April 14, 2026 • 37 mins
This week, Yris sits down with Victor Villa, founder of Highland Park’s beloved Villa’s Tacos. You might know him as the taquero from the Bad Bunny halftime show, but years ago, before he had several brick-and-mortars and before he found himself on the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list, he was a struggling entrepreneur selling tacos in front of his grandmother Chula’s house. Despite having maxed-out credit cards, working 16-hour days and being late on his rent, Victor pushed through it all and built a name for himself in his community and across the country.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, guys, welcome back to Against All Odds. I'm your host,
Iris Palmer. On this podcast we get to say with
some amazing guests, and I couldn't be more true for
my guests today. Chef Victor Via from vas Tackles Highland Park,
thank you so much for being here. I'm sure everybody
knows you right now, especially after your cameo and the
(00:21):
Bad Bunny halftime show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It was a great It was a great time, honestly,
and I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
But let's take it back to a little icebreaker. I
like to start every episode with zodiac signs because I'm
so big an astrology and you're a SA Sagittarius man.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Right, Well that's what they say.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You don't believe you're you're a sad. I believe Okay, okay,
let me tell you some of these sage. I actually
don't know any sag men. I know women, but I
go through this little like chart on Instagram and it
tells you about like your your trades. So you tell
me if these are true, because I really don't know sagment. Yeah,
your adventurous, blunt and allergic to routine. This guy is
(01:15):
always packing a bag Sagittarius men are fire signs. They
burn bright with ideas. It's true they are flexible but
still fiery. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, the planet of
growth and luck. So you are very lucky and you
love to grow. You'll bet your last twenty dollars on
(01:36):
a random idea because Jupiter is like a gamble?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Cool?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Do you believe they resonate with say?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I do? Like routine. Routine is what keeps me in check, right,
wake up early, do this, do that? So apparently I'm
not supposed to like it. What was the other one
that didn't resonate with me? One of the last ones?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Growth and luck bet dollars.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I don't believe I luck is not something that I
believe in. It's like I work. I worked to be
where I'm at and I worked long days, long hours.
So like what people see as luck, I see as
part of the process, you know. And that's why, like
I'm not too big on zudi X science because astrology. No,
(02:22):
I'm big on like creating your your destiny right. And
there's probably how many like five hundred million people that
have my same birthday, but they're not We're not like each.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Other, you know everyone. Do you feel like everyone's there
everyone every exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
That's what I like to think.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, I believe a little bit in that, but I
do believe. Like for me, I feel like I have
worked really hard to be where I am, but I
feel like I do have something I always say it's
like my dad's prayers and like my parents prayers, but
I have I feel like God always opens that path
for me. When I don't know where my next destiny is,
(03:03):
you know, He'll He'll place that one person that will
open me and take me to the next level. Because
as you know, success is like you have moments of success,
but like to continue your success, you have to keep working.
You have to keep like raising the bar, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, yeah, you see, That's that's what I am. I'm
not like big atrology guy. I'm big on God. I'm
big on like you know, letting him like lead my
steps and just putting my faith in my trust in
my Lord and say with Jesus Christ. And that's that's
what I choose to like believe in more than like
anything else. So yeah, that's that's what I get.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So let's get into your story. So you started these
tacos would have brought me.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I forgot. I tried.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I try to get them on Uber Eat. I'm like
so deep away from Highland Parks, so there was no
But are they even on No.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
We don't do Uber Eats, Postmates, thor Dash we have,
and I don't think we ever will, honestly, because yeah,
I want people's first impression of our food.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
You want them to go down there.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, I want them to like eat them hot, hot,
hot already, like like a what's that called? Like Little Caesars,
that's what they say.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That's like the only pizza I grew up on. By
the way, Oh yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I love Little Caesars, shadow of Little Caesars. But I
want people's first impression of our food to be what
I designed the tacos to be, right, they're supposed to
be enjoyed fresh. It's like anything, honestly, anything real.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Good, Like no, that's like me if I make if
I cook eating that, Yeah, when I cook a meal
and like I'll serve it. And let's say, like my
man's like walking around, I'm like, yo, come eat the
food while it's hot, because then it doesn't taste good
when it's cold. So yeah, I feel that. How did
you start?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Serve the front yard at my grandma's house in Highland
Park And I haven't even fifty in Lincoln, like in
the heart of Island Park on November two, twenty eighteen.
So I started off as a pop up. I had
a table, canopy, a grill, a blanche. I had the
first round of like you know, perishable goods like the massa,
(05:12):
the avocados, you know, for the guacamole. And I just
bet on myself, you know. I had a dream. I
had a goal to open up a takia, start with
one and then kind of grow from there. But everything
started in the frontyard of Marcando's house, and I would
say it even started before that. I've always been in
like the restaurant industry. I kind of grew up in
(05:34):
the restaurant industry, and I always was like an entrepreneur
since I was a kid. My first job was seven
years old, pulling the weeds for like the senior citizen ladies.
They'd pay me five dollars in a can of Coca cola,
and I knew I had something going on for myself.
So I always knew I was going to be like
an entrepreneur even at the age of seven. And then
as I started like growing up in restaurants and helping out,
(05:56):
Like there was a restaurant that we would always go
to in the Hollywood. It was called Tape, and I
would always help the Thaie lady like bus tables, refield tables,
take orders. And that's when I fell in love with hospitality.
Was like, yeah, So I always knew it was going
to be part of the plan. So as I started
like growing in like different restaurants, I just kind of
(06:19):
put the game plan together. And on November two, twenty eighteen,
is when I actually put all the pieces of the
puzzle together and I went out there, I took the
leap of faith and I sold my first tackle.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So your grandma had a lot to do with your cooking, right,
your inspiration.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Of food inspiration?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Did she cook all the time all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So I grew up with my grandma and now Water
and that Water village on thirty one hundred block of Blida,
And then my other grandma was in Highland Park, and
then my parents they lived in the valley, but I
never liked going into the valley, so I always stayed
in my grandma's house in now Water Village with my
grandma and my grandpa in Pascontin, and my grandma she
(06:57):
would always just make amazing food. Honestly the best chef
that I know, and without like formal training like her
mom taught her.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, yeah, there's something so special. There's something so special
about grandmas. I grew up with no grandparents because both
of my both of my parents have very similar stories.
They lost their parents before the age of five, so
I didn't grow up with grandparents. But like my kids now,
they have both grandma's. They have my mom comes every week,
she'll make and my kids are like, you know, they're
(07:27):
they're they're learning the culture through my parents. So like
when they come to be like I want, we're savagory,
I want, I want, I want Plato. So I know
it's something so special about grandma. So I love that.
I love that your story starts with your grandma's cookings,
you know, because there's something so homey about that.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Mike, you see my grandma, I call her Maula. She's
she's still a live thank God. My other grandma she
passed away in past content. But my grandma she's always
been like like another mom to me. You know, I
have my mom and I love her so much, and
my grandma is her mom and I love her so
much too. I call her every day. You know. For me,
(08:08):
it's like that's what success means to me. It's like
having the people around you, surrounding yourself with the people
you love, and like they love you as much as
you love them. Like that's true success. You know, everything
else is just a positive. But my Grandma's always played
a big role in my life because you know, I
feel like, along with my parents, she helped mold me
into who I am by like, you know, being kind
(08:31):
and being loving and just appreciative of everything. Like I
was appreciative of her making me breakfast Britos every morning
when I would go to school. I was appreciative of
just the love, the tender care that she would like
just give me. And when I was a kid, I
would always ask her. And this is where like she
comes in and plays a role in the identity of
(08:54):
Vias tacles. Like I would tell her to okay, okay, I.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
She's like, oh, I knew you were going to say that.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Then I was like a man I've always known as
that as her secret. So whenever we started Vias Tackles,
it was like everything was going to be made with
the main ingredient is love. But we have we have
like a sign on the wall says like we only
use the highest qual ingredients. We like doing things the
(09:27):
right way, the only way, the Vias Tackles way, and
three everything's made more.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Are you sourcing all the ingredients and everything from here?
Are you sourcing them somewhere else?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah? No, for the most part, like all local ingredients.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I know you graduated with a business degree from Season
Good Free. Yeah, I dropped out of college but figured
out my way. But what were your plans after you graduated?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
You know, I think like most students, we kind of
don't really know. But I just figured I'm gonna keep
on doing this.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I was throwing parties to so I've always been parties.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Like underground parties. Yeah, kind of legit but not really legit.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Parties making money, hustling.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, we run out of space. We hired security guards.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Like a warehouse.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I used to go to those parties, so, yeah, you're
probably going to one of my parties in so I
was doing that, but I always knew like that wasn't
something that I wanted to do long term because I
couldn't pass it down to my children. You know, I
already had a daughter at the time, and so I figured,
let me just keep on working in restaurants. And then
I worked from a good restaurant, and then I went
to a great restaurant, and then I realized, like I
(10:33):
don't belong here, like I'm I'm meant for business, I'm
meant for entrepreneurship, and I meant for like challenges. Like
challenges I think is what feeds my passion, and overcoming
them is like what brings me joy. So I remember
just one day at the restaurant, after I came up
with the idea of vias tacos, we're gonna make We're
(10:56):
gonna grill our meat over mysquie. We're gonna put guacam
on on everything. We work trage extra, and we're going
to bring the family recipe sausas to the saca bar.
You know, a little bit of my Grandma's going to
be there, my dad and myself, so it's gonna be
like my family on a table. And then one day
I remember I was at the restaurant and I was
like you know, enough's enough. And I told my my
(11:17):
GM at the time, like, hey, you know, I'm I'm ready,
Like I'm ready to just go all out because I figured,
you know, I could, I could probably do it half fast,
you know, the whole like pop up thing while still
working side by side. But I'm like, nah, I'd rather
just focus. Even though I did, I wasn't ready for it.
Like I didn't have nothing saved. I didn't have I
(11:39):
didn't have a backing, but I had gotten I had,
you know, the the will.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
To like just yeah, you're determined, I'm going to figure
this out. What did your family think when you were
wanting to take that leap?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And you know, my family they always they've always been
like very very supportive. But I'm saying, but my dad,
my dad says the story too though. But like at
one point, like I was struggling for sure, you know,
I was going through it through a hard time in
the sense that like I wasn't making enough. I was
(12:24):
working sixteen hour days, maxed out, credit cards, laid on
the on the rant, bills, nothing like damn near nothing
in my refrigerator. But I'm like I'm almost there, Like
I know I have a good product I have, I have,
you know, the hospitality side of it. I believed in
myself more than anything. So like I remember one day
(12:45):
my dad told me like miho, like got to be realistic. No,
Like he was like, yo, you know you had a
really good job. Maybe you should go back and just
maybe do this on the weekends. And I'm like, bye,
like I know you believe in me and you trust you,
but like like if you really love me and you
if you really believe in me, like please, don't ever
tell me that again. And I looked at him with
(13:07):
like sincerity and and just like with these eyes that
told you like don't like I'm like I'm hungry, I
have a desire for this. Yeah, And he was like, Okay,
well what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?
And then also my grandma, my grandma growing up, she
would always tell me about like oh, like you're gonna
(13:27):
do well and and you got to give it your all.
It's not gonna be easy or else everybody will do
it right. So she always like build this like confidence
and like this this impression that Yeah. But then when
it got when life came knocking on the door, like yo, Vic,
what do you got to show for it? She's like,
(13:49):
you look like jul Someone told me one time, like
if it was easy, everybody would do it. And I
looked at it and I'm like, you know told me that,
and she already knew, you know, she knew where I
was coming from. So and then my wife, my wife
is like the one who we've been together for a
long time. So even before the business, like she she
(14:12):
saw me throwing parties, she helped me out, like Bartende,
and she was always like by my side. We were
always like best friends. We're still best friends. And you know,
she was the opposite of that. She was like even
even after my grandma's telling me this, my dad's telling
me this, and they're looking at me like, dude, you're crazy.
You went to school and to be pushing the girl around,
you know. Like but my wife, on the other hand,
(14:33):
she was like, I know, like, I know you see
something that like we can't see because you've always been yeah,
like I know you see something that that maybe I
can't even see it, or your parents can't see it,
your grandma can see, but I know you see it.
And if anybody could, like could do it, it's going to
be you, my love, like, so just keep on going.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And I was like, man, that's how I know you
have the right partner.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oh yeah, now we have like three kids on the before.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah. I feel like for men, like for a woman
to speak like life into you is like just gives
you that extra push, like, yeah, she believes in me.
I gotta do this, you know what I mean. For me,
it was like a little opposite. Like when I was
starting my business, my lash business. That was my first business. No,
like everybody, my dad, all my dad wanted me to
do was finish college. She'd be like, no, Mi, huh,
(15:19):
like just finish school, like you know. And I was like, no,
I'm going to do it. I'm gonna I'm gonna make
so much money with lashes. And everybody was like, you
can't make that much money with lashes, like and I
just I'm a Taurus. So I'm like very stubborn. I'm like,
oh no, no, I'm going to prove to everybody that I'm
gonna I'm going to build this empire and I'm gonna
do you know, X, Y and Z. And then I
ended up taking care of I'm the baby of the family.
(15:41):
Taking care of everybody, like diversifying, investing in businesses. Like
I knew that I was going to be an entrepreneur,
a business owner, you know, but I just I didn't
have like what I am to my kids. I feel
like I didn't have that because you know, my parents
come from nothing, Like they didn't. I think.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think that's the there's like a cognitive bias there, right,
there's like a like I guess for our parents or
grandparents who who have like this image of how to
become successful and what success means to the in their eyes,
you have to go to school. Yeah, right, So it's like, honestly,
(16:18):
I didn't go to college to like I was already
an entrepreneur before going to school, But I mean it
did sharpen up my skills and all that, only like
a couple classes did. Honestly, like that helped, you know,
bring me to that next level of like think like
like thinking. But my daughter she's eight, and I've already
(16:39):
been teaching her about like entrepreneurship since she was like five.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Me. My daughter's a so my daughter's a hustler. She's
like I was in elementary, Like your stories were like
very similar. I was in elementary and I would tell
my dad to take me this more and final and
I'll get the pack of hot Cheetos or twenty five
cents and I would go to school util them for
a dollar. So I've always been like, it's just in
my blood. And she's very much like that. Like she
goes her life is very different from mine. But she
(17:05):
goes to her private school and she made she makes
these like little bracelets out of her bland show. You
think I should sell these school And I'm like, yeah,
you're at the right school. Go sell all of those
bracelets there. But yeah, she already has it in her.
But it's so important for me to like empower her,
believe in her teacher about financial literacy, teacher about taxes,
all the things that like I had to figure out,
you know, I like I thought to like for me,
(17:26):
I thought, like, to open a business, you just needed money.
So once I saved one hundred thousand dollars, I was like, oh,
I'm good, Like I'm gonna go open this business. And
I opened it. I didn't get permits for the sign
I didn't get I just was so ignorant and a
lot of aspects of business that I just put the
business up and then I got hit with a lawsuit.
Then I got hit with like hey the people were like, hey,
(17:47):
you need a permit for this sign. I'm like, oh,
I do, like you know, I just didn't know I
would google everything like so for me, I did life
very backwards. But I'm also a very a person that believes,
like you you learn the best just by being thrown
in and experience and like you know, and so I've
always had that mindset like I'm gonna figure it out,
like it's okay, Like I'm gonna figure it out, you know.
(18:08):
And I think a lot of people sometimes are scared
to figure it out. They're scared to like so that
that keeps that holds them back, you know. But when
you have that in you, like that grid, that determined
like it's cool, Like you don't believe in me, it's school,
I'm going to do it. Yeah, that's where you get
to where we are, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Definitely, I think so too, like and that's and that's
what our parents and grandparents they don't really know. They
think like, oh, there's only one way of doing stuff,
but it's like, nah, you can't see like that. You
have to open your eyes. Yeah, you have to open
your eyes and you have to like surround yourself with
people you want to be like. And if you don't
know anybody like that, then like go on YouTube and
listen to Napoleon Hill, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, you know,
(18:44):
Jim Rohn, Tony Rahavin. Yeah, all those guys. They put
their their life teachings online on a platform for free
most of the time. So it's like, that's who I
want to learn from. Yeah, you know, and that's why
like college, you actually there's no one there that has
really accomplished too much. You know, they're just teaching you
(19:05):
what they read. It's like I'd rather, you know, go
out in the field while learning, like instead on the
drive over here, you know, listening to something that's going
to help excel in a certain area.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
That's what I do. I'm driving, I'm listening to podcasts.
I'm listening to people that motivate me that I feel
like I want to be where they are. You know,
during the pandemic, a lot of businesses went down. Yeah,
one of mine went down, the lash business because it
wasn't an essential business, and the beauty space completely shut
down for months. Okay, but I had already invested in
a medical spa and it was considered medical, so that
(19:42):
stayed open and that kept me afloat. So I was
paying for all of my bills and the other my
other businesses with that. Your survived the pandemic and we thrived, Okay,
So that's what was So what was that time like
for you?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So, like, innovation is always important, right, thinking outside the
box is important. So what we did is like during
the time when the pandemic came and we were on
the street like selling, We're we're past that point where
like the refrigerator was empty, like we were actually like
you know, getting ready to strap on the jet pack
(20:20):
and just take off yea. And then that's when the
pandemic came and everything closed. So I was like damn.
So I closed for like a month two months, and
I went back to the drawing board and I was like, Okay,
I can't open in the front of my grandma's house
anymore because it's like social distancing or whatever. Can't go
on the street. Everything's closed and everybody's like scared of
(20:41):
of everything, and that that was a weird time. Honestly, time.
I don't really like to think of because or whatever.
But then I realized, I'm like, yo, let's go to
the backyard of my gandma's house, and no one's even
gonna come like put an order in. We're gonna, you know,
have masks on and gloves on, and we're gonna do
pre ordered pickups on Tuesday at noon for Friday, Saturday,
(21:03):
and Sunday, and we're gonna sell eighty eighty like slot
times for Friday, eighty for Saturday, eighty for Sunday. So
I was two forty and we would only do it
on Tuesday at noon. It gives me enough time to
put a pen and paper and you know, kind of
just do it in my own little like style, which
wasn't like the most time of his shit, but I
(21:24):
guess I had time, you know, So I'm like, let
me just let me just do it this way where
like the people feel like appreciated and they feel like
special and it brings something exciting to look forward to.
Because all restaurants were closed businesses for the most part,
We're closed bars, clubs, Disneyland, everything, everything, everything was closed.
(21:45):
So I did that on Tuesday at noon, and the
first time I did it, I sold out in like
five minutes, but it took me ten hours to respond
to everybody. So what you would do is it would
send all right, I want, I want Friday from three
pm to six anywhere from that time. I'll go on
my book see what's available, and I'll tell them don't
send another text, don't send another DM because I would
(22:07):
go in order. I wouldn't step out of order. So
I'll go in order and if they send another one,
that takes them back down, you know what I mean. Wow.
So I was doing that and at first, like yeah,
it was a crazy process. So they would send their order,
I would send them confirmation, send send the payment here,
and then send me a screen shot. They will send
a screenshot. I would send them another message, thank you
so much for that. We look forward to seeing you
(22:29):
have a great day. Got blessed, boom, and then they
would come pick up their order, and after like after
at the end of that day, I'll send them a
follow a message, thank you so much. So I was
just constantly going back and forth building rapport. And I
think that's how like we really established ourselves as as
like a business that people wanted to support. But on
Tuesday and noon at first it was five minutes, and
(22:50):
then it was four, and then it was three, and
once it got to like the three minutes, that's when like,
you know, people are like, come on, you're not selling
now in three minutes, you know, I just put my
order in twelve o four, like, well, I apologize, and
then people people were like saying, people are saying what
people are always gonna say. So what I did was
I had a YouTube plan premium, so I could like
(23:11):
record and have the song. So let's say the song
like the main part goes on in like fifteen seconds.
I would screen record eleven fifty nine with forty five
seconds play on YouTube and then I'll screen record, so
then as soon as it hits twelve, it was like that.
(23:32):
And when I heard that, it took over my body
and I was just like I felt like I was Connor.
I felt like I was Connor McGregor when he does
you know that?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yea what I feel?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Oh, it was a crazy And then I started posting that.
So when I started posting that, people going crazy, They're
like damn, like okay, now I do believe you. And
now it went from like three minutes to sell it
nowt to like two minutes and then one minute and
then we sold that one time in thirty seconds on
like on a Tuesday at noon for Friday saturns It
wasn't even Friday, Saturday Sunday. It was Tuesday at noon
(24:04):
and you had to go out of your way to
have the message ready to send at noon. If we
had it like started typing at noon, you missed it.
You missed it. So it was like sometimes people would
beat me like yeah, I did it. And then I
remember there was like a bunch of messages that came
in like they cheated by one second, but still like
it was it was crazy, wow, how that happened? That
(24:26):
was that was on Tuesday at noon. And then when
everything opened up again, I stopped doing that and then
I just told everybody come to the backyard of my
grandma's house. And that's when we would have lines for
like one hundred people sometimes.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So fast forward, what is that five six years, six
years ago? Where's your business on?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Now?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I know you have like three locations you're planning to
open and expand more, hopefully one near my house. I'm
going to come to Highland Park. I need to experience
that talk.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Saturday, Okay, days. But it's like it's fun that I'm
being there.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Just okay Saturday.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
On Saturdays we have well I love that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I'm a big foodie, so like me too, love to eat.
And then all of these locations are self funded, like
you're you haven't had investors or anything. All yours. Good
for you.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Thank you. I think once you gets like an investor
in there. Yeah, now he has a senior Yeah. Now
you don't own your business. So my restaurants might be small,
and at least I owned them.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You're just reinvesting in yourself. I love that. Do you
have your kids in there? And your wife?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
My wife is she's stay home successful mom. She does
a life. No, she does what I can't do, and
I do what she can.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
What's important you is routine?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
No, Yeah, but I mean if you were to give
me her job for one day, I'll go crazy. If
I would give her my job for one day, she
would go crazy too. So it's like, you know, we're
successful in our own fields.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah. I love that. Were your other three locations that
are coming? Yeah? Coming?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So we have two in Highland Park. We have one
on Avenue fifty four in Figaroa. That's the original then
seven blocks down from that one, we have Via Tacos
Number three, which is our seafood focused menu. We have
like shrimp, fish, octopus, tacoso. Oh man, that location, those
those tacos are really good.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So you have different menus at different locations.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Well, because there's seven blocks away from each other. Oh okay,
and it's in Highland Park. Highland Park is the community,
the neighborhood that seen us grow, helped us grow, supported
us grow. So I was like, if I'm gonna do
something special in anywhere like before I do over here
over there, I'm gonna do like a special menu in
Highland Park, like our old to Highland Park, something only
(26:49):
found in Highland Park. I don't plan on doing that
menu anywhere else. So it's only found seven blocks away.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You go to comes down to Highland Park.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah, Highland Park. You'll get the full experience. You can
do like a taco tour out of the park of
via cycles. And then the second location is at the
Grand Central Market. So that menu consists of the same
menu at Via Socles number one, the original menu. We
have three more coming. We have one in Hollywood, m H.
We have another one in South Pasadena. Then we have
the third one coming in Atwater Village, and that one's
(27:19):
special to me. Well, they're all special to me, but
this one maybe maybe it's.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
The most specialists going to be the most special.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Out of the new ones because it's down the street
from where I grew up. So's I went to Atwater Elementary,
I went to Irvy Middle School, I went to Marshall
High School. And where we're opening up, I remember being
in that Water Elementary for the tree lighting ceremony on
Glendell Boulevard and we were singing in the parking lot
of my restaurant. And now it's like the parking lot
(27:48):
of my restaurant, but at the time it was the
parking lot of the bank. So it's like a full
circle moment, and that one's going to be like my homecoming.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Wow. Good for you. You must feel so proud.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I'm proud. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So, with everything going on in the world, I don't
want to get too much into politics, but have you
Obviously we can't ignore what's happening with our Latino community
and the anti immigrant attitude. Don't you feel like you
just like like, for me personally, I'm like, oh, I
just have to go harder, like because I feel like
our voices are like you know what they're doing to
(28:21):
like these street vendors and like kisses me off.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You know. It's like you got you got like hardworking people,
right and and they just they just they contribute to this,
to this economy, right like they contributed me towards the
GDP of the growth of America taxes. And they're not
criminals due they're they're like street vendors doing this, doing that,
(28:47):
and they're just getting treated like worse than like animals.
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Do you work with any organizations or.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I don't. I haven't, I haven't.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Like well, I feel like your business in itself is
contributing to our in no community and really giving back
to our community. And you're an inspiration and I think
for us, like you know, the place that we are now,
like for both of us being successful Latinos, it's so
inspiring for our community right now to hear us to
speak about it.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yes, I mean my parents they came to this country legally,
you know. And my parents are like the most honest,
hardworking individuals that I know. You know, they got their
citizenship when I was when I was younger. I still
remember going with them to get their citizenship. But when
(29:36):
my dad came to this country, he came to this
country with nothing. You know, he just came to this
country to give his family a better life than they had.
Like the pictures of my dad and his brothers that
they only have like boxers on, no shoes, no shirts,
skinny flack or bone stick, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
That was my dad didn't have a parachshte so he
was sixteen.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah, you see, there you go. It's like they just
came over here to live an honest life and to
contribute this to the government, to this, you know, to
this country. And and now my dad has like climbed
the ladder in his company and he's he plays a
big role in his company. And you know, if you
(30:12):
were to ask the owner of the company, which is
also one of my friends, about my dad, he would
say nothing but good things about dad, you know. So
I feel like that's a representation of of like an
immigrant and and you know, just what they're trying to do.
They're just trying to feed the family.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
And I always say, like, I'm so proud of where
we come from, and like being kids of immigrant parents
and like what we've achieved because it's like we really
had all the odds against us, you know, and we're
here telling our stories and.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
It's not like it's not like they're going after like
the criminals. You know, they're really not like the street vendor,
like the lady selling tamales. She do you know? That's
that's someone's grammar right there, like or or.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
The unfair or like how they're just like racially profiling us. Now,
it's it makes me.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Sick and be our own people, to be your own people,
that's the worst. But but you know what it's like,
I'm sure you've probably seen this as well. It's like
our biggest haters is sometimes ourselves, right like in yeah,
in our communities, you got just like people hating on
(31:24):
and it's like what am I? What am I doing? Bro?
Like I'm just trying to help out my community, you know,
by be an example, by like financially helping out my community,
which I do, like I support all the local schools
and all this, and like why are you coming after me? Bro?
Like I'm actually like trying to help my community, trying
to help you know us, and you know I do this,
(31:44):
I do that.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I don't have to say what times like change makes
people uncomfortable sometimes, Like I know you think it's big,
big time now.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Because you know it's it's it's but it shouldn't be
like that. We should be like when I was in
a in a in a like position where like I said,
I was bro broken, poor, like empty refrigerators. I was
cheering for for you know, those that I want to
see win, even though I wasn't winning at the time. Yeah,
(32:11):
And it's just like I'm still the same way, Like
I even cheer for my for my competition, you know,
and I see them succeed and just it. I think
that's how it should be. I think there's too much
like in media going on. There's a lot of hate,
and I just try to focus on the love and
I try to just delete those comments and just like man,
get out of here. Just something else.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh, I'm big on the block. I'm like, I don't
want that negative energy. Block block block, Like I don't
need it, Like keep it. Okay, let's let's talk about
your recent big moment. I'm sure everybody's talking about it.
The Bad Bunny halftime that was. Yeah, how was that
experience with Benito and you being at the super Bowl.
It's like it's so huge.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
It was honestly, like aside from my family stuff, like
it was probably the biggest moment of my career, the
biggest moment of my business. Like let's say this. We're
used to were used to climbing mountains, right, we do
cool things. We won Best Talk was in LA three
years out of four. You know, we've been on the
(33:13):
Michelan Guide and then we were awarded Big Grimond twenty
twenty three, twenty four, twenty five and all those is
like it's on mountain, right, We've done this, We've done that,
and moments that like bring you like a chieat, like
you feel like you achieved something. So we've climbed different
mountains and high mountains, but I think that mountain that
(33:34):
we just climbed on February eighth with like the halftime
show with Benito, that was like climbing Mount Everest, you know,
That's how I put it.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And it was that energy like there, oh, it was.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Crazy, Like I have some videos online that like you know,
I was looking around, I'm just like.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Damn, like this really happened, like down here, yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
No for real, And at that moment, I was like damn.
Even a couple of days before, like I started getting
the butterflies. I'm like, damn, is really gonna happen, like.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
That nervous excitement, like.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Yeah, because you know, I think I think my moment
was was even bigger than just like that because of
what it represented and and like how my business was
at the forefront of it. Like I was one of
the few or maybe even the only ones besides like
(34:23):
I think the lady who sells like her a bar
in New York, I think maybe her her logos right.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
There, I could be remember one of the first.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, and the only like the NFL paid me for
my logo to be on on my by Taco car,
and then they have the other one like that says
ales and like.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
You could congratulations, that's so big.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I mean that alone, just like maybe even bigger. You
know a lot of people know me as like oh
VS tackles Victor Villa with VS Tacles, right, so like
that's even my logo would have been there, you would
have had like a good amount of people like, oh
my gosh, I no, Like let's say the logo wasn't
on there and it was just a taco car. I
(35:09):
was representing ta Kehttos when you put VIA's tacos on there,
I just that just took it Like now I'm like
a world.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Known You're the most famous.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, I'm the most Yeah you could say that. That's
what I was thinking about, like a couple days before.
I'm like, damn, this is It's gonna put me like
like hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Yeah, it did, You're that guys.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Know. It was it was. It was great. It was
a big moment. It was special, and I felt like
I was really representing my family, you know, my brand,
my city. I was representing all Kettos, not only of
like you know, the US, but of Mexico and beyond,
all the tak Kettos of the world, all the hospitality industry,
(35:58):
the restaurant industry as a whole. Like it was. It
was a huge moment. And you know, I I think
I think Benito and his team for having me, And
you know, Benito is a good guy.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Yeah, shout out to Benito. Your story has been super inspiring.
Before I let you go, I always ask my guest
to drop a gem for anybody listening. Any Latinos you
know in our position or with a dream or wanting
to find something out of this episode. Can you drop
a gem for them?
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah? I think you know, if you believe it, you
could achieve it. Like, don't put in the limitations in
your life, because you know, limitations are are just a
figment of your imagination. Like whatever you would believe you
could achieve. If I can do it, you can do
it too. Like you know, if you were asking would
I ever think that this was possible? I would say yes,
(36:49):
because anything is possible. You know, I'm here, I am
three three daka yas later. You know, we're going to
Coachella this year. We'll be venting there. Oh wow, yeah excited.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Is going to be fun. We're partnering up with the
cool company Real Real World and we're doing like a
special collab with them for Coachella. So it's like, you know,
we're just doing a bunch of really cool stuff and
I'm excited. I'm excited to do it. And it's anything
you could believe you could achieve.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Yeah, that's such a good gem. Thank you so much
for being here. Thank you today. To make sure you
guys check out via s Tacos either in person and
Highland Park. That was it for today's episode. We will
see you next week on Against All Lots.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Yes, sir, Thank you guys for having me via Tacles
in the Bay and Pace.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Against All Lots is a Hyphenet Media Group production in
partnership with Iheartmichael podcast Network. For more of your favorite shows,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Hi, guys, welcome back to Against All Odds. I'm your host,
Iris Palmer. On this podcast we get to say with
some amazing guests, and I couldn't be more true for
my guests today. Chef Victor Via from vas Tackles Highland Park,
thank you so much for being here. I'm sure everybody
knows you right now, especially after your cameo and the
(00:21):
Bad Bunny halftime show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It was a great It was a great time, honestly,
and I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
But let's take it back to a little icebreaker. I
like to start every episode with zodiac signs because I'm
so big an astrology and you're a SA Sagittarius man.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Right, Well that's what they say.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You don't believe you're you're a sad. I believe Okay, okay,
let me tell you some of these sage. I actually
don't know any sag men. I know women, but I
go through this little like chart on Instagram and it
tells you about like your your trades. So you tell
me if these are true, because I really don't know sagment. Yeah,
your adventurous, blunt and allergic to routine. This guy is
(01:15):
always packing a bag Sagittarius men are fire signs. They
burn bright with ideas. It's true they are flexible but
still fiery. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, the planet of
growth and luck. So you are very lucky and you
love to grow. You'll bet your last twenty dollars on
(01:36):
a random idea because Jupiter is like a gamble?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Cool?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Do you believe they resonate with say?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I do? Like routine. Routine is what keeps me in check, right,
wake up early, do this, do that? So apparently I'm
not supposed to like it. What was the other one
that didn't resonate with me? One of the last ones?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Growth and luck bet dollars.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I don't believe I luck is not something that I
believe in. It's like I work. I worked to be
where I'm at and I worked long days, long hours.
So like what people see as luck, I see as
part of the process, you know. And that's why, like
I'm not too big on zudi X science because astrology. No,
(02:22):
I'm big on like creating your your destiny right. And
there's probably how many like five hundred million people that
have my same birthday, but they're not We're not like each.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Other, you know everyone. Do you feel like everyone's there
everyone every exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
That's what I like to think.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, I believe a little bit in that, but I
do believe. Like for me, I feel like I have
worked really hard to be where I am, but I
feel like I do have something I always say it's
like my dad's prayers and like my parents prayers, but
I have I feel like God always opens that path
for me. When I don't know where my next destiny is,
(03:03):
you know, He'll He'll place that one person that will
open me and take me to the next level. Because
as you know, success is like you have moments of success,
but like to continue your success, you have to keep working.
You have to keep like raising the bar, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, yeah, you see, That's that's what I am. I'm
not like big atrology guy. I'm big on God. I'm
big on like you know, letting him like lead my
steps and just putting my faith in my trust in
my Lord and say with Jesus Christ. And that's that's
what I choose to like believe in more than like
anything else. So yeah, that's that's what I get.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So let's get into your story. So you started these
tacos would have brought me.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I forgot. I tried.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I try to get them on Uber Eat. I'm like
so deep away from Highland Parks, so there was no
But are they even on No.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
We don't do Uber Eats, Postmates, thor Dash we have,
and I don't think we ever will, honestly, because yeah,
I want people's first impression of our food.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
You want them to go down there.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, I want them to like eat them hot, hot,
hot already, like like a what's that called? Like Little Caesars,
that's what they say.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That's like the only pizza I grew up on. By
the way, Oh yeah, me too.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I love Little Caesars, shadow of Little Caesars. But I
want people's first impression of our food to be what
I designed the tacos to be, right, they're supposed to
be enjoyed fresh. It's like anything, honestly, anything real.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Good, Like no, that's like me if I make if
I cook eating that, Yeah, when I cook a meal
and like I'll serve it. And let's say, like my
man's like walking around, I'm like, yo, come eat the
food while it's hot, because then it doesn't taste good
when it's cold. So yeah, I feel that. How did
you start?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Serve the front yard at my grandma's house in Highland
Park And I haven't even fifty in Lincoln, like in
the heart of Island Park on November two, twenty eighteen.
So I started off as a pop up. I had
a table, canopy, a grill, a blanche. I had the
first round of like you know, perishable goods like the massa,
(05:12):
the avocados, you know, for the guacamole. And I just
bet on myself, you know. I had a dream. I
had a goal to open up a takia, start with
one and then kind of grow from there. But everything
started in the frontyard of Marcando's house, and I would
say it even started before that. I've always been in
like the restaurant industry. I kind of grew up in
(05:34):
the restaurant industry, and I always was like an entrepreneur
since I was a kid. My first job was seven
years old, pulling the weeds for like the senior citizen ladies.
They'd pay me five dollars in a can of Coca cola,
and I knew I had something going on for myself.
So I always knew I was going to be like
an entrepreneur even at the age of seven. And then
as I started like growing up in restaurants and helping out,
(05:56):
Like there was a restaurant that we would always go
to in the Hollywood. It was called Tape, and I
would always help the Thaie lady like bus tables, refield tables,
take orders. And that's when I fell in love with hospitality.
Was like, yeah, So I always knew it was going
to be part of the plan. So as I started
like growing in like different restaurants, I just kind of
(06:19):
put the game plan together. And on November two, twenty eighteen,
is when I actually put all the pieces of the
puzzle together and I went out there, I took the
leap of faith and I sold my first tackle.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
So your grandma had a lot to do with your cooking, right,
your inspiration.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Of food inspiration?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Did she cook all the time all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So I grew up with my grandma and now Water
and that Water village on thirty one hundred block of Blida,
And then my other grandma was in Highland Park, and
then my parents they lived in the valley, but I
never liked going into the valley, so I always stayed
in my grandma's house in now Water Village with my
grandma and my grandpa in Pascontin, and my grandma she
(06:57):
would always just make amazing food. Honestly the best chef
that I know, and without like formal training like her
mom taught her.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, yeah, there's something so special. There's something so special
about grandmas. I grew up with no grandparents because both
of my both of my parents have very similar stories.
They lost their parents before the age of five, so
I didn't grow up with grandparents. But like my kids now,
they have both grandma's. They have my mom comes every week,
she'll make and my kids are like, you know, they're
(07:27):
they're they're learning the culture through my parents. So like
when they come to be like I want, we're savagory,
I want, I want, I want Plato. So I know
it's something so special about grandma. So I love that.
I love that your story starts with your grandma's cookings,
you know, because there's something so homey about that.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Mike, you see my grandma, I call her Maula. She's
she's still a live thank God. My other grandma she
passed away in past content. But my grandma she's always
been like like another mom to me. You know, I
have my mom and I love her so much, and
my grandma is her mom and I love her so
much too. I call her every day. You know. For me,
(08:08):
it's like that's what success means to me. It's like
having the people around you, surrounding yourself with the people
you love, and like they love you as much as
you love them. Like that's true success. You know, everything
else is just a positive. But my Grandma's always played
a big role in my life because you know, I
feel like, along with my parents, she helped mold me
into who I am by like, you know, being kind
(08:31):
and being loving and just appreciative of everything. Like I
was appreciative of her making me breakfast Britos every morning
when I would go to school. I was appreciative of
just the love, the tender care that she would like
just give me. And when I was a kid, I
would always ask her. And this is where like she
comes in and plays a role in the identity of
(08:54):
Vias tacles. Like I would tell her to okay, okay, I.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
She's like, oh, I knew you were going to say that.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Then I was like a man I've always known as
that as her secret. So whenever we started Vias Tackles,
it was like everything was going to be made with
the main ingredient is love. But we have we have
like a sign on the wall says like we only
use the highest qual ingredients. We like doing things the
(09:27):
right way, the only way, the Vias Tackles way, and
three everything's made more.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Are you sourcing all the ingredients and everything from here?
Are you sourcing them somewhere else?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah? No, for the most part, like all local ingredients.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I know you graduated with a business degree from Season
Good Free. Yeah, I dropped out of college but figured
out my way. But what were your plans after you graduated?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
You know, I think like most students, we kind of
don't really know. But I just figured I'm gonna keep
on doing this.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I was throwing parties to so I've always been parties.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Like underground parties. Yeah, kind of legit but not really legit.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Parties making money, hustling.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Yeah, we run out of space. We hired security guards.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Like a warehouse.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I used to go to those parties, so, yeah, you're
probably going to one of my parties in so I
was doing that, but I always knew like that wasn't
something that I wanted to do long term because I
couldn't pass it down to my children. You know, I
already had a daughter at the time, and so I figured,
let me just keep on working in restaurants. And then
I worked from a good restaurant, and then I went
to a great restaurant, and then I realized, like I
(10:33):
don't belong here, like I'm I'm meant for business, I'm
meant for entrepreneurship, and I meant for like challenges. Like
challenges I think is what feeds my passion, and overcoming
them is like what brings me joy. So I remember
just one day at the restaurant, after I came up
with the idea of vias tacos, we're gonna make We're
(10:56):
gonna grill our meat over mysquie. We're gonna put guacam
on on everything. We work trage extra, and we're going
to bring the family recipe sausas to the saca bar.
You know, a little bit of my Grandma's going to
be there, my dad and myself, so it's gonna be
like my family on a table. And then one day
I remember I was at the restaurant and I was
like you know, enough's enough. And I told my my
(11:17):
GM at the time, like, hey, you know, I'm I'm ready,
Like I'm ready to just go all out because I figured,
you know, I could, I could probably do it half fast,
you know, the whole like pop up thing while still
working side by side. But I'm like, nah, I'd rather
just focus. Even though I did, I wasn't ready for it.
Like I didn't have nothing saved. I didn't have I
(11:39):
didn't have a backing, but I had gotten I had,
you know, the the will.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
To like just yeah, you're determined, I'm going to figure
this out. What did your family think when you were
wanting to take that leap?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And you know, my family they always they've always been
like very very supportive. But I'm saying, but my dad,
my dad says the story too though. But like at
one point, like I was struggling for sure, you know,
I was going through it through a hard time in
the sense that like I wasn't making enough. I was
(12:24):
working sixteen hour days, maxed out, credit cards, laid on
the on the rant, bills, nothing like damn near nothing
in my refrigerator. But I'm like I'm almost there, Like
I know I have a good product I have, I have,
you know, the hospitality side of it. I believed in
myself more than anything. So like I remember one day
(12:45):
my dad told me like miho, like got to be realistic. No,
Like he was like, yo, you know you had a
really good job. Maybe you should go back and just
maybe do this on the weekends. And I'm like, bye,
like I know you believe in me and you trust you,
but like like if you really love me and you
if you really believe in me, like please, don't ever
tell me that again. And I looked at him with
(13:07):
like sincerity and and just like with these eyes that
told you like don't like I'm like I'm hungry, I
have a desire for this. Yeah, And he was like, Okay,
well what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?
And then also my grandma, my grandma growing up, she
would always tell me about like oh, like you're gonna
(13:27):
do well and and you got to give it your all.
It's not gonna be easy or else everybody will do
it right. So she always like build this like confidence
and like this this impression that Yeah. But then when
it got when life came knocking on the door, like yo, Vic,
what do you got to show for it? She's like,
(13:49):
you look like jul Someone told me one time, like
if it was easy, everybody would do it. And I
looked at it and I'm like, you know told me that,
and she already knew, you know, she knew where I
was coming from. So and then my wife, my wife
is like the one who we've been together for a
long time. So even before the business, like she she
(14:12):
saw me throwing parties, she helped me out, like Bartende,
and she was always like by my side. We were
always like best friends. We're still best friends. And you know,
she was the opposite of that. She was like even
even after my grandma's telling me this, my dad's telling
me this, and they're looking at me like, dude, you're crazy.
You went to school and to be pushing the girl around,
you know. Like but my wife, on the other hand,
(14:33):
she was like, I know, like, I know you see
something that like we can't see because you've always been yeah,
like I know you see something that that maybe I
can't even see it, or your parents can't see it,
your grandma can see, but I know you see it.
And if anybody could, like could do it, it's going to
be you, my love, like, so just keep on going.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And I was like, man, that's how I know you
have the right partner.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Oh yeah, now we have like three kids on the before.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah. I feel like for men, like for a woman
to speak like life into you is like just gives
you that extra push, like, yeah, she believes in me.
I gotta do this, you know what I mean. For me,
it was like a little opposite. Like when I was
starting my business, my lash business. That was my first business. No,
like everybody, my dad, all my dad wanted me to
do was finish college. She'd be like, no, Mi, huh,
(15:19):
like just finish school, like you know. And I was like, no,
I'm going to do it. I'm gonna I'm gonna make
so much money with lashes. And everybody was like, you
can't make that much money with lashes, like and I
just I'm a Taurus. So I'm like very stubborn. I'm like,
oh no, no, I'm going to prove to everybody that I'm
gonna I'm going to build this empire and I'm gonna
do you know, X, Y and Z. And then I
ended up taking care of I'm the baby of the family.
(15:41):
Taking care of everybody, like diversifying, investing in businesses. Like
I knew that I was going to be an entrepreneur,
a business owner, you know, but I just I didn't
have like what I am to my kids. I feel
like I didn't have that because you know, my parents
come from nothing, Like they didn't. I think.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think that's the there's like a cognitive bias there, right,
there's like a like I guess for our parents or
grandparents who who have like this image of how to
become successful and what success means to the in their eyes,
you have to go to school. Yeah, right, So it's like, honestly,
(16:18):
I didn't go to college to like I was already
an entrepreneur before going to school, But I mean it
did sharpen up my skills and all that, only like
a couple classes did. Honestly, like that helped, you know,
bring me to that next level of like think like
like thinking. But my daughter she's eight, and I've already
(16:39):
been teaching her about like entrepreneurship since she was like five.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Me. My daughter's a so my daughter's a hustler. She's
like I was in elementary, Like your stories were like
very similar. I was in elementary and I would tell
my dad to take me this more and final and
I'll get the pack of hot Cheetos or twenty five
cents and I would go to school util them for
a dollar. So I've always been like, it's just in
my blood. And she's very much like that. Like she
goes her life is very different from mine. But she
(17:05):
goes to her private school and she made she makes
these like little bracelets out of her bland show. You
think I should sell these school And I'm like, yeah,
you're at the right school. Go sell all of those
bracelets there. But yeah, she already has it in her.
But it's so important for me to like empower her,
believe in her teacher about financial literacy, teacher about taxes,
all the things that like I had to figure out,
you know, I like I thought to like for me,
(17:26):
I thought, like, to open a business, you just needed money.
So once I saved one hundred thousand dollars, I was like, oh,
I'm good, Like I'm gonna go open this business. And
I opened it. I didn't get permits for the sign
I didn't get I just was so ignorant and a
lot of aspects of business that I just put the
business up and then I got hit with a lawsuit.
Then I got hit with like hey the people were like, hey,
(17:47):
you need a permit for this sign. I'm like, oh,
I do, like you know, I just didn't know I
would google everything like so for me, I did life
very backwards. But I'm also a very a person that believes,
like you you learn the best just by being thrown
in and experience and like you know, and so I've
always had that mindset like I'm gonna figure it out,
like it's okay, Like I'm gonna figure it out, you know.
(18:08):
And I think a lot of people sometimes are scared
to figure it out. They're scared to like so that
that keeps that holds them back, you know. But when
you have that in you, like that grid, that determined
like it's cool, Like you don't believe in me, it's school,
I'm going to do it. Yeah, that's where you get
to where we are, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Definitely, I think so too, like and that's and that's
what our parents and grandparents they don't really know. They
think like, oh, there's only one way of doing stuff,
but it's like, nah, you can't see like that. You
have to open your eyes. Yeah, you have to open
your eyes and you have to like surround yourself with
people you want to be like. And if you don't
know anybody like that, then like go on YouTube and
listen to Napoleon Hill, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, you know,
(18:44):
Jim Rohn, Tony Rahavin. Yeah, all those guys. They put
their their life teachings online on a platform for free
most of the time. So it's like, that's who I
want to learn from. Yeah, you know, and that's why
like college, you actually there's no one there that has
really accomplished too much. You know, they're just teaching you
(19:05):
what they read. It's like I'd rather, you know, go
out in the field while learning, like instead on the
drive over here, you know, listening to something that's going
to help excel in a certain area.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
That's what I do. I'm driving, I'm listening to podcasts.
I'm listening to people that motivate me that I feel
like I want to be where they are. You know,
during the pandemic, a lot of businesses went down. Yeah,
one of mine went down, the lash business because it
wasn't an essential business, and the beauty space completely shut
down for months. Okay, but I had already invested in
a medical spa and it was considered medical, so that
(19:42):
stayed open and that kept me afloat. So I was
paying for all of my bills and the other my
other businesses with that. Your survived the pandemic and we thrived, Okay,
So that's what was So what was that time like
for you?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So, like, innovation is always important, right, thinking outside the
box is important. So what we did is like during
the time when the pandemic came and we were on
the street like selling, We're we're past that point where
like the refrigerator was empty, like we were actually like
you know, getting ready to strap on the jet pack
(20:20):
and just take off yea. And then that's when the
pandemic came and everything closed. So I was like damn.
So I closed for like a month two months, and
I went back to the drawing board and I was like, Okay,
I can't open in the front of my grandma's house
anymore because it's like social distancing or whatever. Can't go
on the street. Everything's closed and everybody's like scared of
(20:41):
of everything, and that that was a weird time. Honestly, time.
I don't really like to think of because or whatever.
But then I realized, I'm like, yo, let's go to
the backyard of my gandma's house, and no one's even
gonna come like put an order in. We're gonna, you know,
have masks on and gloves on, and we're gonna do
pre ordered pickups on Tuesday at noon for Friday, Saturday,
(21:03):
and Sunday, and we're gonna sell eighty eighty like slot
times for Friday, eighty for Saturday, eighty for Sunday. So
I was two forty and we would only do it
on Tuesday at noon. It gives me enough time to
put a pen and paper and you know, kind of
just do it in my own little like style, which
wasn't like the most time of his shit, but I
(21:24):
guess I had time, you know, So I'm like, let
me just let me just do it this way where
like the people feel like appreciated and they feel like
special and it brings something exciting to look forward to.
Because all restaurants were closed businesses for the most part,
We're closed bars, clubs, Disneyland, everything, everything, everything was closed.
(21:45):
So I did that on Tuesday at noon, and the
first time I did it, I sold out in like
five minutes, but it took me ten hours to respond
to everybody. So what you would do is it would
send all right, I want, I want Friday from three
pm to six anywhere from that time. I'll go on
my book see what's available, and I'll tell them don't
send another text, don't send another DM because I would
(22:07):
go in order. I wouldn't step out of order. So
I'll go in order and if they send another one,
that takes them back down, you know what I mean. Wow.
So I was doing that and at first, like yeah,
it was a crazy process. So they would send their order,
I would send them confirmation, send send the payment here,
and then send me a screen shot. They will send
a screenshot. I would send them another message, thank you
so much for that. We look forward to seeing you
(22:29):
have a great day. Got blessed, boom, and then they
would come pick up their order, and after like after
at the end of that day, I'll send them a
follow a message, thank you so much. So I was
just constantly going back and forth building rapport. And I
think that's how like we really established ourselves as as
like a business that people wanted to support. But on
Tuesday and noon at first it was five minutes, and
(22:50):
then it was four, and then it was three, and
once it got to like the three minutes, that's when like,
you know, people are like, come on, you're not selling
now in three minutes, you know, I just put my
order in twelve o four, like, well, I apologize, and
then people people were like saying, people are saying what
people are always gonna say. So what I did was
I had a YouTube plan premium, so I could like
(23:11):
record and have the song. So let's say the song
like the main part goes on in like fifteen seconds.
I would screen record eleven fifty nine with forty five
seconds play on YouTube and then I'll screen record, so
then as soon as it hits twelve, it was like that.
(23:32):
And when I heard that, it took over my body
and I was just like I felt like I was Connor.
I felt like I was Connor McGregor when he does
you know that?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yea what I feel?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Oh, it was a crazy And then I started posting that.
So when I started posting that, people going crazy, They're
like damn, like okay, now I do believe you. And
now it went from like three minutes to sell it
nowt to like two minutes and then one minute and
then we sold that one time in thirty seconds on
like on a Tuesday at noon for Friday saturns It
wasn't even Friday, Saturday Sunday. It was Tuesday at noon
(24:04):
and you had to go out of your way to
have the message ready to send at noon. If we
had it like started typing at noon, you missed it.
You missed it. So it was like sometimes people would
beat me like yeah, I did it. And then I
remember there was like a bunch of messages that came
in like they cheated by one second, but still like
it was it was crazy, wow, how that happened? That
(24:26):
was that was on Tuesday at noon. And then when
everything opened up again, I stopped doing that and then
I just told everybody come to the backyard of my
grandma's house. And that's when we would have lines for
like one hundred people sometimes.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So fast forward, what is that five six years, six
years ago? Where's your business on?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Now?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I know you have like three locations you're planning to
open and expand more, hopefully one near my house. I'm
going to come to Highland Park. I need to experience
that talk.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Saturday, Okay, days. But it's like it's fun that I'm
being there.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Just okay Saturday.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
On Saturdays we have well I love that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I'm a big foodie, so like me too, love to eat.
And then all of these locations are self funded, like
you're you haven't had investors or anything. All yours. Good
for you.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Thank you. I think once you gets like an investor
in there. Yeah, now he has a senior Yeah. Now
you don't own your business. So my restaurants might be small,
and at least I owned them.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You're just reinvesting in yourself. I love that. Do you
have your kids in there? And your wife?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
My wife is she's stay home successful mom. She does
a life. No, she does what I can't do, and
I do what she can.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
What's important you is routine?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
No, Yeah, but I mean if you were to give
me her job for one day, I'll go crazy. If
I would give her my job for one day, she
would go crazy too. So it's like, you know, we're
successful in our own fields.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah. I love that. Were your other three locations that
are coming? Yeah? Coming?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So we have two in Highland Park. We have one
on Avenue fifty four in Figaroa. That's the original then
seven blocks down from that one, we have Via Tacos
Number three, which is our seafood focused menu. We have
like shrimp, fish, octopus, tacoso. Oh man, that location, those
those tacos are really good.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So you have different menus at different locations.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Well, because there's seven blocks away from each other. Oh okay,
and it's in Highland Park. Highland Park is the community,
the neighborhood that seen us grow, helped us grow, supported
us grow. So I was like, if I'm gonna do
something special in anywhere like before I do over here
over there, I'm gonna do like a special menu in
Highland Park, like our old to Highland Park, something only
(26:49):
found in Highland Park. I don't plan on doing that
menu anywhere else. So it's only found seven blocks away.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You go to comes down to Highland Park.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah, Highland Park. You'll get the full experience. You can
do like a taco tour out of the park of
via cycles. And then the second location is at the
Grand Central Market. So that menu consists of the same
menu at Via Socles number one, the original menu. We
have three more coming. We have one in Hollywood, m H.
We have another one in South Pasadena. Then we have
the third one coming in Atwater Village, and that one's
(27:19):
special to me. Well, they're all special to me, but
this one maybe maybe it's.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
The most specialists going to be the most special.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Out of the new ones because it's down the street
from where I grew up. So's I went to Atwater Elementary,
I went to Irvy Middle School, I went to Marshall
High School. And where we're opening up, I remember being
in that Water Elementary for the tree lighting ceremony on
Glendell Boulevard and we were singing in the parking lot
of my restaurant. And now it's like the parking lot
(27:48):
of my restaurant, but at the time it was the
parking lot of the bank. So it's like a full
circle moment, and that one's going to be like my homecoming.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Wow. Good for you. You must feel so proud.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I'm proud. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So, with everything going on in the world, I don't
want to get too much into politics, but have you
Obviously we can't ignore what's happening with our Latino community
and the anti immigrant attitude. Don't you feel like you
just like like, for me personally, I'm like, oh, I
just have to go harder, like because I feel like
our voices are like you know what they're doing to
(28:21):
like these street vendors and like kisses me off.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You know. It's like you got you got like hardworking people,
right and and they just they just they contribute to this,
to this economy, right like they contributed me towards the
GDP of the growth of America taxes. And they're not
criminals due they're they're like street vendors doing this, doing that,
(28:47):
and they're just getting treated like worse than like animals.
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Do you work with any organizations or.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I don't. I haven't, I haven't.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Like well, I feel like your business in itself is
contributing to our in no community and really giving back
to our community. And you're an inspiration and I think
for us, like you know, the place that we are now,
like for both of us being successful Latinos, it's so
inspiring for our community right now to hear us to
speak about it.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yes, I mean my parents they came to this country legally,
you know. And my parents are like the most honest,
hardworking individuals that I know. You know, they got their
citizenship when I was when I was younger. I still
remember going with them to get their citizenship. But when
(29:36):
my dad came to this country, he came to this
country with nothing. You know, he just came to this
country to give his family a better life than they had.
Like the pictures of my dad and his brothers that
they only have like boxers on, no shoes, no shirts,
skinny flack or bone stick, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
That was my dad didn't have a parachshte so he
was sixteen.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yeah, you see, there you go. It's like they just
came over here to live an honest life and to
contribute this to the government, to this, you know, to
this country. And and now my dad has like climbed
the ladder in his company and he's he plays a
big role in his company. And you know, if you
(30:12):
were to ask the owner of the company, which is
also one of my friends, about my dad, he would
say nothing but good things about dad, you know. So
I feel like that's a representation of of like an
immigrant and and you know, just what they're trying to do.
They're just trying to feed the family.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
And I always say, like, I'm so proud of where
we come from, and like being kids of immigrant parents
and like what we've achieved because it's like we really
had all the odds against us, you know, and we're
here telling our stories and.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
It's not like it's not like they're going after like
the criminals. You know, they're really not like the street vendor,
like the lady selling tamales. She do you know? That's
that's someone's grammar right there, like or or.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
The unfair or like how they're just like racially profiling us. Now,
it's it makes me.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Sick and be our own people, to be your own people,
that's the worst. But but you know what it's like,
I'm sure you've probably seen this as well. It's like
our biggest haters is sometimes ourselves, right like in yeah,
in our communities, you got just like people hating on
(31:24):
and it's like what am I? What am I doing? Bro?
Like I'm just trying to help out my community, you know,
by be an example, by like financially helping out my community,
which I do, like I support all the local schools
and all this, and like why are you coming after me? Bro?
Like I'm actually like trying to help my community, trying
to help you know us, and you know I do this,
(31:44):
I do that.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I don't have to say what times like change makes
people uncomfortable sometimes, Like I know you think it's big,
big time now.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Because you know it's it's it's but it shouldn't be
like that. We should be like when I was in
a in a in a like position where like I said,
I was bro broken, poor, like empty refrigerators. I was
cheering for for you know, those that I want to
see win, even though I wasn't winning at the time. Yeah,
(32:11):
And it's just like I'm still the same way, Like
I even cheer for my for my competition, you know,
and I see them succeed and just it. I think
that's how it should be. I think there's too much
like in media going on. There's a lot of hate,
and I just try to focus on the love and
I try to just delete those comments and just like man,
get out of here. Just something else.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh, I'm big on the block. I'm like, I don't
want that negative energy. Block block block, Like I don't
need it, Like keep it. Okay, let's let's talk about
your recent big moment. I'm sure everybody's talking about it.
The Bad Bunny halftime that was. Yeah, how was that
experience with Benito and you being at the super Bowl.
It's like it's so huge.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
It was honestly, like aside from my family stuff, like
it was probably the biggest moment of my career, the
biggest moment of my business. Like let's say this. We're
used to were used to climbing mountains, right, we do
cool things. We won Best Talk was in LA three
years out of four. You know, we've been on the
(33:13):
Michelan Guide and then we were awarded Big Grimond twenty
twenty three, twenty four, twenty five and all those is
like it's on mountain, right, We've done this, We've done that,
and moments that like bring you like a chieat, like
you feel like you achieved something. So we've climbed different
mountains and high mountains, but I think that mountain that
(33:34):
we just climbed on February eighth with like the halftime
show with Benito, that was like climbing Mount Everest, you know,
That's how I put it.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And it was that energy like there, oh, it was.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Crazy, Like I have some videos online that like you know,
I was looking around, I'm just like.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Damn, like this really happened, like down here, yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
No for real, And at that moment, I was like damn.
Even a couple of days before, like I started getting
the butterflies. I'm like, damn, is really gonna happen, like.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
That nervous excitement, like.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Yeah, because you know, I think I think my moment
was was even bigger than just like that because of
what it represented and and like how my business was
at the forefront of it. Like I was one of
the few or maybe even the only ones besides like
(34:23):
I think the lady who sells like her a bar
in New York, I think maybe her her logos right.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
There, I could be remember one of the first.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, and the only like the NFL paid me for
my logo to be on on my by Taco car,
and then they have the other one like that says
ales and like.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
You could congratulations, that's so big.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I mean that alone, just like maybe even bigger. You
know a lot of people know me as like oh
VS tackles Victor Villa with VS Tacles, right, so like
that's even my logo would have been there, you would
have had like a good amount of people like, oh
my gosh, I no, Like let's say the logo wasn't
on there and it was just a taco car. I
(35:09):
was representing ta Kehttos when you put VIA's tacos on there,
I just that just took it Like now I'm like
a world.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Known You're the most famous.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, I'm the most Yeah you could say that. That's
what I was thinking about, like a couple days before.
I'm like, damn, this is It's gonna put me like
like hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Yeah, it did, You're that guys.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Know. It was it was. It was great. It was
a big moment. It was special, and I felt like
I was really representing my family, you know, my brand,
my city. I was representing all Kettos, not only of
like you know, the US, but of Mexico and beyond,
all the tak Kettos of the world, all the hospitality industry,
(35:58):
the restaurant industry as a whole. Like it was. It
was a huge moment. And you know, I I think
I think Benito and his team for having me, And
you know, Benito is a good guy.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Yeah, shout out to Benito. Your story has been super inspiring.
Before I let you go, I always ask my guest
to drop a gem for anybody listening. Any Latinos you
know in our position or with a dream or wanting
to find something out of this episode. Can you drop
a gem for them?
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah? I think you know, if you believe it, you
could achieve it. Like, don't put in the limitations in
your life, because you know, limitations are are just a
figment of your imagination. Like whatever you would believe you
could achieve. If I can do it, you can do
it too. Like you know, if you were asking would
I ever think that this was possible? I would say yes,
(36:49):
because anything is possible. You know, I'm here, I am
three three daka yas later. You know, we're going to
Coachella this year. We'll be venting there. Oh wow, yeah excited.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Is going to be fun. We're partnering up with the
cool company Real Real World and we're doing like a
special collab with them for Coachella. So it's like, you know,
we're just doing a bunch of really cool stuff and
I'm excited. I'm excited to do it. And it's anything
you could believe you could achieve.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Yeah, that's such a good gem. Thank you so much
for being here. Thank you today. To make sure you
guys check out via s Tacos either in person and
Highland Park. That was it for today's episode. We will
see you next week on Against All Lots.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Yes, sir, Thank you guys for having me via Tacles
in the Bay and Pace.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Against All Lots is a Hyphenet Media Group production in
partnership with Iheartmichael podcast Network. For more of your favorite shows,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.