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

Mo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
Executing an idea is the hardest part, coming up with the concept is easy but putting in the work to execute your idea can be difficult and prove to be very challenging.

We founded Crush Taco back in 2016 here in Frisco, TX, the goal was never to open a restaurant but to start a brand. My restaurant background comes from working for some of the largest restaurant groups in the country. After spending 15 years in the industry it was time to venture out and create my own brand. The idea was to create a fast casual restaurant, focusing on quality and design. The taco came about as there was a huge surge in new creative taco concepts, we felt we could use the tortilla as a vessel and enhance the ingredients within the shell. That we did! By creating some of our signature tacos such as the Cornflake Shrimp Taco, Baja Fish Taco and the one of a kind Fried Chicken Elotes Style Taco, not to mention the sides to pair such as the Chorizo Fries and Green Chile Queso. Crush Taco offers some amazing local and imported beers and one amazing margarita!

Soon the idea turned from a dream into a goal and into a deadline and December 26th, 2016 Crush Taco was born, fast forward 5 years later, through some of the most difficult times in my career and a worldwide pandemic we are now opening our 2nd location in Frisco, TX. I have learned a lot being a small business owner, probably more about myself than anything, knowing that I have a high capacity and well in this business you need thick skin. As we continue our plan to grow into a national brand, we stay focused on developing and enhancing our systems, nurturing our team and getting better shift by shift and day by day!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My career started back in 2004, while attending culinary school I worked for Lawrys, The Prime Rib. I was instantly hooked to the industry. The fast paced, in your face business was something that I instantly fell in love with. Just walking into to my first professional kitchen, it was bright, loud and majestic. Over the years I worked with companies such as Capital Grille, Dallas Chop House, and Perrys Steakhouse, I worked my way through the ranks from cook to executive chef to restaurant owner, its been a fun a ride and pretty cool story.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Image your in the ring and the punches keep coming and there is unlimited time left in the round, that’s what its like being a small business owner. Now put a lion in that ring, that’s what its like being a small business restaurant owner. It does not stop coming, you are on stage everyday and you are expected to preform at a certain level, for your team and your guest. Being a chef, cook, or restaurant manager is hard enough but trying to run a business on top of that is impossible, its extremely difficult but its also pretty fun at the same time. It has to be or you’ll go crazy. Ive had my back against the ropes many times, there is nothing like being able to survive that and coming up with a way to move forward,

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
The biggest adjustment we had to make in our business was undoubtedly covid. We had to reinvent the way we did things and quick, like overnight quick. We went from having a thriving business that was growing, to shutting down in the matter of days and trying to figure out just like everyone, how to navigate through these unforeseen times. But, we did just that, we offered take out, delivery and curbside pickup. We hosted farmers market, sold groceries and gave stuff away, we sold family meals, take home drink kits and kept the margaritas flowing! we still find ourselves trying to figure things out but we plan on taking on any challenges thrown at us

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crushtaco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crushtaco/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crushtaco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mo-assi-749a9456
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/crushtaco?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/crush-taco-frisco-2
• Other: https://communityimpact.com/dallas-fort-worth/frisco/dining/2021/10/12/crush-taco-to-open-second-frisco-location/

Image Credits
photo credit: chelseabee photography