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

Alright, Ricardo thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

I feel that family businesses are the fiber that make the American Flag . They build communities and they are what make America .

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

Long before I met my dad . Him and my uncle opened their first restaurant in 1984 in Chicago . I grew up in Chicago getting into trouble trying to find my way. I met my dad around 17-18 years old. He was in Milwaukee Wisconsin at the time . My mom pretty much told me I had to go with him. I was hesitant at first but realizing that the streets of Chicago were only going to lead me to do some hard time or even worse. So I went and he had branched out and had been in Milwaukee for a few years already. He had a bar/restaurant . Mind you I’d never really met my dad until then. He made me work in the kitchen with the cook started washing dishes etc. Then I moved to working the bar . Stocking the fridges and cleaning up . You know learning the ropes. By the end of the first year I was running the day to day operations in the restaurant. That lasted for almost 10 years or so . My dad decided to sell and retire to Durango Mexico and I stayed in Milwaukee but later moved back to Chicago where I worked with my uncle In The original restaurant . Around that time another uncle had uprooted and moved to Kansas City . I visited from time to time and slowly started seeming the potential here. A few years later I decided to move to KCMO . I attempted to buy a restaurant and get to work. I failed completely lost all my money not knowing what to do . I got a job at a production plant and did the 9-5 thing always planning on how I could get back to what I loved. I ended up buying a old trailer camper with hopes of turning it into a food truck. I was working 70 /80 hours whatever amount of hours I could. It took me 2 years from when I bought that camper to get it up and operational. It was Cinco de Mayo 2 years ago when we did a “soft opening” and gave away free tacos that day . I’ll tell you I wasn’t ready for such a great response from my co workers and the community. We must’ve given away 300 tacos that day. I was rusty behind the grill and felt overwhelmed but I’ve been here before I told myself just stick to the 5 p’s PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE I told myself . The discipline that you have to have mentally not only physical is tremendous. But thinking of the future and what I want for my family my kids was motivation enough to keep going. I still to this day come up with things to make it work better. I will say that tacos wasn’t my first option as far as what to sell. Since we sell pizza and other Mexican food in Chicago and Milwaukee . But tacos seemed to be a good fit for now . When I first came up with a menu . I had 4,5 six options but quickly realized that I should focus on one or 2 things and perfect them . A simple hand crafted street style taco made to order. Fresh cooked meat fresh cut veggies nice salsa . You can’t go wrong. We’ve changed a few things since we started from only using one tortilla adding Al Pastor and finally finding a good tortilla that would set us apart from any other taco truck . The blue corn tortilla was and has been a great fit for us . I like to think that we aren’t your typical taco truck or Mexican food truck. We stick to the traditional street style taco with The Sugar Skull Grill twist. Only if you’ve had our tacos will you know what that means . We have built a reputation for serving a superb taco

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Staying consistent is the biggest part of building your reputation . People have to see that your product stays the same. When you have our tacos you can bet on the fact that you will receive and hand crafted taco that is made fresh and made literally in front of you just for you. We keep it simple. Fresh cooked meat , fresh cut ingredients (cilantro , onion , lime and homemade salsa. The blue corn tortillas that we use have become a staple and everyone might not know us by name but they know about the blue corn tortilla. Word of mouth travels fast so staying consistent is a must. There are “taco trucks” everywhere so it’s a tough market.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I wish I could say that there have been books , videos or something that I could say impacted me. I’m a second generation restauranteur my dad and uncle started in Chicago with $5k not knowing anything but that they had an idea and since 1984 it is still open. It has to be instinct the ability to learn and adapt to problem solve are things that I feel you are born with . Yes you can read about examples and things that can help you do certain things but the instinct to survive can’t be taken out of a book . Since the first day I can remember the look I gave my dad when he said go ahead figure it out. “Sink or swim” mentality . I now try to educate myself in certain aspects of the business to be better at what I want to accomplish. But I honestly don’t feel that I could’ve made it this far without having the instinct and will to strive and be someone or build something.

Contact Info:

• Website: Sugarskullgrill.com
• Instagram: @sugarskullgrill
• Facebook: Sugar Skull Grill
• Yelp: Sugar Skull Grill