‘Let’s save our families’

Looking for a place to eat in Detroit that shows off some local dishes? Carlos Parisi — Detroit-scene food enthusiast, entrepreneur and UM-Dearborn alum — has several.

“If you want a good coney dog, go to Duly’s Place; it’s a classic dinner that hasn’t changed much since the 1960s. If you have a pizza craving, head to Michigan and Trumble; it’s a perfectly baked square pizza full of flavors that work,” said Parisi, a 2011 College of Business grad. “Mike’s Famous Ham Shop is where to go for a sandwich and soup. It’s purely a Detroit original.” 

And if you want great chips and salsa while supporting a UM-Dearborn business, give Aunt Nee’s a try. A staple at Detroit’s Eastern Market and available for purchase in specialty grocery stores, the business strategy behind Aunt Nee’s started in the university’s Fairlane Center South Building.

Parisi, who was born in Mexico City and raised in Detroit, and fellow College of Business student Pat Schwager were at an American Marketing Association meeting together and began discussing their situations at home. It was during the 2008 recession and both of their families had experienced job cuts. They wanted to save their families from home loss and other financial issues.

Parisi recalled that Schwager said his mom, Lydia Alcala-Schwager, made salsa that everyone loved. Known in her family as Aunt Nee, she sold spice packets at local markets and street fairs. So the Dearborn Wolverines — both of whom grew up cooking authentic Mexican food with their parents — thought of ways they could upscale her home-based hobby. “We were these students who were like, ‘we know how to do sales and marketing, we love food and we’re Mexican. Let’s save our families’,” Parisi said.

Through Aunt Nee’s, that’s exactly what they did. “We knew we had a great product. We got advice from professors. We went door-to-door, store-to-store, basically everywhere to get our salsa packets in front of people. We built connections from the ground up,” said Parisi, whose company transitioned to making fresh salsa a few years later. “When we were still students, we got our product into (stores in) 25 states. Our business saved us.”

Schwager ultimately went on to pursue other interests, so today Parisi is the sole owner. In addition to his business, Parisi has branched out into other ways to celebrate food.

Parisi — who gained exposure through podcasting, networking and his social media accounts — is a regular correspondent on the HBO Max show “What Am I Eating?” with actor Zooey Deschanel. He hosts the YouTube-based Chef RV, where he travels the nation in a camper van, gets tips from highly-rated restaurant chefs where he stops and cooks their signature dishes in his RV kitchen. Parisi partners with other Michigan-based chefs to create fusion-style dishes — for 313 Day this year, he and restaurateur Omar Anani, who has Palestinian and Egyptian heritage, partnered to make tacos Árabes as a nod to the history of Arab-Mexican food influence in the region. 

Parisi is also in the UM-Dearborn classrooms, working with students. For the past three years, he’s been a regular in Business Administration Lecturer Tim Davis’ entrepreneurship classes. “It’s important to provide our students industry-focused experiences to show them the problems and solutions they may encounter,” said Davis, COB’s Experiential Learning and Engagement assistant dean. “Partnering with Carlos and Aunt Nee’s for project-based learning courses gives our students even more than insider information on how a successful business is run — it’s also a catalyst for inspiration.”

Earlier this year, Parisi worked with “Business Policy and Strategy: 441” students on a class project that explored the most efficient and cost effective distribution systems for Aunt Nee’s. Parisi said he enjoyed hearing the students’ fresh perspectives and sharing his story with the class.

“When I was a student at UM-Dearborn, I don’t remember talking about what previous alums did — but I’ve since learned there are a lot of successful entrepreneurs that have come out of UM-Dearborn,” Parisi says. Additional UM-Dearborn-alum businesses include Litter-Robot, Pop Daddy Snacks and Huda Beauty. “As a young business owner, it was always really cool to see and talk with people about why they started their business, their challenges and what they’ve done to find success. Hearing from others has helped drive focus and growth in myself. I want students to see what’s possible.”

Parisi said he also wants students to realize they don’t have to know exactly what they want to do now — but he does want them to see that to be successful, there is a love that needs to go into a product or service and it needs to make a mark in the community. He said you also need to be ok with “living life like every day is a fire drill.” “Thick skin is needed. Take in criticism, but know when to take it to heart and when to let it slide off. Even when you think you are doing everything right and everything you can, there is always a need to regroup your strategy and hone it back in,” he said. “It’s hard work, but when you love what you do, it’s fun too.”

Parisi said his professors at UM-Dearborn helped prepare him for where he is today and he gave shoutouts to Marketing Associate Professor Crystal Scott, Accounting Lecturer Susan Baker and Business Administration Lecturer Mike Callahan, who retired in 2020. He also said student organizations like the American Marketing Association and Students in Free Enterprise helped him better understand how businesses are run. The student orgs also connected him with life-long friends.

When it comes to joy and success, Parisi said it can be found anywhere — but the roots of his are right here in, and at, Michigan.

“It’s seeing the faces of people who try my chips and salsa at Eastern Market. It’s giving local recommendations when friends come into town. It’s about being your authentic self and making a living at what you love to do,” Parisi said. “My mom raised me as a single parent and wanted the best for me. She thought a Michigan education was the answer and UM-Dearborn gave me the opportunity to stay close to home. I wouldn’t be where I am today without UM-Dearborn. It left a mark on me so I could go out and make one in my community.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury