Darwin Salas at Terra Grill

3/5/2025

Darwin Salas is the president of Salas Investment Group, which includes Que Buena’s two FM radio stations, one AM station, and the streaming site La Q Bueno.com, plus the Iowa Demon Hawks professional men’s and women’s soccer teams competing in the Major Arena Soccer League and in the outdoor National Premier Soccer League. Salas is also the president of Salas Enterprises, his personal business that focuses on point-of-sales systems technology. 

We asked him to lunch and met at Terra Grill, a Brazilian churrascaria in Clocktower Square. Between trips to Terra’s exotic salad bar and with “passadors” coming by frequently with roasted meats on spits, we talked radio, restaurants, soccer and the immigrant experience today.

Everyone I ever heard of with the given name Darwin was a soccer player — Darwin Nunez, Darwin Quintero, Darwin Machis, etc. Was Darwin Salas named for the Evolutionist or a soccer player?

“I never got a chance to ask my dad before he died. I wish I knew.”

How did Salas find his way to Des Moines? 

“My family came from Mexico City; I am still a Pumas fan. I grew up in Los Angeles, though — North Hollywood High School, Cal State Northridge for undergrad and UCLA for graduate school. I have a master’s in business administration, so I took a job in finance at Phonovisa. They’re the largest independent Latino record label. I also managed artists in that job.

“One day I got an email from Viacom Information Center about a job in ‘bilingual music.’ Phonovisa was merging and forming the Latin Broadcasting Corporation. That job was a lifelong dream. Since I was 7 or 8 years old, I wanted to be a musician. They wanted me to move to Des Moines where they bought a radio station and the Val Air ballroom. That was 22 years ago.”

Salas did not come by himself.

“My dad died 20 years ago. He left four adopted boys aged 8, 7, 5 and 2. I raised them all and two of my own. It’s a family business. My oldest biological son and his brother run my technology departments now. Their adoptive uncles and my mom are involved, too.”

What happened to Darwin’s dream of being a musician?

“Reality. In my job at Phonovisa, I went through boxes and boxes of demo tapes that musicians had sent. All those tapes were someone’s dream. To succeed against all those odds, you had to be 100 all-in. I had family obligations.”

The new job in Des Moines did not pan out?

“No. I lost that job about the same time my father died and I was divorced. But I took a hard look at Iowa’s demographics. We are only 8% Latino, but the future is something else. Des Moines Public Schools are 40% Latino, and towns like Marshalltown, Perry, Storm Lake are even more so. I decided my future was here.” 

Salas Investment Group was still a few years away.

“I started Salas Enterprises first when I noticed that most all Latino restaurants in Iowa were still doing their financial bookwork with boxes of paper receipts. I wanted to get them up to speed with technology, point of sale accounting, all elements of hospitality. I invested heavily in technology. Ninety percent of my clients are restaurants now.”

So, what are Salas’ favorite restaurants?

“I know you like La Familia and Marianna’s. Those taquerias are very good, very authentic to Mexican experiences. Among full-service Mexican places, I like El Fogon. They have a fulltime employee just making scratch tortillas. I like Fiesta. Antonio (Berber, the owner) thinks outside the box. He was first to realize that a 30-pages-long menu was inefficient. So many others just let their menu grow because they are afraid that discontinuing a bad-selling item will cost customers. Antonio is also always checking out trends, replacing items with new things that are working out elsewhere. 

“I love Terra Grill and Café. (Owner) Kleber (who, like many Brazilians, goes by a single name) is a great guy, and he made a new concept work. That’s impressive. (Especially since another Brazilian churrascaria had failed badly on Ingersoll.)

“I think that W Tao downtown is the best sushi place. (Owners) Tony and Ling (He) are personally involved with the business.”

No kidding. One day I was walking down Walnut. Ling saw me from inside the restaurant and ran out yelling ‘Jim, you forgot your raincoat.’ I had left it there months earlier and forgotten about it. That’s the special kind of service that distinguishes W Tao. What got Salas back in the entertainment business?

“I thought that most of Iowa’s Latino population had been here long enough that they were bilingual. The Latino station here was all Spanish. I wanted to reflect more assimilation. So, I bought some radio stations.”

And soccer?

“All my business interests have one thing in common. I try to fill a service gap, to help people in need. I heard that a lot of Brazilians had come to Iowa to play college soccer. When they graduated, they were starting families and looking for work in Iowa. 

“I also learned that indoor soccer was a big thing in Brazil. Many kids, both boys and girls, play indoor, 7 on 7 rules until they are in their teens. You can tell which players grew up on that game when they are older.”

That reminded this older Iowan of “6 on 6” girls’ basketball rules. Some men’s coaches even had their boys play that game until they were in eighth grade, because it taught better teamwork skills. When a kid can only dribble twice, he learns to keep his head up and his eyes on his team mates.

“Indoor soccer is like that, too. I felt there was a need for these Brazilians, who had come to Iowa for college, to keep playing. Once I got past the craziness of indoor soccer — it’s as much like hockey as soccer — I thought that an Iowa team could do that.

“Now we have indoor and outdoor professional teams with a Brazilian base. Our coach is also the Brazilian national indoor coach. The players also teach youth leagues that are really taking off in popularity.”

I noticed that at an Iowa Demon Hawks game. Half the crowd looked to be under 15. They got to play on the arena floor during a 20-minute halftime, and they filled the field for player introductions. 

As with public school demographics, it’s the kids who will compose the future. Salas sees things for what they might become, like another guy named Darwin did 166 years ago on isolated islands in Ecuador. ♦