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

Hi Rosa , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
We came up with the name Sayulitas on a trip to Puerto Vallarta where my family is from. We visited a famous beach called Sayulita and ran into a local business owner who was American. Discussing business with him gave us the idea of starting our own business. We already had experience in running a successful business within the industry we were in but were burnt out after so many years of contracts and dealing with hundreds of employees. We decided to go a different direction, my parents previously owned a few taco shops in the 90’s which I helped manage, so we decided to start one on our own and name it Sayulitas Mexican Food.

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?
I was basically raised in a taco shop. From a young age I helped my parents manage their shops. Their guidance at a young age and experience in other industries as I got older running operations and businesses helped in the success of our shops today. Knowing your financials and being disciplined is key along with continuous business growth. We learned to never stay stagnant in business, you will always lose some so you have no choice but to keep growing.

Being raised in SOCAL, taco shops were mostly traditional. For our shop, we wanted the traditional taco shop menu but to also add unique items to be different. Our family is of mixed cultures, primarily Filipino and Mexican, so we decided to add Filipino meats and other items to our Specialty Burritos and Fries. Our sayings are “Mexican Food with a Filipino twist” and “Home of the Big Ass Burrito”. We have specialty menu items like the Pacman Burrito, Rosy Fries and Hot Cheeto Burrito. We make it a point to have bigger servings than a regular shop, more bang for your buck. Some of our burritos are the size of your arm.

We are grateful for all our loyal customers, dedicated employees, vendors and communities. We would not have succeeded to this point without everyone’s support. Our family will always be thankful.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I left the taco shop industry for a period of time because I wanted to learn something different. I always said I would not return to it unless I could be my own boss. I went into different industry and succeeded in running their operations and business to a regional level. There I learned a lot of the corporate ways. I definitely had a change feeling towards the taco shop business when I had an opportunity to own a shop. I could do it my way, use my past experience and create a different and unique taco shop.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Social media helped us a lot. We were able to showcase our unique menu items and eventually got on picked up by BuzzFeed, Bring Me, Tasty, radio stations and foodies. They did internet media segments on our Specialty Burritos and Fries. This really increased our exposure and sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: sayulitaseats.com
• Instagram: @sayulitasmexicanfood
• Facebook: Sayulitas Mexican Food
• Twitter: @sayulitaseats
• Yelp: Sayulitas Mexican Food
• Other: tiktok: Sayulitas Mexican Food

Image Credits
Amanda Alcantara – Sayulitas Logo