A. Tacotarian caters to vegetarians and meat-eaters alike using bold Mexican flavors across its menu. B. From left, Regina and Dan Simmons and Carlos and Kristen Corral are the founders of Tacotarian. C. Tacotarian uses mushrooms, seitan, refried beans and other plant-based proteins to mimic the taste and texture of traditional meat.
It was a trip to Mexico that inspired Kristen and Carlos Corral and Regina and Dan Simmons to open a plant-based taco restaurant.
“The four of us ended up staying late at a bar, just drinking in Mexico City,” Kristen Corral said. The couples were brainstorming ideas for opening a restaurant in Las Vegas, she said.
Just months after they formed the idea for a shop that sells plant-based Mexican food, Tacotarian debuted in Las Vegas in August 2018. Now in its seventh year, the company has six stores, one in San Diego and the rest in the Las Vegas metro area.
Carlos Corral and Regina Simmons are each from Mexico—Los Mochis and Mexico City, respectively. Combine the cuisines of those two regions with the Corrals’ dominantly plant-based lifestyles, and you get Tacotarian’s menu.
“I saw what a gap there was for quality, plant-based food,” Kristen Corral said.
Vegan and vegetarian food often get a bad rap, because the meat alternatives don’t always measure up to the real thing. But the four co-founders put flavor at the forefront of the brand’s menu to delight customers regardless of their eating habits.
“We’re not focusing on just vegetarians and vegans. If you do, you’re limiting yourself,” Kristen Corral said. “Our motto has always been, since day one: We have really great Mexican food, and, oh by the way, it just happens to be made from plants.”
Tacotarian uses mushrooms, seitan, refried beans, jackfruit, soy chorizo and other ingredients for its proteins. Kristen Corral estimated that three out of every four customers aren’t vegetarian or vegan.
The Corrals met while working at the same restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip. While working at a multi-unit, family-owned business, Carlos Corral met Dan and Regina Simmons.
“We worked together about 15 to 17 years together before even deciding to open Tacotarian. We knew we wanted to do something,” Carlos Corral said. When they were tossing around ideas at the bar in Mexico City and landed on a plant-based Mexican restaurant, he said they “could not get it out” of their heads.
Mexican restaurants of all sorts are common across the globe, so standing out among that oversaturated crowd can be tough, Carlos Corral said. But he and the team are ready to take on that challenge, considering they’ve already conquered owning and operating several restaurants. “The restaurant business is not an easy one. You really have to like it,” he said.
Balancing great service with quality food to create repeat customers is a feat, but Carlos Corral said Tacotarian found that harmony.
“It has to be a little bit of everything: the quality of the food, the service that we try to provide, the environment that we provide as well for the guests—and the margaritas, of course,” he said.
The investment required to open a Tacotarian location ranges from $352,200 to $709,200, including the $40,000 franchise fee.
For now, Tacotarian is looking to stay on the West Coast so the corporate team is closer to its franchisees and to keep distribution simpler, Kristen Corral said.
“We’re not limiting ourselves there,” she said. But if the right franchisee comes along, the brand is flexible about growing in other areas.
The right franchisee for Tacotarian, Kristen Corral said, needs to love the brand. They don’t need to be vegan or have a ton of restaurant experience.
“We’ve built up so many systems and processes over the last six years to make these restaurants run so consistent and with the quality that we know that our customers want,” she said. “You have to be excited about being part of the community and owning your own business. … We love people that are embedded in their communities and that want to work with charities that align with our brand values.”
She’d love to see Tacotarian grow significantly in the next five years, but she has non-numerical goals as well.
“I want to see people happy in five years with our food,” she said. “Of course, I would love to see 100, 150 locations in five years. Everybody does. So we need to start working even harder than we have so far.”
