(WICHITA, Kan.) — Alberto Valdez opened a Mexican restaurant eight months ago. Besides homemade Mexican food;
"Just like my grandmother used to make," Valdez said.
His specialty is the tortilla.
"We make them right here ourselves. There are no preservatives in them and they are really good with cheese," he said.
He moved his family to Wichita from Chicago to open the business.
"I like Wichita. It's calm, people are nice here, less stress," he said.
Valdez is part of a large Hispanic population boom that started more than a decade ago.
In 2000 Kansas had only 188,252 Hispanic residents. According to the 2010 census there are now more than 300,000.
Officials from the Hispanic chamber of commerce say there are more than 300 Hispanic businesses in Wichita. They are seeing more and more of them. For them that means more people to reach out and help.
