Isaac Brizuela, known as 'Cone', a former Chivas de Guadalajara player, has turned his dessert passion into a successful marquesitas business originating from Yucatán. After over a decade in football, he founded Marquesitas Las Originales in 2015, now featuring franchises in several Mexican cities. The first major outlet opened inside Estadio Akron, the team's home stadium.
Isaac Brizuela, nicknamed 'Cone', left Chivas de Guadalajara at the end of the Apertura 2025 after over ten years wearing the red-and-white jersey. However, his shift to the business world has been remarkable through Marquesitas Las Originales, a dessert venture started in 2015 at the invitation of his friend Rodrigo. "That business was born eight years ago; my friend Rodrigo told me, 'Hey, I invite you to a marquesitas project, it's a dessert from the south; some friends invited me, but since there are two of them, we're missing one to be equal,'" Brizuela recounted in a 2023 interview for the YouTube channel Finca.
The project kicked off with a food truck in a Jalisco park, where initial sales were promising but soon declined, prompting two partners to quit. Brizuela took over, borrowed the cart, completed a two-month gastronomy diploma, and revived the business. Success enabled expansion via franchises in shopping malls and streets of Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City. They have also featured at events like the Mexico Formula 1 Grand Prix, baseball games at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú, and the Mexican Open Tennis.
The first owned location is in Guadalupe, Jalisco, outside the franchise system. The menu allows customizing marquesitas with sweet fillings like Nutella, cajeta, or strawberry, and savory ones like ham or pepperoni. Options include adding a scoop of snow (shaved ice) for the "marquenieve." Prices there: basic marquesita at 40 Mexican pesos, extra ingredient at 5 pesos, snow scoop at 25 pesos, and marquenieve at 45 pesos. At the Coapa, CDMX branch, varieties like the traditional with queso de bola cost 60 pesos, while gourmet options like the one with serrano ham reach 80 pesos.
This venture shows how Brizuela has diversified his career beyond football, drawing diverse customers in sports and urban settings.