La Familia Fresa: Lu’s Strawberries Feels the Love

Family Business Draws Support and Inspiration from Instagram and Customers

By Celina García

Despite my on-again, off-again relationship with Instagram, something that always brings me joy is seeing people on the app starting their own businesses, pursuing their niche passions, trying new things, taking chances on themselves. While social media has a way of unveiling feelings of one’s own inadequacies, on the flip side, I often find myself inspired by those who use the platform to create a loving community.

Grecia Pizano and Ricardo “Richy” Gonzalez, the couple behind Lu’s Strawberries, have achieved exactly that. As you might have guessed, their small business, named after their eldest daughter, Lucianna, specializes in the most original and ornately decorated fresas (strawberries) you will find on the Central Coast. For the time being, their business is conducted solely via Instagram.

Grecia first began this venture by promoting herself on the “UCSB Buy-Sell-Trade” page on Facebook. After their first big sale on Father’s Day of last year is when they made the jump to Instagram at the recommendation of those first clients, and that is when business began to blast off. Having recently partnered with the popular local foodie account @sbgoodeats for a giveaway in celebration of hitting 3.5k Instagram followers, Lu’s is now slowly approaching 4,000. However, they speak with just as much excitement recalling when they reached their first 100.