Pedro "Pete" Mora
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When Pedro “Pete” Mora opened his first restaurant in 2002, the then-23-year-old believed a full-service Mexican concept with a full bar and 60 tables would be the route to success. What he learned from that business — Poblano’s in Meyerland, Texas — was that fajitas were what customers really craved. That lesson made him ask himself how to best retool the restaurant; the answer was to close Poblano’s and open Fajita Pete’s in 2008.
Pete’s new concept quickly blossomed, thanks in no small part to a natural disaster.
“Inauspiciously, a hurricane hit soon after the new store opened and other businesses and homes quickly lost power; miraculously, we were still up and running, so the staff cooked during the storm and delivered fajitas to the community,” the company’s website explains. “From the beginning, we made it our mission to show people just how far we would go to serve quality fajitas — something we have repeated through every hurricane and every sunny day since the first location opened.”
Here, Mora shares how his initial concept grew into the fast-growing, Houston-based Tex-Mex chain.
#1 Fajita Pete’s opened its doors in 2008, followed by what’s been described as a "new concept" in 2015. How is the new concept different from what you were doing in 2008?
Fajita Pete's stemmed from a full-service restaurant in its previous iteration. While figuring out the new ins and outs in 2008 we had multiple items on the menu. The "new concept" put the full focus on a simple menu that could be scaled in-house through catering and delivery, as well as brand-wide, through expansion into 1200-square-foot streamlined kitchens that scratch-make sides and cater and deliver to the local communities they serve.
#2 Who owns the company? Has that changed recently — for example, are there new investors?
I started the concept, and in spite of all of my shortcomings, it proved to be a very profitable model. In 2015, with the focus on expansion, Joey Eguia joined me and we became more intentional about franchise growth. In 2018, Evolve Restaurant Group came on board and invested in Fajita Pete's and helped to expedite the rebrand. They provided [knowledge from] years of experience in growing businesses and allowed Hugh Guill [part owner and franchisee] and Baker Tilney [an investor and financial advisor] to work alongside Joey [now chief operating officer] and me in the day-to-day shaping of the business.
#3 How many existing locations are there? And what are your growth plans?
To date we have awarded 108 franchises and have currently opened 31 locations. We have one corporate location, and the rest are franchised. This year we [have already opened three locations and] will open five more locations, which will all be franchised. We are excited to have already opened Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Bellaire, Texas. And we are working on Westlake in Austin; Wichita Falls, Texas; Kingwood, Texas; Puerto Rico; and Plano, Texas.
Ninety-Eight percent of Fajita Pete's sales are off-premise
#4 It’s been reported that your catering orders were up 30 percent and that website visits to the Fajita Pete’s catering form rose by 65 percent year-over-year in 2023. What do you think has made Fajita Pete's so successful?
Fajita Pete's business model offers protection in this volatile market and industry. The fact that we focus on restaurant quality food in small footprints allows our ticket averages to be in the $60 to $80 range. Our focus on corporate catering offers our operators a chance to capture sales in an efficient manner by executing our simple menu offerings to large numbers of customers at once. The delivery aspect in the evenings offers families in the surrounding neighborhoods a high-quality offering from a concept that had delivery and off premise consumption as its primary objective from day one. The fact that 98 percent of our sales are off premise allows us to compete and thrive in this market.
#5 How do you pitch the concept to new potential franchisees?
Luckily, we have not done much in outreach for franchisees and have been blessed to receive inbound/organic interest. Our goal is to have growth from within our current franchisees so that we can scale in an efficient manner. You have to focus on the next meal in this business and we feel that as long as we execute on our quality and convenience, growth will take care of itself.
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