finally time for the duo to venture into business and start selling the croquetas. The first Dos Croquetas pop-up landed in Doral in what Fernadez calls a "sketchy warehouse," which was all they could afford at the time.

"If you will, it was kinda like Miami's first croqueta speakeasy," he tells New Times. "You really had no idea it was there; people had to ring this doorbell in a sketchy neighborhood. I remember she [Carballo] and I would be next to each other rolling croquetas with hair nets, and sometimes I would go outside to take orders and forget, but I had it on, then ran back inside to fry the order because it was just us at the beginning."

Throughout the hardships of the first pop-up and while running in and out of the warehouse for orders, Fernandez was stunned to see their first returning customer. He recalls that day as a pivotal moment for Dos Croquetas because he saw hope that their creation might just be something that would work.

Spoiler alert: it did work. (And in 2021, they even secured the spot of New Times' best croquetas.)
With the success of the pop-up, in 2019, the cofounders built up the courage to open their first brick-and-mortar location on Bird Road. With a line wrapped around the building, Dos Croquetas was off to become a beloved spot for the neighborhood.

"It was just insane for us," says Fernandez. "Honestly, one month of sales in that little sketchy warehouse was like two days of sales at Bird Road when we first opened. You can only hope at the beginning and be willing to give it a shot, but you have no idea what will really happen. When we opened, that was one of the coolest days of my life; we had a line to the end of the building for hours, so it was really crazy."

During the pandemic, the business stayed afloat with the support from the community through its ventanita and nationwide shipping.

"We've shipped to every single state now, which is just nuts to me," says Fernandez. "You don't really think anyone knows who you are outside of a zip code! There's a map in our office and we put a pin in every state we shipped to, and we've been able to fill every single state."

Earlier this year, the cofounders opened their Little Havana outpost, which, according to Fernandez, exposed Dos Croquetas to a new market with a lot of tourists, giving them a chance to educate people on what a croqueta is and how fun it can be.
This Friday, May 10, Dos Croquetas will celebrate its fifth anniversary with $5 sandwiches, bowls, wraps, shakes, and slushies, along with new menu items. Highlights include a smash burger croqueta, a new cheese croqueta, a croqueta Cubano sandwich, a lechon preparada sandwich, ranch or tajin chicharrones, ham and cheese empanada bites, guava and cheese empanada bites, and Cuban French toast sticks.

With five years down, Fernadez says that in five more years, Miami can expect more croquetas.

"Maybe I'll change the name to Multiple Croquetas," jokes Fernadez. "We're scouting locations, and there's something very special about Bird Road for us. It allowed us to understand we really love neighborhoods, we'd love putting something really cool in the middle of nowhere so people don't have to drive to Miami Beach or the Wynwood. We want to bring a really cool experience to where you live, so we're focusing on neighborhoods next."

Dos Croquetas. 1555 SW Eighth St., Miami; 305-967-8657; and 10505 SW 40th St., Miami; 305-912-3672; doscroquetas.com. Sunday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday through Saturday 9 a.m. until midnight. The anniversary party takes place 9 a.m. to midnight Friday, May 10, at the Bird Road location.