Momole gains ground in McAllen as Reynosa-born brand plots U.S. expansion

Momole’s push across the border is gaining traction.

The Reynosa-born mole company estimates its business has grown between 30% and 40% since opening a restaurant inside McAllen’s Mercado District last year, building a base of repeat customers after entering the U.S. market largely unknown.

Now, the family-owned company is preparing for its next moves: another U.S. location and a relocation of its original Reynosa restaurant to make it easier for customers to reach.

“We started from scratch here. Nobody knew us,” co-founder Jocelyn Guerrero Enríquez said of McAllen.

Momole’s growth comes about a year after the company entered the U.S. market. The business started as a three-person restaurant operation in Reynosa in 2019 before developing dehydrated versions of its family mole recipes that could be sold and shipped beyond the restaurant.

Since opening in McAllen, Momole has begun developing a repeat customer base and estimates the location has grown between 30% and 40%, although Guerrero said the business experienced a slowdown during June and July.

Mexican roots earn recognition in McAllen

Momole’s McAllen restaurant recently received the Sello M, a recognition jointly awarded by the Mexican Academy of Gastronomy and Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs through the country’s diplomatic representations abroad.

The designation recognizes businesses preserving Mexican products, ingredients and traditions outside the country. Momole went through a process that included nomination, registration, evaluation and verification, and the recognition must be renewed every two years.

The company was nominated by a customer who discovered Momole in McAllen and encouraged the owners to apply.

“It means having your roots firmly established. That all the ingredients you use are of Mexican origin, that you have a story to tell with your product and that you maintain a Mexican tradition here abroad,” Guerrero said.

That cross-border identity is built into Momole’s supply chain.

Although the company cannot source every ingredient used in its U.S. restaurant directly from Mexico, its primary ingredient — the mole itself — is produced there.

“Our primary raw material is mole. That definitely comes from Mexico,” Guerrero said.

Family members remain involved in making the mole, and some ingredients are grown by members of the family. For other ingredients, Momole works with U.S. suppliers that distribute Mexican products.

Reynosa restaurant is moving

As its McAllen business grows, Momole is also changing its footprint in Reynosa.

The company is leaving its location inside Plaza Real on the city’s west side for a storefront in the Virreyes neighborhood near the river.

The new restaurant is roughly the same size as the previous location, but Guerrero said the move should improve access, parking and takeout service because customers will no longer have to enter a shopping mall.

“It’s a commercial plaza with a really good location, and it works for us because people don’t have to go into a shopping mall,” she said.

Momole expected the new Reynosa restaurant to open to the public last week.

Another U.S. location is the goal

Momole is also continuing to experiment with products as it expands.

The company has been introducing seasonal mole varieties, including mango habanero, with pineapple and pomegranate varieties planned. Chiles en nogada are planned for September, while a new grilled shrimp dish is being introduced first in Reynosa before making its way to McAllen.

But the bigger next step is geographic.

Guerrero and her husband and business partner, Gustavo Adolfo Gutiérrez Reyes, want to open another Momole location and continue building recognition for the brand in the United States.

That would extend a cross-border expansion that began with a family mole recipe prepared by hand in Reynosa and has since grown into a business selling its products beyond Mexico.

“For Momole to be recognized in many places across the United States — that is a dream for us,” Guerrero said.