We recently connected with Jake Levy and have shared our conversation below.

Jake, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

As a restaurant owner the only thing I really think about related to another profession are weekends. We have been operating Desperados a really long while and the weekends are a time when it’s all hands on deck. I wonder what it would be like to clock out on Friday at 5 and not return till Monday. Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t take a weekend night off from time to time but consistently having the weekend off, I’m not going to lie, kinda sounds glorious.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Desperados is a family owned and operated Mexican restaurant that is celebrating its 48th year of business on Greenville Ave and a truly wonderful 30 year anniversary in Garland on Campbell Rd. Our father Jorge Levy started the business back in 1976 when he was working for another Mexican restaurant just up the street. He was approached by two customers who asked him if he wanted to join them in opening another restaurant. They were to work in the front of the house and in the office and Pop was in charge of the kitchen. Jorge immediately went to our grandmother and asked for her help in creating the menu. So from her kitchen in her little house off Skillman Rd, they did just that.
Since then Desperados has established itself as a delicious Dallas original.
In our history we have participated in some pretty amazing things. For 12 years our father organized a Cinco de Mayo festival. For two years we put on the Dallas Margarita festival in downtown Dallas. For the past 20+ years we have been on the board of directors for the Greenville Ave Area Business Association which is responsible for the Dallas St. Patrick’s Parade on Greenville Ave. For 13 years Desperados operated a food booth at the great State Fair of Texas where we won the fried food competition with the Deep Fried Latte. We served our food at Superbowl XLV and the when the NFL came to visit during the Draft. Our Catering department has been feeding the Dallas Mavericks for the past 15 years. We catered the Dallas Cowboys for a number of years before they moved to the Star. We also take food to the Rangers and Stars and visiting pro teams as a result of our reputation throughout the different leagues. We were a favorite of KVIL and Ron Chapman and now we have a great time feeding the guys at the Ticket during the Cowboys’ Pre/Post Game Shows.
We love participating in the big stuff but our greatest joy is serving all of our regular guests in the restaurant. There is just something about creating relationships with people that span actual decades. We have grown up with our guests and in many ways feel like part of the family. We like to say that Desperados is family not fancy, but we can be a little fancy.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Well we have been through some good times and not so good times here at Desperados. I can remember when our Dad would gather all of the paychecks for the employees and get everyone together in the kitchen and before he would pass them out he would tell them “Ok, here are your paychecks, now remember that you have to hold on to them and not cash/deposit them till Monday when the weekend money hits the bank.” And people would do just that. Those days are gone but they are not forgotten.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Getting our booth at the State Fair was one of those stories where the odds were definitely stacked against us. I can remember that a guest had mentioned why don’t we try for a booth at the fair. We were excited to fill out the application, of course knowing full well that there was a 10 year waiting list. It was almost jokingly that we submitted our name to the fair officials. Well in 3 weeks we got a letter from the fair that said they were happy to announce that indeed we were invited to join the state fair family. We just looked at each other and said, “Well, I guess we are doing the Fair.” It turned out to be a great chapter in our history where we learned a lot and met some of the greatest people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.DesperadosRestaurant.com
• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/DesperadosTacos
• Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/DesperadosTacos
• Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/DesperadosTacos
• Youtube: https://www.YouTube.com/DesperadosTacos
• Other: www.DesperadosEvents.com – our Golf Tournament page