Today we’d like to introduce you to Octavio Suarez.
Hi Octavio, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Life has its peaks and valleys you know? In 2016 and in 2017 I was definitely going through a valley; I was having one of the roughest times of my life and found myself homeless. But then a peak came, and I met my soulmate in 2017. Without thoroughly knowing each other, we felt an immediate spark and decided to take a leap of faith and decided to move in together. Together we had a combined savings of $2,000 dollars and still had to pay the first month, the last month, and the deposit. Since I had a background in DJ’ing, we decided to build a DJ company from the ground up. We started AZ Party Entertainment. We quickly gained a massive following through hard work and spreading our name out there through word of mouth and expos. In 2018, we came across an investor that saw great things in us. We eventually agreed to become partners in a venue. And while the venue was being renovated, my wife and I decided to pass the time by making tacos in front of our home and inviting friends over. Deep inside, I always had a burning passion for owning a restaurant and being creative with food.
My menu quickly became popular among my friends and they started telling me they wanted to pay for my food. I came across an app called InShot that allowed me to create small and simple flyers to help spread the word. At the time I was selling carne asada, chorizo, chicken, al-pastor, and potato tacos along with 5 different types of salsas. Looking back at it, it was way more chaotic than a simple menu. One day we received an eviction notice from our landlord advising us that we weren’t allowed to have people over for tacos. He eventually took us to court to officially evict us. Little did we know at the time, he just wanted to raise the rent significantly, and have family members move into that home. My wife and I ended up living in a dilapidated apartment infested with pests. We decided to still continue in our taco endeavor and start selling the tacos outside of the venue while it was still under construction. We quickly found ourselves having too many people come for our tacos since it was just me, my wife, and our small taco cart. So after 4 months of starting the taco adventure, it was simply too overwhelming and since the venue was ready to open, we decided to shut the taco business down. We grew the venue and did amazingly. We were even booking events 2-3 years ahead of time which is unheard of in the venue business. And here’s where it gets interesting, at the time I’ve never been the type to be on social media. It was one of my good friends Raul Trevino Serpa, who introduced me and eventually convinced me to try out TikTok. I decided to take a shot at it and I quickly started gaining followers and making small viral videos.
And then, as you well know, the pandemic hit in 2020 and it slowed things tremendously. Since the whole world was on pause during COVID and no large gathering events were allowed, in October 2020, we decided to give the taco business another shot but this time, we decided on a different approach to cooking. We decided to minimize the menu and I quickly started kitchen testing various types of meats and seeing which can be produced with minimal staff but still have that authentic flavor. At first, I tried birria and I immediately fell in love with my style, and absolutely loved the simplicity of my potential menu. It would just be one type of taco, two salsas along with diced onions and cilantro. My wife and I were ecstatic about our simple menu, but little did we know that it was about to become a big deal. Since food trucks were starting to trend, we decided to purchase one too, thinking that we’d be able to do a small side hustle and possibly earn an extra thousand dollars a month. We knew it would take about 4 months to build so we decided to start creating the sensation of our tacos and sell them out of our home. So there we were, on our everlasting taco adventure again selling on Sundays and inviting our known acquaintances: people that we met through the venue, friends, and quinceaneras’ immediate family. Then finally our trailer was delivered on February 1st, 2021. We decided our go-live date was February 7th which oddly enough was Superbowl Sunday and the rest is viral history.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think it would be having the food trucker community buy-in and collaborating the right way. The entrepreneurial mindset is prevalent in the community and everyone thinks that their way is the right way. A lot of food trucks didn’t believe that my vision could produce success.
My event coordination history and proven track record, speak for themselves in our ongoing success and amazing food truck events. Our attendance is continuously growing and the vendors we travel with are continuously beating previous sales records.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
It started with a dream and a single type of taco. With provocative names, an electrifying atmosphere, and the desire to support local small businesses, we created Naughty Tacos for “Naughty” people.
What sets us apart is our delicious food and amazing vibe. We started out only selling one type of taco, Quesabirria, and now we are slowly expanding our menu to what I originally had when I was selling out of my home.
We are most proud of the quality of our food and the speed we deliver it. Our ostentatious drinks are made fresh every day with the freshest ingredients which everyone falls in love with; pricey but worth it.
And presently, we are opening our first brick and mortar located right outside Spectrum Mall in Phoenix on 19th Ave & Montebello.
We will always continue to do our food parks around the valley, especially our main location on 43rd Ave and Northern on Sundays. The food park concept helps support a lot of local businesses and helps spread the word about everyone’s delicious menu items.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I would say luck wouldn’t be the right word because everything has come through hard work and dedication. You can’t expect to get lucky in your business.
You have to tend to it, help nourish it and make it grow. If you are nailing the basics and putting your whole effort into it, no one can stop you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.naughtytacos.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naughtytacos/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LosTacosMalcriados/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/naughty-tacos
