Dario Wolos (Tacombi & Vista Hermosa) - Why he Started Selling Tacos Out of a VW bus in Mexico, How He Expanded to a Chain of Taquerias in New York, and Why His Mission Is To Bring Authentic Mexican Food to the World

Our guest today is Dario, Founder and CEO of Tacombi and Vista Hermosa. Tacombi is a tacqueria chain that is one of the fastest growing restaurants in the U.S. and is bringing 100% authentic Mexican food and flavors to the U.S. Vista Hermosa is their CPG brand, that produces tortilla chips and tortillas. We discuss why Dario got a VW Kombi van in the first place, why he thought New York City was the right city to start a restaurant in the U.S., how he approached expansion to different cities and some of the lessons he learned from one of his investors, Danny Meyer. Without further ado, here’s Dario.

Some of the questions I ask Dario:

1. So you purchased this Voltzwagon kombi van, why did you decide to start selling tacos in this way?
2. What took you to Playa Del Carmen?
3. Transient, tourism spot
4. What’s your approach to cooking tacos? What were you doing that was different to other taco shops/trucks?
5. Observing mexican cuisine
6. Understand what the differences were made
7. Difference to Mexican hospitality to american hospitality?
8. Taqueria’s different
9. How did you approach scaling and what brought you to the States?
10. At what point did you think about raising money?
11. What was your approach?
12. How did you build your network?
13. What led you to Danny Meyer?
14. What do investors look for when thinking about new restaurants or food companies?
15. Did you find you had to change some of your ingredients/flavor profiles to appeal to the United States audience?
16. Where was your first shop in the U.S.? Why did you decide on that location?
17. What demographic are you appealing to? How did you approach price point?
18. How do you think about design for your restaurants?
19. How do you approach new locations?
20. What was missing in the U.S. market in your mind regarding Mexican cuisine and taquerias specifically?
21. What is real mexican
22. How did Vista Hermosa start? Why did you want to build a CPG business? Why did you build both congruently?
23. What’s one part about the restaurant business that you still don’t think is obvious or known to outsiders?
24. What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
25. Professionally – Biography of Ben Franklin – An American Life
26. Personally – Pedro Paramo
27. What’s one piece of advice for any restaurant or CPG entrepreneur?

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