We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristen Corral a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kristen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

Customer retention is something we focus heavily on at Tacotarian. From the moment a customer walks in the door we want them to feel welcomed and invited. Many times people come in with their non-vegan family members that are hesitant about trying the food. My husband/business partner Carlos has mastered converting these types of customers into fans. Beyond helping them place an order, he will give them samples and guide them through the menu. Once they’ve ordered he goes in the back and makes tacos that aren’t on our menu. He will then bring them to the table and tell the guests about his tacos that are a style from his hometown in Mexico. He explains that he made them special for them so they are trying a dish that no one else can get. Customers LOVE this! They feel excited, special and will often post on social media or leave a positive review for us. A little effort goes a long way in the hospitality industry.

Kristen, 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’m Kristen Corral, Co-Founder of Tacotarian Plant-Based Mexican Eatery. Tacotarian has 5 locations and is growing and we opened in 2018. Believe it or not, at 42, restaurateur is my 3rd career. I grew up as a performer (ballet, jazz, tap) and started working professionally at 16. My first job was Chip & Dale at Disney World. It wasn’t glamorous, but it sent me down a path of traveling the world performing and eventually landing in Vegas. From 2003 to 2013 you could’ve seen me performing with well-known magicians or as a showgirl alongside Holly Madison at Planet Hollywood. In 2011 I began thinking about my future beyond dance. The only thing I was truly passionate about was animals, so I got certified in Animal Massage and set out to create the #1 pet care company in Las Vegas. I scaled that business from 2011-2021 and eventually sold it for 6 figures. It continues to be the area’s largest and best pet care company. In 2018 along with my husband and another couple we started Tacotarian. While it was my first time owning a restaurant, I had worked in dozens of restaurants from the age of 17-24. In fact, I met my husband working at the extremely popular Mon Ami Gabi on the Las Vegas strip. It was 2003 and he had recently immigrated from Mexico and got a job as a bar back. I had just moved from LA and got a job as a hostess. We’ve been together 20 years in November. Over the years as we transitioned to a plant-based lifestyle we dreamt of owning our own restaurant, little did we know we would soon make that dream a reality. Since opening our first Tacotarian we’ve scaled to five locations and opened Umbrella Consulting Team, Good Morning Kitchen & Cocktail Bar and we are now set to launch our first retail product by the end of this year.

Our goal with Tacotarian has always been to make plant-based food accessible and accepted. There is a huge misconception that some of us are out here living off lettuce and tofu and it can be so much more than that. Our successes have been based on the fact that 75% of our customer base doesn’t identify as vegetarian or vegan, they just love great Mexican food. We wanted to create a space that felt welcoming to the masses and didn’t feel like a ‘typical’ vegan or Mexican restaurant. I remember I went to a vegan restaurant with a friend one time in Florida and she made a comment that stuck with me. She said she always felt uncomfortable going in, even when the food was good. She said she never felt ‘cool enough’ to eat there. At Tacotarian everyone is welcome and we pride ourselves on that.

There are quite a few things that set us apart from other restaurants. First is our team. Having 4 founders can come with its challenges, but it also allows for people from varying backgrounds to work faster and smarter. Each of us has a different expertise within the brand and it contributes to our growth. Next is our marketing, it’s a huge part of our business and for most restaurants, it’s an afterthought. Something I’m extremely proud of is the cult-like following we’ve built on and offline and our marketing & outreach keeps people coming back.

If there’s any advice I could give to those starting a business is to put the right team in place. You might be a great cook or bake the best cookies on the block but are you a master of all the other things that go into operating a business? Now, whether you take on partners or outsource that work is up to you, but don’t have the ‘build it and they will come’ mindset. Operating a business takes constant work and care. Even those with the best products or services can fail.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I love this question! I actually didn’t start really getting into marketing until 2017. I joined a mastermind for owners of pet care companies on FB and I started working with Bella Vasta who ran the mastermind. It was so eye-opening that it forever changed the way I view marketing and business. Also, everything I learned applies to all my business ventures. The most important thing is social media is FOREVER changing. It changes daily, so the best thing you can do is follow experts. You can follow experts on Linkedin, IG, FB, or Tiktok. But there are an infinite number of people putting out free advice on how to better market your business. Now, not everyone knows what they’re talking about so choose wisely.

I’m from the school of BE YOURSELF. Don’t try to be too perfect, perfect doesn’t win on social. What wins on social is authenticity. Incorporate video heavily into your strategy. Test different types of content to see what performs best. I’m really into trending audio right now. Audios that have less than 10K uses, but are trending up. It allows you to capitalize on the growth, but still keep it within your own brand standards. Where I see people making mistakes is trying to do every silly tiktok trend. Overusing trends can turn people off. Again, be yourself!

Overall people want to buy from real people, specifically small businesses. Show customers that there’s a real person behind the brand. Someone who is passionate about their product or company. If you show your passion, customers will get excited too. Once you have excited fans/customers they’ll become your best marketing tools. UGC (user-generated content) is great for growing your brand on social. It always helps to have actual customers raving about your product! Make sure you get permission first though. I highly recommend reading ‘The Marketing Rebellion” by Mark Schaefer which is about this exact topic.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Brand Loyalty is a VERY hot topic in the hospitality industry right now. With options growing exponentially, how do you stay relevant and keep customer interest high? We actually really excel in this area so I’ll share my top 5 recommendations for maintaining brand loyalty. First is Email funnels – Toast POS for restaurants makes this super easy by allowing users to set up automated emails that target groups of people. For example, we have an email that goes out to anyone who hasn’t dined in 30 days with a 10% off discount code titled “We miss you 🫶”. If you have a retail product you can also set up similar funnels on mail chimp or other platforms. Second, LTO’s (limited-time offers) with Heart- we create buzz-worthy specials every two months and partner with local charities that align with our values. 10% of the proceeds go to said charity and they help promote to raise money for their org. Example: a vegan Mexican pizza that has people going crazy on SOCIAL with proceeds benefitting Maui animal shelter & Breast Cancer Screening Programs. Third, SHARING is Caring- if you share a post on IG & tag us you’ll get an automated message that says thanks for being a SUPERFAN, and offers you 10% off your next order. Fourth, Loyalty Programs – loyalty programs are gaining in popularity. Give something good to get people to sign up and bring them into your funnels. Our example: a free taco to sign up. People love a freebie, a birthday gift and just getting points for every purchase! Lastly, Collabs – This one is not something I ever see anyone else do, but you should be. We collaborate with other restaurants to create exciting specials. Example: we work with local pizza places that offer vegan pizzas and we have them create a pizza with our proteins. Then they sell this as an LTO and we both promote and we split the profits. Why does this work? It gets the customer base of 2 popular restaurants engaged in a very unique LTO and it helps drive new traffic to BOTH businesses. Someone who orders from a local pizza place in the downtown area may not know about us in North Park. But if they love our birria they’ll be inclined to come check us out.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eattacotarian.com
• Instagram: @lakristencorral, @eattacotarian
• Facebook: @eattacotarian
• Linkedin: @kristen-corral
• Threads @lakristencorral

Image Credits
Bobby Black, Casey Jade, Jay Cariaga, Kristen Corral