Multi-unit restaurants had a strong year in 2019, according to Technomic. The largest 500 multi-unit restaurants saw average sales grow nearly 4 percent last year, the best growth rate since 2015. Mexican multi-unit restaurants played an important ro Read more
There’s no question that today’s customers love placing their food delivery orders online. And that means restaurants that don’t offer the option stand to lose business. Read more
Olga Dubravina
Do you wish you could make fresh tortillas in your restaurant? Now you can learn that skill. The Tortilla Industry Association and el Restaurante magazine are sponsoring a 3-day, hands-on course to teach the art of in-house tortilla making. The cours Read more
What were customers ordering most during the past year? And what new trends are heating up restaurant foodservice for the year ahead? For some answers, el Restaurante turned to Grubhub, the online and mobile food-ordering and delivery service, and Ba Read more
Eric Jurado, a veteran of the trade show industry, recently contacted us about a new show he and his partners are organizing for the Latin restaurant industry. We asked him some questions: Read more
Owners of Mexican restaurants have many ways to learn about products for their businesses, ranging from trade shows to magazine advertisements. A survey of readers of el Restaurante magazine – who are owners and managers of Mexican and other Latin-cu Read more
Check out this gallery of some of the proud winners of the 2019 el Restaurante/Jarritos Manager of the Year Contest! Read more
At Pollos Maria in Carlsbad, Calif., Catering Manager Janice Davies says business is up 30 percent over last year. She attributes much of that growth to her delivery business, which she does through DoorDash. “All in all, business has been great,” Da Read more
No restaurant operates successfully without a manager. A manager opens the restaurant in the morning, closes the restaurant at night, and keeps everything running smoothly in between. That’s why el Restaurante and Jarritos are so pleased to honor the Read more
Is Taco Tuesday a thing at your restaurant? Thousands of Mexican restaurants promote Taco Tuesday as a day that customers can grab a cheap lunch or dinner. But many restaurants that use the phrase “Taco Tuesday” have received cease-and-desist letters Read more
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Mothers, abuelas, doctors, media and advertisements recite that bit of wisdom regularly. And it’s increasingly true from a restaurant operator’s perspective as well. Market research firm Datassential Read more
From the perspective of a Mexican restaurant, taco events can be a mixed bag. Sometimes you sell a lot of tacos and get some great exposure, but other times you give up most of your profit to the organizer. Nevertheless, if you're interested in parti Read more
ALLEKO
Do you charge for chips and salsa? If so, you have lots of company these days. A review of 50 Mexican restaurant menus, followed up by interviews with some of the restaurant owners, discovered that 16 of them (32 percent) charge for chips and salsa, Read more
Many Mexican restaurants serve micheladas, those tomato juice-based beer cocktails, but the owners of Guelaguetza Restaurant in Los Angeles saw more opportunity in the tangy drink than just another menu item. About four years ago they started selling Read more
Publisher Ed Avis manned the el Restaurante booth at Sabor Latino, which was inside the Western Foodservice Expo in Los Angeles this week. He saw the following products – most of which were in the Sabor Latino section -- that might interest el Restau Read more
Veronica Lopez quite clearly remembers the first time she tried to bake a cake as a child in Queretero, her hometown near Mexico City. “I saw how my mother's great-aunt made delicious things, and I tried to do it at home. My mother let me do it…obvi Read more
She made her mark with Barrio Café, the Phoenix restaurant she opened with her business partner Wendy Gruber in 2002—a time when Mexican cuisine was more or less in its infancy in much of the U.S. Read more
SOL Mexican Cocina was founded 10 years ago with the idea of bringing the taste of Baja north of the border. Today the restaurant has four locations: two in California, one in Scottsdale, Arizona and one in Denver. In this interview with the founders Read more
Photo courtesy of Cory James, Ancho Reyes
Not long ago, the term “batched cocktails” evoked visions of bars catering to rowdy game day or spring break crowds, or high-volume nightclubs relying on pre-made mixers to keep prices low and service turnaround high. Read more
Photo courtesy of Cory James, Ancho Reyes
No hace mucho, el término "cócteles en lote" evocaba imágenes de bares con multitudes ruidosas en un día de juego o en vacaciones de ‘spring break’, o en clubes nocturnos con música a todo volumen, utilizando mezclas pre-fabricadas para mantener bajo Read more
Sabor a Mi Grill in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. has a menu full of Mexican delicacies, such as Huesos de Tuetano (bone marrow with spicy peanut sauce) and Tacos de Chicharron con Carne. With a menu that carefully designed, it’s no surprise that owner El Read more
The Texas Restaurant Association Marketplace took place Sunday and Monday, and el Restaurante Publisher Ed Avis was there to meet readers and advertisers and see what's new. Below are some of the things he saw that would most likely interest owners/m Read more
If your customers like guacamole, you know that avocado prices have spiked recently. Data show that in the week beginning July 1, wholesale prices for avocados arriving from Mexico were 129 percent higher than the same week last year. Read more
Si a sus clientes le gusta el guacamole, sabe que los precios de aguacate se han disparado recientemente. Los datos muestran que en la semana que empezó el 1 de julio, los precios al mayoreo de los aguacates que llegan de México eran 129 por ciento m Read more
James Florio
For decades, customers entering the building at 3495 S. Downing St. in Englewood, Colo. needed car repairs, gas or snacks. Today the building still serves the neighborhood, but with a very different product line-up – tacos, margaritas, and other Mexi Read more
Photo courtesy of Agave & Rye
Agave & Rye is a young restaurant with great aspirations. Even though the restaurant is just 18 months old, it already has two locations open, one more planned for later in 2019, and six planned for 2020. In this interview, co-owner Yavonne Sarber di Read more
Martha Doyle owns El Tajin Mexican Restaurant in Montrose, Scotland. In this interview, she discusses how she discovered her talents and the challenges of introducing Scotland to authentic Mexican cuisine. Read more
The National Restaurant Show, which took place from May 18-21 in Chicago, was full of products of interest to owners of Mexican/Latin restaurants. We used our booth at the show as our base to meet readers and advertisers, but we also explored the sho Read more
Ask Chef Yanni Sanchez of Mercado Cocina, Glenview, Illinois about the challenges she’s faced as a female chef, and she says one anecdote in particular comes to mind. Read more
JEFF LUKES
Mexican restaurant owners are enjoying a solid year, with more than half reporting sales up over last year, according to the el Restaurante 2018 business survey. But labor issues – especially a lack of available workers – are holding some restaurants Read more
Pop UP Restaurant -Cocina Comercial Compartida- es un nuevo concepto, en un ambiente variado y multicultural, donde nuevos chefs exponen su arte culinario y adquieren más experiencia. Read more
When “West Fest” happens on the street in front of Tecalitlan Mexican Restaurant in Chicago, Karla Garcia and her staff go all out. “We transform our parking lot into a restaurant and sell food and liquor for three days,” Garcia says. “It’s absolute Read more
Larisa Blinova / Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo
How does your menu say “salads“? If it’s with words like “taco salad” and “fajita salad” that’s ok. But wouldn’t you like to turn ok into outstanding? Read more
Some things just work better in groups. That seems to be the idea behind the rise in food halls and markets – places that gather multiple restaurants, and sometimes other related businesses, in one place. Three of these venues, including a new one in Read more
CLFortin Getty Images/iStockphoto
Cuando la temperatura sube, la mayoría siente la necesidad de aligerar las cosas. Tejidos más livianos, colores más claros, alimentos más ligeros y sabores más refrescantes. Si los clientes empiezan a cambiar los burritos cargados de queso o un Read more
CLFortin Getty Images/iStockphoto
When temperatures rise, most people get the urge to lighten things up. Think lighter fabrics, lighter colors, lighter foods and more refreshing flavors. If guests are trading cheese-heavy burritos or a carne asada plate for a salad or grilled fish t Read more
