We were lucky to catch up with Daniel Martinez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniel , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Prior to Covid, I was a real estate photographer with a successful business. I grew my business and was able to support my family for the past 7 years. When Covid arrived I knew this could potentially be the end of my business. With the mask mandates and worse the shutdown, I knew right away my work would slowly disappear. I jumped into action finding another way to support my family. I started planning to get into something I always wanted to try and knew the risk would be high. Sure enough, when the shutdown happened all work stopped coming including my income. We struggled financially and were heartbroken. Now with no work and plenty of time to plan, we did just that. I wanted to open and run a food truck with my family. My brother Jose always has looked out for me and I wanted to include him in this plan to build something for the both of us. As the partnership developed we gave all the capital we had but it still wasn’t enough. It was Roswell, another family member, who saw our vision. It’s because of him we are in business today. He put up the rest of the capital we needed to start this journey. Tacos Benditos was created. We knew the risk was high, but were eager to turn things around to build something great.

Daniel , 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?

When we created our business we knew it had to be different from others. We needed a purpose that would go along with our business name. A name that has meaning. After months of planning we couldn’t come up with a name that would stand out from the rest. If we didn’t have a name we didn’t have a business. Then we thought of our journey and what we went through to get to where we were at that moment. The blessing we received from the support of our family and friends to make this business happen made us thrilled. Bendito stuck out to us, meaning blessed in Spanish. Our name was finally chosen as Tacos Benditos. Once we selected our name we knew chances were slim that it was available. Once we searched to see if it was available, surprisingly it was. Not just the domain, but all social media outlets. We claimed the name and sat on it for almost a year before we officially opened. One of our missions for our company is to pass the blessings along. It’s more than just a name, it is about family, togetherness, and community. We seek out organizations that could use the help to allow us to provide our service to raise funds for their organization. Not only is our food great, it is the interactions from our customers that keep us going. This is why we do what we do and love every minute of it.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Before we really got into the idea of being food trailer owners we needed a proof of concept. We ran estimated numbers, made projections, and spoke to some people already in the industry. Before we would risk it we needed to test it out. We invested a little money and tried to sell our service cooking at backyard parties. We were learning new things about the business after every event. Before we knew it we would book up with no website or social media presence. This was all word of mouth. We were shocked from the support of our clients and knew we had something going for ourselves. This proof of concept turned into a full blown business seeing the need for our service. This proof of concept allowed us to purchase a food trailer and open up to the public.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Being consistent! This is a vital key role in your business model you have to follow. If your hours are sporadic your customer will be as well. Being consistent for your customer to learn your schedule will help repeated business. Any type of festival or high foot traffic area will draw customers in that will help grow your business. Quality food, great customer service, and word of mouth will go along way in growing your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tacosbenditos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tacosbenditos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tacosbenditos
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tacos-benditos-van-alstyne
• Other: Google https://goo.gl/maps/J3C7EcGvE3vxGLkN7