On one particularly humid evening this July, I found myself at one of Heartwood Preserve’s Friday night farmers markets.
I was strolling past the merchants, admiring the local wares, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a colorful food truck with a whimsical name: Jojo’s Schnackie Snacks. I approached to check out the menu, which had a mix of the Mexican-inspired treats I knew and loved alongside foods I had never heard of before, like Dubai cups.
The woman in the truck saw me eyeing the mango sorbet, and said the magic words: “I can also make you a mangonada!”
One of my favorite foods, off-menu but available? Say no more. It was the perfect refreshing way to cool down.
The line was long, but it was well worth the wait. I am not being dramatic when I say that it was the best mangonada I have ever tasted. Ever.
After the event, I started stalking their Facebook page to find out when I could get my next fix. Two weeks later, and I was back at Jojo’s, and this time I made sure to tell the woman in the truck how much I enjoyed her food. She shared that everything is homemade and she uses organic fruit. I was in love.
I asked her how long they’ve been around, and that’s when I found out that they had recently won a contest that helped them get their food truck rolling, and I knew I needed to sit down with her to hear the whole story.
Her name is Johanna Castaneda. She and her husband, Francisco Castaneda, opened Jojo’s Schnackie Snacks in April. But their food-making journey started long before that.
“I think it was always in my mind. I wanted to do something, a restaurant or truck,” Johanna said. “I just didn’t know what yet. So the idea was always there.”
Transplants from Los Angeles, the Castanedas found themselves craving treats they couldn’t find here, including the cream-based raspados they knew from home. The versions they found in Omaha were water-based and tasted diluted, so they bought a shaved ice machine and set out to make their own.
What began as a way to recreate a taste of home soon became something they wanted to share with others. After taking a class through Heartland Workforce that helped them learn how to get a cottage permit, they began serving up their creations from home.
They started by promoting Dubai strawberry cups, a viral trend at the time, but it was Johanna’s own spin on the dessert that helped set it apart. Most places use store-bought pistachio, but she made her own. In response, people started from all over, even as far as Des Moines and Sioux City in Iowa.
That’s when she realized: “This could be a thing, you know?”
The Castanedas started looking for more resources to help them expand. They learned about No More Empty Pots’ culinary entrepreneurial programming, which aimed to help teach food business owners the business side of what it takes to be successful. They enrolled in the course, which culminated with a contest.
Competing against about 10 others in a format similar to what you might see on a show like “Chopped,” Jojo’s Schnackie Snacks won. The winning dish? Their famous strawberry Dubai.
“We were very, very shocked. We were competing with people in the industry, people who already had established businesses,” Johanna said.
Their prize for winning included six months of access to No More Empty Pots’ commissary kitchen. They also received four hours of consulting with Elevate Advisory Group.
Johanna said opportunities like what they received from the Heartland Workforce and No More Empty Pots were invaluable because they not only helped open doors of possibilities, but also answered a growing list of business-related questions.
“We didn’t really know where to start, and this opened up a lot of information,” Francisco said.
The experience gave them the confidence to open their own food truck, and because Douglas County requires mobile food businesses to use a commissary kitchen, access to No More Empty Pots helped make it possible.
Their newfound mobility allowed them to travel to different parts of the city. Soon, they were serving up food at various businesses and farmers markets across town and joining community events like Aloha Omaha.
That was their first big event. They had the opportunity to join after another truck dropped off the lineup. They were nervous about whether they could meet the demand, and while the event was overwhelming at times, they learned a lot about what it takes to serve a large crowd.
“That’s where we learned that we had to go out and get a credit card reader,” Francisco said.
Before then, they would use payment apps like Venmo, but people at the event kept asking if they took cards. Adopting a credit card reader also allowed them to create detailed tickets.
Since opening the truck, they have faced other challenges too, from mechanical issues and finding parking spots with reasonable fees, to planning how to navigate winter operations and—perhaps most relatably—working in a confined space with your spouse.
So, where did the name come from? Jojo is Johanna’s nickname, and her kids came up with the rest during a brainstorm early on.
“It was our kids,” Johanna said. “We were sitting down and were like, ‘Okay, we need to come up with something fun.’”
The family designed their logo as well, which features jovial fruit characters.
It’s fitting, because in speaking with Johanna, you can feel her warmth, and you can tell she’s someone who puts a lot of care into her food. Almost everything on the menu is homemade using high-quality ingredients. They use all-organic fresh fruit and organic sugar as a sweetener. They make their own chamoy, pistachio cream, sweet cream and vanilla syrup. They don’t use any food coloring or dyes.
For Johanna, offering healthier options to the community felt like a natural choice. As she put it, “Why not?”
Best-selling menu items include the Mr. Dubai (mini pancakes made using a secret recipe without mix), the mango and strawberry sorbets, and the sago (a tapioca-based dessert). And if they have all the ingredients on hand to fulfill special requests—like mangonada or biónico—they are happy to oblige.
Omaha has been good to the Castanedas. In California, Francisco’s 27-mile commute was two hours each way, and they rented their home. Since moving here, they have been able to buy a house and start a business while raising their three children.
Their dream continues to grow. Johanna said they eventually hope to open a brick-and-mortar location. She envisions a space that has room to support and uplift other mobile food businesses like theirs.
Because it can be difficult to find the right resources, Francisco said they don’t want to gatekeep what they’ve learned, opting instead to help others learn from their mistakes and find their way forward.
“It is a struggle. It’s a struggle, you know,” Francisco said. “A lot of people like to keep it close knit.”
In the meantime, they are enjoying community events and feeding people of all generations. The younger customers tend to order the popular Dubai, and older folks will go for nostalgic classics like fresas con crema that takes them right back to a familiar place they remember from their past.
The menu is continuously evolving as they test out new innovations.
“If people don’t ask for it, we don’t know what else to offer,” Francisco said. “So we’re constantly, you know, kind of pivoting to see what the next thing is, what people want, and being able to try to provide that service.”
As they look to the future, Johanna said she hopes to book more private catering events, like homecomings, weddings and birthday parties.
For now, they’ll keep showing up to serve the kind of fresh, from-scratch food that you remember long after the last bite.
A word of advice: If you spot their truck, take in their colorful menu, go up to the window and ask Johanna for her recommendation.