Brownsville’s La Pale takes paleterias to a sweet new level with H-E-B expansion

By Julie Silva

For the Alcazars, la paleta is more than the sweet treat at the center of their successful businesses. 

It’s a reminder of their Mexican ancestry’s culture and history. It’s the smile of each child and adult alike who taste the frozen snack made simply of water, sugar and fruit.

And, yes, it’s also how a family of entrepreneurs has made a living for generations, originating in the small town of Tocumbo, Michoacan, in the 1930s and ’40s. 

The most recent generation opened La Pale Frozen Fruit Bar in 2019 and has seen the business grow into 110 H-E-Bs over the last year, with help from resources like Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation. 

“In the beginning, when the family was opening these ice cream stores, paleterias, they were farmers,” Daisy Alcazar said. “Since they were in the fields, we had access to a lot of these fruits, so that’s why a lot of our paletas are very fruity.”

Alcazar, 32, learned of the rich history of her husband’s connection to La Michoacan paleterias as she and Gerardo Alcazar, 32, prepared to open their own shop in Brownsville. 

She said the family’s original focus was on opening new stores. 

“For us, it was about branding and about sharing the culture and understanding that if we don’t share the practice, it’s going to get lost,” the small business owner said. 

Rough beginnings

The couple opened the shop just ahead of the pandemic. 

Still, between Daisy Alcazar’s drive to learn everything she could about product development, data, and branding, and Gerardo Alcazar’s lifelong experience making paletas with his family, they survived.

They’ve continued to level up, selling out for the first time ever during this year’s Charro Days. 

Sales have been up in the past few weeks, and the couple believes the community needs sweet treats now more than ever.

“When we came in, we were kind of like the grandkids of the paleteros,” Daisy Alcazar said.

La Pale has 30 flavors of ice cream and 50 flavors of paletas, including blackberry and cream cheese, rompope, fresas con crema and cookies and cream. 

Its health-conscious owners found that conventional sugar is often bleached with bone char, so Daisy Alcazar developed genuinely vegan recipes using cane sugar. Her children grew up eating paletas, and she emphasized that they are plant-based with no artificial coloring or additives.

“As we’re growing and we’re scaling, it’s just so hard because you want it to go fast because it’s the nitty-gritty — it’s the hard part,” she said. “But when we see it in the people, they’re seeing us struggle, and they want to help out, and they want to come and support. That makes a big difference for us.

“We’re still local, we’re still small, we’re still in Brownsville.” 

An eBridge boost

In 2023, Daisy Alcazar first participated in the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation’s Startup Texas initiative, a business accelerator that partners with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and connects budding entrepreneurs with information and advisers to help them grow their businesses. 

The initiative focuses on attracting investors, building trust, and pitching your business, said Astrid Rosales, the corporation’s business development and entrepreneurship officer.

One key skill it instills in entrepreneurs is the ability to pivot. 

“That’s important within our community and our culture, specifically,” Rosales said, “because we have so many businesses that are legacy businesses.” 

Daisy Alcazar later made a pitch through the corporation’s eBridge program, winning enough money to buy a package sealer in 2023. The same year, they came in second at the North American Paleta Championship in Las Vegas.

The Alcazars then competed in the company’s Quest for the Best in 2024, landing fifth, just short of a cash prize. 

It was still a win, however. 

For two years, they had worked with the South Texas grocer to have La Pale products in H-E-B stores, an achievement they reached in February 2025. 

The sealer they purchased through the eBridge program helped La Pale meet H-E-B’s demand requirements.   

Rosales said she recently saw Daisy Alcazar at an event, who asked what she could do to help others. She’s already a presenter at UTRGV’s Startup Week. 

“These entrepreneurs build such a strong network,” Rosales said, “and they have the ability to meet people that mentor them. Now they’re at a phase of mentoring themselves.” 

Daisy Alcazar is still seeking help from advisers as she weighs an offer to expand into 3,600 stores — a daunting prospect she’s considering. 

It’s a lot. Daisy Alcazar jokes she allows herself 10 minutes to cry in the morning, and then she shows up. 

“It’s one of those surreal moments. You pray, and you hope that one day you sell out,” she said. “And then it’s like, OK, we’re here. What do we do? 

“My husband is like, turn on the machines. We’re just going to manufacture until we can’t.”

That’s the difference between the two of them, she said.

For her, it’s about branding, production and numbers. 

For him?

“He was born into this.”