Roberto Rodriguez always believed he had a head for business. So when it came time for his father to pass on the reins of his grocery store in 1990, Rodriguez jumped at the chance. “It was a small store back (in 1976), with a good clientele,” he said. Today, El Cubano Food Bag Market is actually two large stores in North Hollywood, generating a combined $25 million per year in revenue. The original El Cubano, at Victory Boulevard and Tujunga Avenue, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this month, allowing Rodriguez the opportunity to wax a bit nostalgic about its humble origins. “(My father, whose name was also Roberto) always had a good sense for business and knew what he wanted,” said Rodriguez, whose wife, son and four daughters now handle aspects of the family business. The elder Roberto Rodriguez’ dream was to open his own grocery store when he and his family arrived here from Cuba in 1962. But it would take until 1976 to finally established the Food Bag Market, later dubbed El Cubano Food Bag Market. Having run a small grocery store with modest success in the 1960s, Roberto’s father, Roberto P. Rodriguez, decided to borrow $23,000 and acquire the market, then about half the size of a chain-store supermarket, or about 7,000 square feet of shopping space. It was a risk, Roberto says now, but one the elder Rodriguez felt he had to take. “He wanted to start a bigger store that would serve the whole neighborhood,” Roberto said. Sales that first year totaled about $300,000, but with high food costs, steep overhead and the industry’s notoriously low profit margins, the family made just enough to keep the business running and food on their own table. “We had everybody working back then, my uncle, my dad, my mom. Everyone had to help,” Roberto said. The market, however, was miles and years removed from their native Cuba, where the family ran a small, neighborhood bakery. Rodriguez, his father, aunts and uncles left the island to escape Cuba’s economic chaos and dwindling liberties. “There was no way we could stay,” Rodriguez said. The family eventually settled in North Hollywood and acquired the market in the middle of a rapidly growing Latino community. “Grandpa really wanted to get back into the grocery business,” said Alex Rodriguez, son of Roberto Rodriguez, who is now general manager of the company’s two stores. By the time Roberto took over in 1990, annual revenue amounted to $12 million. But success did not come easily. There were battles with city officials and complaints from neighbors who first opposed the widening of the market’s parking lot and, later, the removal of a fence to expand the business. Both times, Roberto said, El Cubano won. “It was always one or two people who complained,” he said. He would later endure what he calls a five-year battle with the city’s Planning Commission in an effort to rezone a corner lot he had acquired at Sherman Way and Tujunga Avenue, the eventual site of the family’s second market. “If I had to do it again, I don’t know if I would,” Roberto said. Since his father’s death in 1993, Roberto, now 58, still attempts to continue his father’s vision for the company, providing quality products to an often homesick Latino market. Averaging a 1- to 3-percent profit margin, standard for the industry, Roberto said he’s pleased with the company’s growth. Even more so since the opening of the second El Cubano Food Bag market in 1996. “We knew we needed another market when the parking lot at the first market was completely full all the time,” he said. Today, the two markets thrive at the center of North Hollywood’s large Latino community, said Alex Rodriguez. “People come to us because they know us and they know that we have the products that they want,” he said. Competition in recent years from larger supermarket chains like El Super and Grupo Gigante that also cater to the Latino community have made hardly a dent in El Cubano’s growth, Roberto Rodriguez said. “People want fresh produce and a variety of products that they can find here,” he said. But the competitive atmosphere requires him to stay on his toes. Roberto still gets up at 3 a.m. nearly every day to select fresh fruits and vegetables from suppliers in downtown L.A.’s produce market. “We’ve been here a long time and people have grown to expect the best quality,” he said. Jose Alvo, a customer from Glendale, said he doesn’t mind the 15-minute drive to the market from his home. “They have a lot of fresh produce and a lot of Mexican food that is hard to get,” he said. With more and more customers willing to drive a few extra miles to purchase fresh Mexican chili peppers and other familiar foods, the Rodriguezes say they still have room to grow. “We’re just getting started,” said Roberto, who hopes to open another store sometime in the next few years.