Growing Centre County Mexican eatery prepares to open ‘dream’ location in State College

As Lupita’s Authentic Mexican Food prepares to open its third location later this month, co-owner Emilio Lopez Ramirez says the plan to open a downtown restaurant is nothing new. His wife and co-owner Maria Guadalupe Rojas Orozco — whose nickname is Lupita and after whom the restaurant is named — always had aspirations to open multiple restaurants.

“That was her dream, to have more than one location,” he said. “Before (COVID-19), we were looking to move downtown, only having the first location (at the time) ... but COVID hit and we decide to wait on it.”

In the meantime, Lupita’s went on to open its second location not in downtown State College, but in Milesburg, in June 2020. While so many restaurants and small businesses around the region struggled during the pandemic, how did Lupita’s manage to not only survive, but expand? Lopez Ramirez says a lot can be credited to the fact Lupita’s remained open during the pandemic, while other restaurants shuttered their doors indefinitely, especially in the spring and early summer of 2020.

“When everything was shut down, we weren’t sure if we were going to still stay open or close, but we had some employees that needed to be working. You can’t survive without income. So, we decided to keep (the restaurant) open just to keep the employees working,” he said.

The original Lupita’s location, located inside the Uni-Mart in Ferguson Township, reduced its hours for a brief time. While Lopez Ramirez says the first few weeks were slow, within about a month, the restaurant began to see more customer traffic. “After a month, or maybe a month and a half, we had about 50% of our normal sales. That kept us in a position where we were able to pay our bills and pay our employees. Afterward, when all the other places started to open and go back to business, we were already in business. That’s what kept us alive.”

The third Lupita’s location will open at 312 W. Beaver Ave., in the Palmerton Building, in the previous John’s Shanghai location. Lopez Ramirez says the downtown locale was an easy choice for the couple, as nearly half of Lupita’s customer base is made up of students, including Hispanic students, who’ve frequently requested a downtown location.

“We were hanging the ‘Coming Soon’ sign outside the building and there were some students walking by and they started taking pictures. They said, ‘Oh, this is going to be big,’” Lopez Ramirez said. “We’re already starting to hear that people want us to be there. They keep asking, ‘When are you guys going to be open? We can’t wait to see you guys open.’”

Lopez Ramirez expects a March opening, pending inspections. In addition to the restaurant’s expanded space, diners can also expect an expanded menu in the near future. Currently, Lupita’s locations offer primarily pre-cooked options that are assembled to order, but the new menu will include made-to-order menu items.

Stay up to date on Lupita’s Authentic Mexican Food’s anticipated opening on Facebook, at www.facebook.com/LupitasStateCollege/. Current Lupita’s locations are at 3180 W. College Ave., inside the Uni-Mart in Ferguson Township, and at 200-1 Mill St., Milesburg.