Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Arthur Garcia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Arthur thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

I don’t think that “failure” is actually a “failure” until you give up. I opened our first 3rd location in December of 2013. I hear the 3rd location is always the toughest and it proved to be true. We could never wrap our heads around what the problem was and could not turn a profit. We closed it after six grueling years. The concept was the same as the first two locations but just did not turn the numbers. I am glad now that we did get the property sold and we got out from under it. We did a 1031 exchange to purchase another property that has been doing much better. I know that going through this was tough on me and my family because I was spreading myself thin through it but I did make sure to make my daughters volleyball games and attend church together. I learned a long time ago that I have to be able to run my restaurants without sacrificing my relationship with my family and to keep God in the center of my business and my personal life.
I don’t consider my 3rd location a failure when it comes to me personally but rather a business failure for that location. I keep moving forward and make adjustments on the next location to help me become a better businessman.

Arthur , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I actually have a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and worked as a probation officer in Kerr County, Tx and then worked for the Department of Justice in the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Texarkana, Tx. When I realized that’s not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life I came back to San Antonio. I worked for a couple of other restaurant concepts before returning to the family restaurant that had opened in 1977. At the time it was called Minit Taco and served Tex-Mex food. My parents started it then and sold it to my brother and myself in 2003. It was a much smaller place and was only one location at the time. My parents never sold alcohol and my brother, Richard, and I started selling it soon after we purchased the location in 2003. When we purchased the restaurant we started selling just beer and margaritas. When we opened our second location we had the opportunity to serve cocktails as well. I knew nothing about bartenders and working a full bar. I was blessed to have a good friend in the industry that not only told me he would help me but actually sent me his bartender to help out until we got on our feet. David Cortez is one of the owners of Mi Tierra in San Antonio. It is a very popular Mexican restaurant in San Antonio and I could not have opened that bar without his help. What sets us apart is we use quality ingredients in our food. We pay higher prices for our meats but we also charge a little more than the average local mexican restaurant in San Antonio. There are no shortages of mexican restaurants in San Antonio, by the way.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I realized when I was working weekends and missing my daughters soccer games that I had to make a choice. I was either going to be a great dad or a mediocre one and miss out on what was important to me at that time. I learned to work “on” the business and not so much “in” the business. I learned to relay on other people and hold them accountable for running the business while I was out. I was amazed that I did not have to be there 24 hours a day and I could trust other people to hold the fort while I was spending time with my family.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My partner is my brother, Richard Garcia. He kept asking me to join him after I came back from Texarkana. I worked at a couple of restaurant concepts and after 3 years joined him at the family business until we purchased it from my parents. He is great to work with and we always work to make the business the reason we make our decisions, not what is important for us but what is best for the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nichas.com
• Instagram: nichascomidamexicana
• Facebook: Nicha’s Comida Mexicana
• Linkedin: Arthur Garcia President, Nicha’s Comida Mexicana
• Twitter: nichascomidamex
• Yelp: Nicha’s Comida Mexicana