Julian Cervantes of SUPER TACO MEXICAN RESTAURANTS on Starting a Family Business

Super Taco Mexican Restaurants (@supertacomex) founder Julian Cervantes knew as a young man that he wanted to own a business. He just didn’t know what to open or even how to get started. Luckily there were loved ones around him who could help. Watch this interview to learn about starting a business from scratch, having a Plan B, and balancing family and a restaurant.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN on this episode of the Restaurant Influencers podcast, sponsored by the Toast point of sale and restaurant management company? Let us know by leaving a YouTube comment below!

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CHAPTERS:

[1:30] - Julian Cervantes 2-Minute Drill

[2:16] - A Business and a Dream

[8:28] - Starting With No Experience

[10:52] - Prioritizing Family Over Business

[23:49] - Thank You Sacramento

Julian Cervantes is a Restaurant Influencer —

With no plan, no background, but armed fully with ambition, passion, and money in savings, a young Julian Cervantes set out to find a location to open his first restaurant.

Powerful women serving as guides and helpers is a recurring theme throughout his life, and his initial business venture was no different. His sisters, Iliana and Maria, stepped in to help, and on September 29, 1991, the very first Super Taco Mexican Restaurant was open for business in Sacramento, California.

Super Taco is a true family restaurant business. Cervantes’ wife and sons are a part of the business, yes, but are also the key to the balance necessary for Cervantes to remain joyful while navigating the ever-changing terrain of entrepreneurship. According to him, family first is the only way to have a successful business. Flipping those priorities, for the Cervantes family, is a recipe for success.

“Know your family is first, and happiness (is second). Third is your business,” Julian Cervantes said on the Restaurant Influencers podcast hosted by Shawn P. Walchef of “If you do it the other way around and everything’s for the business, you might not have a family....”

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Most businesses struggle to get off the ground and Super Taco was no different. Three years in, it just wasn’t working and Julian Cervantes was ready to sell. Fortunately, he and his wife, who had become an integral part of the business by this time, were afforded time to reconsider selling, shuffle priorities, and get back to the essence of family first.

Those small changes proved to be the tweak necessary to send Super Taco Mexican Restaurants into a successful trajectory starting in the 90s and continuing to this day. And the rest has been taco history.

NOMINATE A RESTAURANT INFLUENCER — Do you know someone or a restaurant who is great on social media? Let us know by emailing influencers@calibbq.media or sending the @calibbqmedia team a DM on social media.

EPISODE LINKS:

• Super Taco Mexican Restaurant

• Order Super Taco Catering

• Digital Hospitality Business Podcast

ABOUT JULIAN CERVANTES (@supertacomex):

Julian Cervantes started Super Taco Mexican Restaurants with little to no knowledge about the restaurant industry. He and his family members have worked through the ups and downs of owning a restaurant to create a Mexican food staple in the Northern California area with five locations in Sacramento and Elk Grove, CA. A true family restaurant, Cervantes’ family works for the company while still finding time to enjoy life outside of the business.

• Super Taco on Facebook

ABOUT RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS:

Welcome to the Restaurant Influencers podcast series. Every week host and restaurant owner Shawn P. Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) talks with leaders in restaurant and hospitality about their secrets to Smartphone Storytelling and how to show up and engage where customers are spending time online.

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RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS IS PRESENTED BY TOAST:

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