{"id":116717,"date":"2014-11-05T18:43:53","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T01:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/an-american-dream\/"},"modified":"2014-11-05T18:43:53","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T01:43:53","slug":"an-american-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/an-american-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"An American dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Victor
Victor Jr., Beny and Victor Nunez are planning to build a new, 2,700-square-foot restaurant for Beny's at 1019 E. Main St.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In the early \u201980s, Victor Nunez was an economic refugee from Mexico working 120 hours a week as a dishwasher in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

At 16, Nunez painfully left his single mother and three siblings behind in Mexico with dreams of greater economic opportunities in the United States. After a nearly 1,500-mile trek from his hometown in Villa Hidalgo, Mexico, Nunez found himself in Whittier, California, earning $3.10 per hour scrubbing pots and pans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dirty job, and it was only supposed to be temporary,\u201d said the now 50-year-old.<\/p>\n

With a desire to reunite with his family in Mexico, where he\u2019d grow tomatoes and chilies, Nunez said he decided to stay in California after he got a raise to $5.50 per hour. He worked more than 16 hours per day, seven days a week to help provide for his family.<\/p>\n

At the time, Nunez said he never envisioned decades later that he\u2019d be preparing to pass down his own restaurant to his American children. He currently owns Beny\u2019s Diner on South Broadway in Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy and proud,\u201d said Nunez. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be working with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing continuous struggles with his current landlord, Nunez said he prayed for an opportunity to purchase property and build his own restaurant facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Lord opens doors, they can\u2019t be closed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His faith was upheld last week when the city of Cortez approved a site development plan for Nunez to relocate the family business to 1019 E. Main St. The new, 2,700-square-foot restaurant will offer indoor seating to 78 customers. A planned outdoor patio will make available an additional 32 seats. Nunez hopes to open the new space east of One Stop Taqueria by next summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been my dream,\u201d said Nunez.<\/p>\n

Asked how he would inspire others who might have doubts about accomplishing their goals, Nunez said anything was possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll you have to do is start and believe in the Lord,\u201d he said. \u201cBe positive about your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oldest son Victor Nunez, Jr., 24, said the new business would continue serving fresh, quality dishes at affordable prices. He added the family owes that commitment to customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our customers are local, and we know their faces,\u201d said Victor Nunez, Jr. \u201cThey leave here happy, and that\u2019s what makes us happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he followed his father\u2019s footsteps working 120 hours per week, Victor Nunez Jr., replied with a grin, \u201cNo, that\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked hard, so he wouldn\u2019t have to,\u201d his dad added, with a proud smile.<\/p>\n

Nunez and his wife, Magdalena, also have two other children. Their youngest, Beny, now 19, started working in the kitchen at age 7. Their middle child, Marlene, works in the restaurant when she\u2019s home from Fort Lewis College.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Restaurant owner builds business after years of working long hours for low pay as an immigrant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6363],"tags":[338,21,188,13,904],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-116717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ds-news","tag-business-enterprises","tag-cortez","tag-dolores-star","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-immigration"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116717"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=116717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}