Taco Rico Tex-Mex Cafe

and Dismex tortillas, Taco Rico would purchase large amounts of food and donate to the local community. “One time we bought $700 worth of tortillas and gave it away at a food drive,” Neal recalls. “We bought $500 of juice pouches and masa that they use to make tortillas and we gave that away to the migrant workers at a food drive. I think we did a total of five food drives where we bought up a massive amount of food for a small amount of money and just gave it away. That was a nice feel-good moment of the crisis.” Despite profits being down during the pandemic, Neal says the business is stable and healthy. Taco Rico currently has eight locations across Southern Florida – in Doral South, Doral North, West Kendall, Bird Road, FIU, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Pinecrest. “We are in a really good space right now, a really good space,” he notes. “The balance sheet is strong.” The only problem they have now is staffing. Like Taco Rico is able to source high-quality ingredients through partnerships with companies like Cheney Bros, their food distributor. “I have a great relationship with them,” says Neal. “My partner in two of our five corporate stores has been our Cheney Bros representative for 15 years. He’s the one I put my head together with to come up with our Grocery List.” Though sales are at an all-time high, Taco Rico’s profit hasn’t fully come back to normal. Neal admits, “When you’ve switched to a large percent of your sales coming off third-party platforms, they have a heavy commission that comes with that at 25 to 30 percent, depending on which third-party platform we’re talking about. That was a challenge. Our sales were good, profit not so good. They just take a big chunk.” In addition to third-party expenses, Taco Rico opted to put the needs of its community ahead of their own. Using flash sales from Cheney Bros