Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 10

62 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 10 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