FSR May 2023

START ME UP YOUR STORIES OF OPENING A NEW RESTAURANT, OVERCOMING OBSTACLES, AND BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.

Rreal Tacos

After restaurateurs Miguel Hernandez and Damian Otero acquired Rreal Tacos in 2021 from the brand’s founder and namesake, Adrian Vil larreal, the duo has been kicking things up a notch at the Atlanta concept, which marries authentic Mexican street food with a high-energy taqueria. FSR editor Callie Evergreen caught up with Hernandez and Otero ahead of the brand’s fourth restaurant opening.

BOOTSTRAPPING e truth is, when we took over Rreal Tacos, we had no money left over to invest in the overall design of the res taurant. We took the restaurant how it was and focused on the internals of the business. We were bootstrapped, and still are. To this day, we take all the pro ts from the month prior and roll them over into the next project. [We] take over an existing restaurant, pur chase the assets, make some minor cos metic changes, then start selling tacos and margaritas 90 days later. TECH TO SCALE As soon as we started integrating the most up-to-date restaurant technol ogy, utilizing cutting-edge POS sys tems, and investing heavily in social media, our growth increased expo nentially. We have seen month-over month growth for the past 20 months,

which has led to the opening of an addi tional three locations since we acquired the concept. e most challenging part of this process is keeping up with the growth. e systems in place when you are in one location doing $1 million in revenue is way di erent than the sys tems and procedures needed when you are on track to do $20 million in reve nue. e best way I can describe it, it’s like going from driving a go-kart one day, to being in the driver’s seat of a Formula 1 car the next. EXPLOSIVE GROWTH At our current growth rate, we are look ing to add three additional Atlanta locations by 2025, expand into Nash ville by 2024, and start venturing into Charlotte, Greenville, and the Flor ida market where we can easily add another eight locations. A lot of the original sta will eventually earn the

right to not only become operational partners, but some will even hold titles at the corporate level. e VP of oper ations in 2028 might just be someone who worked their way up from busser or dishwasher, and in my opinion, that story sounds damn cool. We made the decision to keep the company 100 percent employee-owned. After you earn your stripes with us and have proven to be an example of the business’s core values, the opportunity eventually opens up to have equity in one of our locations. WORD TO THE WISE Make sure you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish with your concept, then assemble a team around you that will help you see your vision through. Launching a concept solo is not impossible, but when you do it with a team, it’s a lot more fun.

BRANDON AMATO (5)

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

MAY 2023