February 13, 2025 • 34 mins
Mike Rypka helped to lead Torchy’s Tacos from a small dream on the back of a food trailer in Austin, Texas to a thriving fast casual taco chain spreading across multiple states. As CEO, Mike ignites his passion for food, commitment to his employees, and dedication to the customer experience to drive Torchy’s Tacos to its current success.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On this week, CEOs, you should know it's my pleasure
to introduce Mike Ripk, the visionary CEO and founder of
Torchies Tacos. Mike's journey began in two thousand and six
with a single food truck in Austin, Texas, driven by
his passion for creating exceptional tacos. Under his dynamic leadership,
Torchies Tacos has transformed from that humble food trailer into
(00:21):
a thriving, fast casual taco chain with locations spanning multiple states,
one of which includes Arizona. Mike's dedication to culinary excellence
is evident in every taco served at Torches, but his
vision extends beyond just great food. He is committed to
providing meaningful opportunities for his employees, fostering a culture of innovation, fun,
(00:41):
and affordability in the gourmet dining experience. Join me in
welcoming Mike Ripke, a true pioneer in the world of
fast casual dining, in a testament to the power of
passion and perseverance.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I grew up in nord of Virginia, DC area. I
was born in Richmond.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Fell in love with food.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
My first job I was actually a fry cook at
Popeyes in Springfield Mall in Northern Virginia and just started
to get a love for food and cooking came pretty
natural to me. I worked my way up in the
restaurant business, worked for a breakfast place.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
And then a country club.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And at the country club was where I really kind
of fell in love with sort of the idea maybe.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Becoming a chef.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I had a great mentor there.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
His name was Brian, awesome dude, and he really kind
of took me under his wing, and you know, gave
me some pointers in terms of getting in the restaurant
business and getting my feet dirty.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
All right. So we're obviously here to talk about torchies, tacos. Yes,
I'm just curious why tacos. A lot of choices out there,
you want to start a restaurant, a truck with everybody,
A lot of choices? Why tacos?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So I've uh so.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I went to college in Miami, left Northern Virginia, went
down to my and just absolutely fell in love with
kind of the Latin food culture. Now tacos aren't super
big down there, but just the Latin culture in general,
and you know, in my career, worked with a lot
of Hispanics, a lot from Mexico and kitchens and just
(02:19):
got real close with those folks and learning about their
culture and their food. And I love street food if
you think about so do I.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
By the way, you count me in and by the way,
I wanted to tell you, I've lived in some great
foodie towns. In fact, you used to live in Portland, Oregon,
where it's a food truck town. Yes, everywhere, And I
wish more cities would do that. But I'm glad that
you were part of that culture because I think it's cool.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, Austin's a lot like that. We were kind of
on the forefront of that in Austin. And there's really
you know, if you think about different cities, when you're
asking people, hey, where should I go eat there? You
know they'll tell you about the great burger, a good
pizza place, a great taco place, or Philly Cheese Steak
and Philliladelphia, or the bagel shop around the corner in
(03:03):
New York. And so there's just something about that heart
and soul of that street food. And it's usually some
type of family business or local person in a community,
and there's just a lot of love that comes from
that not real fancy, not real, a lot of thrill passion.
And that's really sort of the premise around torches and
(03:26):
how that idea was born was, you know, taking tacos,
which is traditionally you know, small street tacos. If you
think about if you go to Mexico, taking those kind
of expand it on them and make them a little
more available to the masses and just putting my own
gourmet twist on them.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
So, now do I have a right you started the
food truck first? Yep, Okay, I want to ask you
about that because I imagine a lot of entrepreneurs listen
to this show.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
That have been in the restaurants have been on this show. Yeah,
so start a restaurant first, they don't go with the
truck route. And I can see maybe why you did
not want you to explain that. Well, why did you
indeed start a truck first instead of just starting a brick.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
And mortar Well, the real reason is I couldn't get
anybody to fund me.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Hey, that's okay, that I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You gotta remember I started in two thousand and six.
I was right before two thousand and eight, had the crash,
banks were already tightening their belts. So you know, I
took some business plan to some banks and they basically
laughed me out the door. So I mortgaged my house
and maxed out my credit cards and my one of
my good friends had an old barbecue trailer you couldn't sell,
(04:35):
and so we partnered up and opened Torchs Tacos August first,
two thousand and six.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
So I want to ask you about that in the passion.
And once again, this is a prevalent theme that we
have when we talked to entrepreneurs and founders and CEOs
about whatever they do for a living, they have a
passion I do for my industry. And you know, when
I've had hiring managers talk to me, they tell me, hey, Dennis,
I didn't hire you because you're good at what you do.
I actually hired you for your passion for what you do.
(05:00):
So let's talk about that a little bit, because it
sounds like you mortgaged everything literally yeap, and you really
were all in. And I think this is a good
cautionary tale for people that are you're starting any kind
of business, you really have to be all in and
passionate about what you do, and it sounds like you
were Mike.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean I think initially I was like, oh,
I can maybe still do.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
My job and do this on the side, and I
quickly decided like, no, if I do that, I'm never
going to give it the time it deserves.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
How old are you, by the way, when this started
about thirty one?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Okay, Yeah, so I was pretty young, but like I said,
i'd been in the restaurant's business. I was thirteen, so
it's not new to you know, cooking and running restaurants
and everything else.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
And that also gave you time to see maybe what
worked and what didn't work as you create your own
idea exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, and so, and I think it it took all
of me to really get the business going. I mean
I probably worked one hundred hours a week for the
first two years we were open.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Listen, if anybody's been by a food truck, it's hard work.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It's hard work, a lot of work. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And we opened in Austin, Texas in August first, so
you can imagine how hot it was too.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
We also touch a little bit on this, but did
you specifically pick Austin because of the whole food truck
rodeo thing that was happening down there, like in some
cities like Portland, like Austin.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, we kind of started that in Austin, so we
were on the forefront of that. I mean there were some,
but they were more kind of the construction site food trucks.
And sure maybe one outside of gas station here and there,
but kind of that food truck culture. Did you see
in Portland and now Austin. We were kind of on
the forefront of that.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
That's cool that you were there at the start of
that because at one time it wasn't a thing. No,
it wasn't, but it's incredible. You go down to downtown
d C. And if you're tourist, there's food trucks everywhere. Yeah, yeah,
but I do love that the culture of Austin and
Portland some other cities that do that. Let's do this.
You did the food truck and you start off, how's
it going so far?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Right off the bat, I mean, we were dead as
a door nail in the beginning, because, again, food trucks
were not the cool thing. So I think people were
a little timid, like, hey, am I gonna get sick
if I eat it out of there? What's this thing?
What's going on? And we were new, like people just
didn't know who are. People are creatures of habits, so
to get them to try something new is not always easy.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And this is a word of mouth thing. Whether your
brick or mortar or food truck, it's a word of mouth.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So I had a red vespa at the time, and
I literally would pile up bags of chips and salsa
on the back of it.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I had to sting attached to the.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Back of it, and I'd just go out and give
food samples out to whoever I could. I'd go to salons,
I'd go to doctors' offices, office buildings and my menu,
give them a taste of food and invite them in
basically ask for their business. And over time that started
to build and I'd develop relationships with these people and.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
They'd come in and they'd see me in the.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Trailer and we'd say hi, like, oh, hey, Steve, it's
good to see him, man, you know, or whoever. And
we just built that rapport, did lots of events, you know,
where every day, let me sell tacos. I'd sell them
just to get our name out there and get the
word out all.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Right, there's a big step up from a truck to
a brick and mortar. As we talked about, when did
you make that decision and why did you make that
decision for your first place.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So we did our first brick and mortar in two thousand.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
And eight, two years after you started the truck.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yep kah, And it was always my goal to open
a brick and mortar. Actually I didn't have the funding
at the time, so we started in a food truck,
and which is a great way to start a business.
It's a good way to test the market and you
can be flexible. It's easy to pick up and move
if the location's not right. But we opened that brick
(08:41):
and mortar and it was really we couldn't get more
than a year lease from our original landlord where the
taco truck was, So it was a little bit of
preservation of like, hey, we're doing good on South First,
I want to make sure we stay good on South First.
So one of my business partners at the time who's
in construction, and he helped find the lease of our
(09:03):
first brick and mortar, which was about a mile and
a half down the road from where the food truck was.
So it's a little more of a preservation play than
he got it.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Got it? Well, Sometimes you just gotta do what you
gotta do. Yeah, right, and once again you're still all
in again.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I'm a sports guy, so I always liked to talk
to athletes and coaches about, hey, when did you know
that you were special? And not to embarrass you, or
then when I talk about that, but when it came
to Torchi's Tacos, when did you know that I might
have something pretty special here?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So one of my first instances of that was probably
about a year and a half after we were open.
We were starting to get some momentum, catch fire. People
were talking about us, getting some write ups in the
local papers.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
And lots of choices Austin. I mean, that's a great
foodie town.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And so I was at a restaurant on South Congress
and eating with some friends and literally there was a
group about ten people sitting next to us. I had
another restaurant by the way, and all they talked about
during their meal was guys, have you been to Torches?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
You overheard them?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Have you have you tried their tacos?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And they were naming the tacos they loved and everything else,
and like they had no idea who I was.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I never said anything. I just listened and absorbed it.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
It's like a musician that is hearing their song being
talked about by other people are singing it yet almost right, Yeah,
it must have been pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
It was pretty cool for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So it was a real almost humbling moment for me, like,
holy cow, like this thing's working. It's you know, people
are talking about it. And and then probably when we
got our first kind of real brick and mortar and
kind of like more of a big center with like
a Whole Foods and Costco, like, okay, now we're playing
(10:54):
with the big boys.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It was is serious.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
And you know, we got there in the morning and
opening day and there was probably a line of like
eighty people waiting to get in. Like seeing that line
and seeing all those people he made it and yeah,
and they're like clapping when they walked in the door,
and it was just again it was humbling, like holy cow,
like these people really love what we're doing.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
I know you've probably been asked us a million times,
but why torchies tacos? It obviously it's catchy. Yeah, and
I've seen your logo before. It's cool.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Why why that name?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So my original partner, his name's Bill, Bill Roberts. He
was a landscape architect, super creative guy.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
He had the name. Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
He actually back in the nineties. This is ten plus years,
way before torchies was even a thing. A little too
much to drink. One night and he was at another
late night taco spot and sort of had this vision
of an airstream with neon torchies with flames coming out
of the wyd just kind of tucked that name and
(11:57):
vision in the back of his head and forgot about
at it. So we're trying to open this taco truck
now and he wakes up one morning he's like, dude,
I got the name. I got the name. I can't wait.
He's like, I got to tell you in person. And
so he runs up to me that day and tells
me Torchies and like we just both looked at each
other like that's it.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So he came up with the name. I came up
with our little mascot Torchied a little Devil, and then
Damn Good, which is in our logo actually came from
our original customers. So they come up and said, damn
these tacos are good, and we decide to put damn
good in the logo kind of as a guiding light
of like, hey, if you're gonna put damn good, you
(12:39):
better deliver. And it really helps raise the bar in
terms of what we do and the love and care
we put in the food every day.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Okay, in just a little bit, we're going to talk
about how many stores you have, and of course, right
down the street from us, because we're here in Rockville,
you're to be on a store opening up, and I
imagine that is cool, and I want to talk about
that because you're from the area and they have a
store here, so that would mean a lot to me
if I was from Reaching High able to put a
store there. So we'll talk about that, but I'd like
to ask you about an overarching food question about tacos.
(13:07):
I'm somebody who's lived all over the United States and Canada.
I've lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My wife is from
Las Cruces, so green chili on everything, a lot of
hat chili, So I've got a pretty good stomach for that,
and I know what I like out there. It seems
since I lived there twenty twenty five years ago and
I'm in Northwest DC now and as I go through
(13:30):
the DMV, maybe it's just me and I love tacos,
but it seems to be a food that is very
popular with restaurants opening up everywhere, and that it's that
whole thing about everybody loves tacos. It seems like it's
wildfire right now. So not naming any other business, we're
talking about torches, but why do you think the taco
(13:51):
industry is booming right now? At least it seems to
me as a consumer, it is.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Well, I think if you think about the Latin population
in the US has grown quite a bit, yeah, twenty
thirty years. Yeah, there's a lot more influence and in
all kinds of ways. If you look at just spice
level and lots of cuisines is maybe ticked up a
little bit, a lot more different ingredients. You know, you
(14:18):
see avocado used a lot more, cilantro used a lot more.
And so it's no surprise, I guess if you will,
that tacos are you know, become more and more popular.
So it's very it's also it's a very portable food, yes,
and it's pretty light on the stomach. You know, it's
not huge crazy portions. It's not this big plate of food.
(14:41):
You can eat one, you can eat three, whatever you
want to kind of eat to get where you're at.
And it's a very portable food, which I think a
lot of people enjoy.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Agreed, let's talk about I ask entrepreneurs about mission Steamen.
But you've got a mantra that's part of Torchy tacos.
Can you tell people what that is?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Damn good?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So that it's our mission statement to be damn good again,
it's sort of it's you know, and I think we
got that from our customers, and really it's this kind
of halo we have in our business around you know,
just making sure that we're trying to do the best
we can every single day, you know, and you know,
(15:21):
always trying to be better.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
One of the things we say is, you know, food,
our food qualities never fixed. We're always working on can
we find a better ingredient, Can we improve the recipe more,
can we improve the process of how we make it better?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
You know?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
What else can we do for our employees? What else
can we do for our guests. How what cooler restaurants
can we build? So it's always just sort of like,
how can we kind of take it to the next
level and sort of outdo ourselves from the day before.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
So we got you in a busy day, in a
busy week. It's a grand opening week. And what number
store is this in Rockville?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
One twenty six?
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, pretty extraordinary. So started with the truck, open up
the first brick and mortar. As you go through that,
and once again, entrepreneur CEOs founders are listening to this
and they want to start their business. How do you
know them when the right time is to expand? And
I know everybody's got a business model and you know
the math and the numbers spit out, but how do
(16:20):
you know when to do the second one and then
start to double up and triple up and grow like
you have over the years.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Originally a lot of that growth came from our customers.
So there was the demand, yeah, the demand, so we
were trying to meet the demand. There was people in
different parts of Austin.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Like, man, when are you going to open one.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
In round Rock or Cedar Park or on campus or
downtown or whatever, and so we would really kind of
follow our customers and get their feedback for that, and
then we started to get a little more strategic in
terms of like, hey, we're gonna go to Dallas. But
we'd also been getting tons of quests. A lot of
UT grads from Austin had moved back to Dallas, had
(17:05):
fallen in love with Torchis while they were in Austin.
And we're begging for us in Dallas.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And well, let me stop you right there for a second,
because there is I don't have to name the hamburger place,
but they're very famous in southern California.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
They have decided as a business model that they're only
expanding so far because they have fresh meat. But they
have expanded a little bit more towards Middle America. I
don't know if they're coming out into the East Coast,
but I get the business model. I understand that. So
there's two sets of things here. You've got to demand
and people asking, hey, when you can to open up
in my region, my city, But also you're a businessman too,
(17:39):
and you know you want to make sure that you're
making the proper business decisions. So exactly, I guess in
this situation, how do you decide, even though there is
a demand, about what's best for my business as I
try to grow exponentially.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, I think for us, you know, like any business,
we've probably made some mistakes real estate wise, and you
try to learn from them, all right, I think, especially
as you start to expand kind of outside your core markets.
I think depending on the business and the business model
you want to look at. You know, hey, what what's
(18:13):
maybe a good city or area that speaks where my
brand I think would speak, you know, or they get
the right demographics, there is kind of my customer base,
there is a good billboard for my brand, right, Like,
is this a place that if I open, I'll get
a lot of eyeballs on it to help kind of
translate and spread the word in terms of getting brand awareness.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
I guess we should make no mistake though, as we
we talk to people that are starting businesses. You're still
rolling the dice though every day, because I mean it's
the restaurant business.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I mean there's so much that I mean got every
you know, ever since COVID, like restaurants, it's been it's
been a tough. Right years since the COVID, We've had
record inflation, We've had a mass x this of employees
out of the restaurant businesses have gone and done other things.
We've had to adapt and change and everything else. So
(19:07):
it's been it's been tricky, and there's a lot of
you know, there's a lot ton of competition though.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, well, I was going to ask you about that.
So let's talk about the food. And you've got a
very extensive menu, and you can talk about some of
your favorites and maybe customer's favorites. And I imagine every
region is a little bit different. But what differentiates your
food from other places that do what you do?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I think you know, Look, we we're kind of more
of a fast casual brand. We don't have waiters, but
we you know, we do have a full service bar,
which is pretty cool. You come out and get a margarita,
get a bourbon and coke, draft beer, whatever you want.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
And always goes good with tacos.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Right.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Was that important to do, by the way, when you
were doing this business model that you wanted alcohol involved definitely.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Well, we that we evolved into that. After about store
number ten, we added the bar.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
So what was the epiphany though, why you did it?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It was basically just, hey, we're leaving. We're leaving an
experience off the table here, Like who doesn't want a
margarita in a taco?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
All some more money coming in and you know, you're
drinking and eating a lot of people like to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
That helps and also to help with the vibe of
the restaurant, you know, and we do homemade tortillas, you know,
we're making everything fresh in the stores. There's a lot
of love that goes into food. High quality ingredients or
tacos are big and hefty, a lot bigger than your
typical street taco, and then just a lot of the
(20:31):
you know I, like I said, one of my first jobs,
I was an executive chef at the World Bank. So
that was kind of my PhD program out of college
was I got to work with all these international cuisines.
So I have this huge background of knowing all kinds
of different flavors to combine with other flavors. So taking
those unique ingredients and pairing them up with other ones
(20:54):
really kind of gives us a I think, a competitive
edge for a lot of different people.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
So with you being the founder and everything that you
put together, it's your baby, and I imagine I'm going
to equate it to me running a sports radio station.
My fingerprint is all over it. And while I might
not be on the air, I'm trying to put my
vision on the air with imaging and how it sounds,
with my talk show host and getting that whole deal right.
(21:19):
So I'm the founder CEO of that. Well that said,
in so many stores, you can't be in every place.
So I'm very curious about how your vision, the food taste,
how it's prepped up and cooked, continues to be the way.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
You want it.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
And you have to hand that down to your staff
and your managers. And I get that part of it,
and I imagine you check in as you travel around
the nation, But how do you continue to keep the
vision and the food the way you want it for
the customers so everybody's happy.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
So a lot of that I think is built by culture.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Again that guid in Halo be damn good. Like that's
through and through our culture. Lots of open communication. And
one thing I learned early on is always hire people
better than you. Yes, so not being afraid to like share, right,
I don't have to keep everything to Mike Ripke, you know,
(22:19):
it's about providing opportunities, bringing people in that you know,
I may not be great at finances, but there's folks
that are, like bring those people in and bring all
their experience. Someone who's maybe better at ops than I am. Like,
bring that person in and let them succeed, give them
a playbook, and you know, just give them the guardrails
(22:40):
in terms of like, hey, here's the playground you get
to play in, but then let them run with it,
let them go for it, and let them get after it.
You know, and when you do that, it gives them
ownership of their particular part of the business. They feel
that much more proud and then they're getting to build
something along with you in their own way.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Mike and o Snuck is spri you. But I think
when it comes to whether you own a sports team
and you hire those right people that you talked about
and let them do what they were hired to do
or what you've done, and the same thing. It's a
common theme on this series about hiring great people it
could be smarter than me, that are good at what
they do and let them go because that's why because
if I start putting my fingerprints all over them, I'm
(23:21):
not going to get the desired effect, and I'm going
to be a control freaking It's probably going to backfire exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, yeah, right right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Let's talk about this story here in Rockville, and once again,
you being from the region, can you tell me about
you know, why you did it, when you did it,
how special is to you? Because if it were me,
it would be something pretty special about putting a store
and all that I've done over the last fifteen years
(23:51):
into something that a region I'm from, knowing how much
people love my food.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's very special. It means a lot
to me. I mean, you know, I grew up in
this area, and you know, real estate's tricky, so finding
the right spot. We've been looking in this area god
for probably three four years.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
By the way, can you talk about that for a minute,
because I think this is one of the things we
don't get a chance to talk about. And you do
have a lot of stories, which means you have to
look at a lot of real estate, So that means
a lot of recon with you and all the smart
people that do that. What goes into trying to find
that perfect spot. And I know exactly where you are.
That's a very high traffic area.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Parking is at its maximum there. It's only so many
people can park in that area where you're at, at
that little mini mall there, which is very popular because
there's a trader, Josen some other things there. But how
do you go about doing it? And I guess you've
alluded that it can take two, three, four years to
find the perfect spot?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, yeah, I think if you're patients it should take
a while. There's a lot goes into it, you know, visibility, demographics,
you know how easy or not easy it is to
get in and out of the spot where you're at,
synergy with other people and the thing do they play
well with you?
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Is it a good tenant? Miss?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Right?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
You know?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We usually try to look for places that where there's
some more daily use type businesses, so you've getting more eyeballs,
more regular on your on your store where you're at.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Is there any gut that comes into it about choosing
a place.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, there's definitely some gut that comes into it, but
it's usually backed up with a good amount of data.
I mean, you know, there's you definitely want to utilize
some of those data points.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
To check your gut, right.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
You know, you might look at a spot and for sure,
go oh, this is definitely right, and you know, and
then kind of use the data to sort of check
your gut if you will, so use it both helps.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
That makes sense in my field. I've been recognized a
couple of times, and I've been very grateful. But I'm
the kind of person to think and I'm going to
keep on kind of moving along, you know. I just
don't want to get too big about it. And you know,
awards or awards sometimes or recognition. Ernst and Young recognized
you as an entrepreneur. When you found out about it,
how did you react and how did you take it
all in?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I mean, it was a total honor obviously. I mean
that's a big deal, especially starting as humble as I
did out of a little food truck. And you know,
I think sometimes and you alluded to this a little bit.
You just you're kind of on your path, doing your thing,
and you always take the moment to.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Sort of sit back and go, oh, wow, look what
I've done.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
But I will tell you, though, and the reason why
I bring it up is that sometimes we don't, yeh,
because we're moving so fast in the world and there's
not enough time. I can't begin to tell you how
many times at a radio group that I've worked at
that we did get an award, we were number one
in ratings, and we got to go, yeah, but we
got to keep on going. There's really no time to celebrate,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
So it was one of those moments where I like
actually gave my permission to kind of take a step
back and absorb it for you, you know, and that
was nice. And there's been some other moments where where
that's happened, and you know, so that's it's I think
it's hard to do, you know. And sometimes when you're
on that journey, it's just part of your everyday life
(27:20):
of tackling issues and doing the next thing that's in
front of you. And then sometimes it takes something like
that to sort of hit you in between the eyes
and go, hey man, no, wait a second, like you've
done a damn good job here, Like take a moment,
pat yourself on the back. And that's not always now
the roses a little bit, you know, not to gloat
(27:42):
in it and not to be like, look at me,
I'm so special, but more just to kind of like
it ain't easy what we do, you know, And and
I'm sure other CEOs on here. I mean these were
founders CEOs. We work hard. There's a lot of stuff
that happens day to day that you have to tack,
you know, running a business, and you forget sometimes to
(28:05):
like take a deep breath, sit back and just kind
of go, oh wow, I've done a lot.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Yeah, I could agree more. I you know, we always
kind of joke in this series that it's windy ust
at the top when you're a founder or CEO, so
you experience issues and problems that you really can't talk
to anybody about and then you just have to kind
of suck it up, buttercup and keep on moving along. Yeah,
but to your point, when something nice happens about sit
back and enjoy the YadA boy that you know, people
don't get recognized like this all the time. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a special thing for sure.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I want to talk about philanthropic and charity work, and
I know that's on the website and that's something that's
important to you. Anybody that mentions love about their food.
I know that charity and philanthropic stuff is pretty important
to you. What do you like to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
So we do a ton with Make a Wish. We
love helping kids Great Cause, Great Cause, and our money
goes mainly to really support the actual wishes, to make
sure that kids are getting a great experience and getting
to spend time with their families when they're going through
such a rough time dealing with a lot of sickness
(29:05):
and health issues. So that's very rewarding to do that.
And we also do a lot with cancer research. You know,
my mom passed away from cancer. A lot of my
folks in the business have had parents that have died
of cancer. Friends, we all know somebody who's dealt with that.
So and we were real passionate about, hey, we want
(29:26):
our money to go to lab coats, right, like, let's
go find that cure.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
And we work with M.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
D Anderson, who's on the cutting edge a lot of
that stuff and in their research facilities in Texas, So
we helped them and are able to support those guys
and their efforts. And then we also help with drug
and alcohol addictions, so helping people, you know, get off
the streets or get off alcohol and get their lives
(29:53):
improved and give them a second chance to really help
them move forward in life.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Before get some final thoughts about torchuse tacos, I want
to impart some advice from you to our listeners again
and probably those future CEOs as entrepreneurs and people that
want to start a business yep, because there's a lot
out there. And uh, I've always told my daughter who's
in New York as a filmmaker, and I just graduated
from Elon, and I said, sweetheart, if if somebodys saying
(30:21):
no to you, you're not talking the right person. And
all you need is a door open. But your talents,
your gifts, and your passion have to take you through
the rest. And that's the advice as a parentagiver, as
you as a founder, CEO and entrepreneur that you've done
for a young person starting any kind of business. What
kind of advice are you imparting to them.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
The biggest thing is, if you know, do something you're
passionate about, don't worry.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
About the money, don't.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I mean, obviously you got to make enough to put
food on the table and put a roof over your head.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
But like, take that off the table.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Go do something you're really passionate about, because the work
and determine nation it's going to take to get that
to the finish line. You gotta be passionate about it,
you really do, like, you got to love what you're doing.
You got to dig deep some days where just everything
feels like it's against you for whatever reason. I mean,
(31:17):
there were days that I was just like, oh my god,
how am I going to make payroll? You know, this Friday?
And I just would keep after it, and then some
catering would show up out of nowhere and I'd get
a couple grand to be able to like pay payroll
that day. And so that kind of passion and belief
in yourself is really what I think takes it, and
(31:39):
it's much more satisfying because you're doing something you love. Yeah,
you're doing something you're passionate about. You're doing something and
if it's something you're not, it's hard to show up
for that right because you don't really you're not passionate
about it. So my advice is always like, don't do
it for the money, do it for what you love.
(32:00):
And I'd say most times out or not when you
find that the money will come. You know, you may
not be you know Bill Gates or Elon Musk, but
you'll you can make a good living and be happy
and be doing what you love.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And what's more important than that than doing that?
Speaker 4 (32:18):
I agree one hundred percent. And it's really good advice.
I appreciate you imparting that on all the young people
out there. Let's do this. Just some final thoughts from
you about the experience that somebody's going to get at
Torchies and also the food and just kind of recap
what we've talked about the floors of your source.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, so you know, torches were all about being devilish
for your own good really just coming in, letting your
hair down, having a blast, being yourself, enjoy some damn
Caso for crying out loud. You know I am going
and you know we're not the place to come have
a kale salad.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Sorry, guys.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
We're a place to come get a fried chicken taco.
And you know you need healthy there if you want,
a lot of our stuff is lower calorie, but it's
really about the flavors and the food and just having
a good time, right and uh, you know, like I said,
Our tortillas are from scratch. We make homemade tortillas. Food's
made with a lot of love. We're making everything to
(33:16):
order and we have that full bar, so good atmosphere
to come in and just have a blast, have a cocktail,
have a margarita and uh and let yourself just be you,
you know, and and come come do it at Torchi's.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
You know, my final thought for me, I kind of
never done this, but I'm thinking about it now. I
probably should have. But you know, you came from really
a meek start in a food truck and now you
know extraordinary number of stores and success and a brand
that's pretty incredible and unique in a very competitive industry.
(33:53):
Have you ever pinched yourself and said, my gosh, I
just cannot believe this.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
There are days, but like I said, it does days
where you almost have to be forced into that, Like
you got to take that snuff back and just go,
holy cow, we're in this new state and there's three
lines wrapped around the building in a blizzard waiting for
us to open the store. Like there's no more humbling
(34:18):
thing than that to helping in a new city and
have that many people excited you there.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Well, It's great to meet you, and congratulations on all
the success so far, because I know there's a lot
of growth to continue. I know there's a special team
that you have. But welcome to this region too. We've
been talking about you guys ever since we found out
about it several months ago here at iHeart and we
all love a good taco and we've heard a lot
of people have already experienced your restaurant in other regions,
(34:45):
so we're stoked that you're here. Congratulations on everything. Thank
you so continue success, and we really appreciate you joining
us on CEOs. You should know.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Thank you very much. Great to be here. Thanks
On this week, CEOs, you should know it's my pleasure
to introduce Mike Ripk, the visionary CEO and founder of
Torchies Tacos. Mike's journey began in two thousand and six
with a single food truck in Austin, Texas, driven by
his passion for creating exceptional tacos. Under his dynamic leadership,
Torchies Tacos has transformed from that humble food trailer into
(00:21):
a thriving, fast casual taco chain with locations spanning multiple states,
one of which includes Arizona. Mike's dedication to culinary excellence
is evident in every taco served at Torches, but his
vision extends beyond just great food. He is committed to
providing meaningful opportunities for his employees, fostering a culture of innovation, fun,
(00:41):
and affordability in the gourmet dining experience. Join me in
welcoming Mike Ripke, a true pioneer in the world of
fast casual dining, in a testament to the power of
passion and perseverance.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I grew up in nord of Virginia, DC area. I
was born in Richmond.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Fell in love with food.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
My first job I was actually a fry cook at
Popeyes in Springfield Mall in Northern Virginia and just started
to get a love for food and cooking came pretty
natural to me. I worked my way up in the
restaurant business, worked for a breakfast place.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
And then a country club.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And at the country club was where I really kind
of fell in love with sort of the idea maybe.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Becoming a chef.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I had a great mentor there.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
His name was Brian, awesome dude, and he really kind
of took me under his wing, and you know, gave
me some pointers in terms of getting in the restaurant
business and getting my feet dirty.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
All right. So we're obviously here to talk about torchies, tacos. Yes,
I'm just curious why tacos. A lot of choices out there,
you want to start a restaurant, a truck with everybody,
A lot of choices? Why tacos?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So I've uh so.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I went to college in Miami, left Northern Virginia, went
down to my and just absolutely fell in love with
kind of the Latin food culture. Now tacos aren't super
big down there, but just the Latin culture in general,
and you know, in my career, worked with a lot
of Hispanics, a lot from Mexico and kitchens and just
(02:19):
got real close with those folks and learning about their
culture and their food. And I love street food if
you think about so do I.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
By the way, you count me in and by the way,
I wanted to tell you, I've lived in some great
foodie towns. In fact, you used to live in Portland, Oregon,
where it's a food truck town. Yes, everywhere, And I
wish more cities would do that. But I'm glad that
you were part of that culture because I think it's cool.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, Austin's a lot like that. We were kind of
on the forefront of that in Austin. And there's really
you know, if you think about different cities, when you're
asking people, hey, where should I go eat there? You
know they'll tell you about the great burger, a good
pizza place, a great taco place, or Philly Cheese Steak
and Philliladelphia, or the bagel shop around the corner in
(03:03):
New York. And so there's just something about that heart
and soul of that street food. And it's usually some
type of family business or local person in a community,
and there's just a lot of love that comes from
that not real fancy, not real, a lot of thrill passion.
And that's really sort of the premise around torches and
(03:26):
how that idea was born was, you know, taking tacos,
which is traditionally you know, small street tacos. If you
think about if you go to Mexico, taking those kind
of expand it on them and make them a little
more available to the masses and just putting my own
gourmet twist on them.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
So, now do I have a right you started the
food truck first? Yep, Okay, I want to ask you
about that because I imagine a lot of entrepreneurs listen
to this show.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
That have been in the restaurants have been on this show. Yeah,
so start a restaurant first, they don't go with the
truck route. And I can see maybe why you did
not want you to explain that. Well, why did you
indeed start a truck first instead of just starting a brick.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
And mortar Well, the real reason is I couldn't get
anybody to fund me.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Hey, that's okay, that I get it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
You gotta remember I started in two thousand and six.
I was right before two thousand and eight, had the crash,
banks were already tightening their belts. So you know, I
took some business plan to some banks and they basically
laughed me out the door. So I mortgaged my house
and maxed out my credit cards and my one of
my good friends had an old barbecue trailer you couldn't sell,
(04:35):
and so we partnered up and opened Torchs Tacos August first,
two thousand and six.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
So I want to ask you about that in the passion.
And once again, this is a prevalent theme that we
have when we talked to entrepreneurs and founders and CEOs
about whatever they do for a living, they have a
passion I do for my industry. And you know, when
I've had hiring managers talk to me, they tell me, hey, Dennis,
I didn't hire you because you're good at what you do.
I actually hired you for your passion for what you do.
(05:00):
So let's talk about that a little bit, because it
sounds like you mortgaged everything literally yeap, and you really
were all in. And I think this is a good
cautionary tale for people that are you're starting any kind
of business, you really have to be all in and
passionate about what you do, and it sounds like you
were Mike.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean I think initially I was like, oh,
I can maybe still do.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
My job and do this on the side, and I
quickly decided like, no, if I do that, I'm never
going to give it the time it deserves.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
How old are you, by the way, when this started
about thirty one?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Okay, Yeah, so I was pretty young, but like I said,
i'd been in the restaurant's business. I was thirteen, so
it's not new to you know, cooking and running restaurants
and everything else.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
And that also gave you time to see maybe what
worked and what didn't work as you create your own
idea exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, and so, and I think it it took all
of me to really get the business going. I mean
I probably worked one hundred hours a week for the
first two years we were open.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Listen, if anybody's been by a food truck, it's hard work.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It's hard work, a lot of work. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
And we opened in Austin, Texas in August first, so
you can imagine how hot it was too.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
We also touch a little bit on this, but did
you specifically pick Austin because of the whole food truck
rodeo thing that was happening down there, like in some
cities like Portland, like Austin.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, we kind of started that in Austin, so we
were on the forefront of that. I mean there were some,
but they were more kind of the construction site food trucks.
And sure maybe one outside of gas station here and there,
but kind of that food truck culture. Did you see
in Portland and now Austin. We were kind of on
the forefront of that.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
That's cool that you were there at the start of
that because at one time it wasn't a thing. No,
it wasn't, but it's incredible. You go down to downtown
d C. And if you're tourist, there's food trucks everywhere. Yeah, yeah,
but I do love that the culture of Austin and
Portland some other cities that do that. Let's do this.
You did the food truck and you start off, how's
it going so far?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Right off the bat, I mean, we were dead as
a door nail in the beginning, because, again, food trucks
were not the cool thing. So I think people were
a little timid, like, hey, am I gonna get sick
if I eat it out of there? What's this thing?
What's going on? And we were new, like people just
didn't know who are. People are creatures of habits, so
to get them to try something new is not always easy.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And this is a word of mouth thing. Whether your
brick or mortar or food truck, it's a word of mouth.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So I had a red vespa at the time, and
I literally would pile up bags of chips and salsa
on the back of it.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I had to sting attached to the.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Back of it, and I'd just go out and give
food samples out to whoever I could. I'd go to salons,
I'd go to doctors' offices, office buildings and my menu,
give them a taste of food and invite them in
basically ask for their business. And over time that started
to build and I'd develop relationships with these people and.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
They'd come in and they'd see me in the.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Trailer and we'd say hi, like, oh, hey, Steve, it's
good to see him, man, you know, or whoever. And
we just built that rapport, did lots of events, you know,
where every day, let me sell tacos. I'd sell them
just to get our name out there and get the
word out all.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Right, there's a big step up from a truck to
a brick and mortar. As we talked about, when did
you make that decision and why did you make that
decision for your first place.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So we did our first brick and mortar in two thousand.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
And eight, two years after you started the truck.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yep kah, And it was always my goal to open
a brick and mortar. Actually I didn't have the funding
at the time, so we started in a food truck,
and which is a great way to start a business.
It's a good way to test the market and you
can be flexible. It's easy to pick up and move
if the location's not right. But we opened that brick
(08:41):
and mortar and it was really we couldn't get more
than a year lease from our original landlord where the
taco truck was, So it was a little bit of
preservation of like, hey, we're doing good on South First,
I want to make sure we stay good on South First.
So one of my business partners at the time who's
in construction, and he helped find the lease of our
(09:03):
first brick and mortar, which was about a mile and
a half down the road from where the food truck was.
So it's a little more of a preservation play than
he got it.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Got it? Well, Sometimes you just gotta do what you
gotta do. Yeah, right, and once again you're still all
in again.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I'm a sports guy, so I always liked to talk
to athletes and coaches about, hey, when did you know
that you were special? And not to embarrass you, or
then when I talk about that, but when it came
to Torchi's Tacos, when did you know that I might
have something pretty special here?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So one of my first instances of that was probably
about a year and a half after we were open.
We were starting to get some momentum, catch fire. People
were talking about us, getting some write ups in the
local papers.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
And lots of choices Austin. I mean, that's a great
foodie town.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And so I was at a restaurant on South Congress
and eating with some friends and literally there was a
group about ten people sitting next to us. I had
another restaurant by the way, and all they talked about
during their meal was guys, have you been to Torches?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
You overheard them?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Have you have you tried their tacos?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And they were naming the tacos they loved and everything else,
and like they had no idea who I was.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I never said anything. I just listened and absorbed it.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
It's like a musician that is hearing their song being
talked about by other people are singing it yet almost right, Yeah,
it must have been pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
It was pretty cool for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So it was a real almost humbling moment for me, like,
holy cow, like this thing's working. It's you know, people
are talking about it. And and then probably when we
got our first kind of real brick and mortar and
kind of like more of a big center with like
a Whole Foods and Costco, like, okay, now we're playing
(10:54):
with the big boys.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
It was is serious.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
And you know, we got there in the morning and
opening day and there was probably a line of like
eighty people waiting to get in. Like seeing that line
and seeing all those people he made it and yeah,
and they're like clapping when they walked in the door,
and it was just again it was humbling, like holy cow,
like these people really love what we're doing.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
I know you've probably been asked us a million times,
but why torchies tacos? It obviously it's catchy. Yeah, and
I've seen your logo before. It's cool.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Why why that name?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So my original partner, his name's Bill, Bill Roberts. He
was a landscape architect, super creative guy.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
He had the name. Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
He actually back in the nineties. This is ten plus years,
way before torchies was even a thing. A little too
much to drink. One night and he was at another
late night taco spot and sort of had this vision
of an airstream with neon torchies with flames coming out
of the wyd just kind of tucked that name and
(11:57):
vision in the back of his head and forgot about
at it. So we're trying to open this taco truck
now and he wakes up one morning he's like, dude,
I got the name. I got the name. I can't wait.
He's like, I got to tell you in person. And
so he runs up to me that day and tells
me Torchies and like we just both looked at each
other like that's it.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So he came up with the name. I came up
with our little mascot Torchied a little Devil, and then
Damn Good, which is in our logo actually came from
our original customers. So they come up and said, damn
these tacos are good, and we decide to put damn
good in the logo kind of as a guiding light
of like, hey, if you're gonna put damn good, you
(12:39):
better deliver. And it really helps raise the bar in
terms of what we do and the love and care
we put in the food every day.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Okay, in just a little bit, we're going to talk
about how many stores you have, and of course, right
down the street from us, because we're here in Rockville,
you're to be on a store opening up, and I
imagine that is cool, and I want to talk about
that because you're from the area and they have a
store here, so that would mean a lot to me
if I was from Reaching High able to put a
store there. So we'll talk about that, but I'd like
to ask you about an overarching food question about tacos.
(13:07):
I'm somebody who's lived all over the United States and Canada.
I've lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My wife is from
Las Cruces, so green chili on everything, a lot of
hat chili, So I've got a pretty good stomach for that,
and I know what I like out there. It seems
since I lived there twenty twenty five years ago and
I'm in Northwest DC now and as I go through
(13:30):
the DMV, maybe it's just me and I love tacos,
but it seems to be a food that is very
popular with restaurants opening up everywhere, and that it's that
whole thing about everybody loves tacos. It seems like it's
wildfire right now. So not naming any other business, we're
talking about torches, but why do you think the taco
(13:51):
industry is booming right now? At least it seems to
me as a consumer, it is.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Well, I think if you think about the Latin population
in the US has grown quite a bit, yeah, twenty
thirty years. Yeah, there's a lot more influence and in
all kinds of ways. If you look at just spice
level and lots of cuisines is maybe ticked up a
little bit, a lot more different ingredients. You know, you
(14:18):
see avocado used a lot more, cilantro used a lot more.
And so it's no surprise, I guess if you will,
that tacos are you know, become more and more popular.
So it's very it's also it's a very portable food, yes,
and it's pretty light on the stomach. You know, it's
not huge crazy portions. It's not this big plate of food.
(14:41):
You can eat one, you can eat three, whatever you
want to kind of eat to get where you're at.
And it's a very portable food, which I think a
lot of people enjoy.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Agreed, let's talk about I ask entrepreneurs about mission Steamen.
But you've got a mantra that's part of Torchy tacos.
Can you tell people what that is?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Damn good?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So that it's our mission statement to be damn good again,
it's sort of it's you know, and I think we
got that from our customers, and really it's this kind
of halo we have in our business around you know,
just making sure that we're trying to do the best
we can every single day, you know, and you know,
(15:21):
always trying to be better.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
One of the things we say is, you know, food,
our food qualities never fixed. We're always working on can
we find a better ingredient, Can we improve the recipe more,
can we improve the process of how we make it better?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
You know?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
What else can we do for our employees? What else
can we do for our guests. How what cooler restaurants
can we build? So it's always just sort of like,
how can we kind of take it to the next
level and sort of outdo ourselves from the day before.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
So we got you in a busy day, in a
busy week. It's a grand opening week. And what number
store is this in Rockville?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
One twenty six?
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, pretty extraordinary. So started with the truck, open up
the first brick and mortar. As you go through that,
and once again, entrepreneur CEOs founders are listening to this
and they want to start their business. How do you
know them when the right time is to expand? And
I know everybody's got a business model and you know
the math and the numbers spit out, but how do
(16:20):
you know when to do the second one and then
start to double up and triple up and grow like
you have over the years.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Originally a lot of that growth came from our customers.
So there was the demand, yeah, the demand, so we
were trying to meet the demand. There was people in
different parts of Austin.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Like, man, when are you going to open one.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
In round Rock or Cedar Park or on campus or
downtown or whatever, and so we would really kind of
follow our customers and get their feedback for that, and
then we started to get a little more strategic in
terms of like, hey, we're gonna go to Dallas. But
we'd also been getting tons of quests. A lot of
UT grads from Austin had moved back to Dallas, had
(17:05):
fallen in love with Torchis while they were in Austin.
And we're begging for us in Dallas.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And well, let me stop you right there for a second,
because there is I don't have to name the hamburger place,
but they're very famous in southern California.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
They have decided as a business model that they're only
expanding so far because they have fresh meat. But they
have expanded a little bit more towards Middle America. I
don't know if they're coming out into the East Coast,
but I get the business model. I understand that. So
there's two sets of things here. You've got to demand
and people asking, hey, when you can to open up
in my region, my city, But also you're a businessman too,
(17:39):
and you know you want to make sure that you're
making the proper business decisions. So exactly, I guess in
this situation, how do you decide, even though there is
a demand, about what's best for my business as I
try to grow exponentially.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, I think for us, you know, like any business,
we've probably made some mistakes real estate wise, and you
try to learn from them, all right, I think, especially
as you start to expand kind of outside your core markets.
I think depending on the business and the business model
you want to look at. You know, hey, what what's
(18:13):
maybe a good city or area that speaks where my
brand I think would speak, you know, or they get
the right demographics, there is kind of my customer base,
there is a good billboard for my brand, right, Like,
is this a place that if I open, I'll get
a lot of eyeballs on it to help kind of
translate and spread the word in terms of getting brand awareness.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
I guess we should make no mistake though, as we
we talk to people that are starting businesses. You're still
rolling the dice though every day, because I mean it's
the restaurant business.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I mean there's so much that I mean got every
you know, ever since COVID, like restaurants, it's been it's
been a tough. Right years since the COVID, We've had
record inflation, We've had a mass x this of employees
out of the restaurant businesses have gone and done other things.
We've had to adapt and change and everything else. So
(19:07):
it's been it's been tricky, and there's a lot of
you know, there's a lot ton of competition though.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, well, I was going to ask you about that.
So let's talk about the food. And you've got a
very extensive menu, and you can talk about some of
your favorites and maybe customer's favorites. And I imagine every
region is a little bit different. But what differentiates your
food from other places that do what you do?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I think you know, Look, we we're kind of more
of a fast casual brand. We don't have waiters, but
we you know, we do have a full service bar,
which is pretty cool. You come out and get a margarita,
get a bourbon and coke, draft beer, whatever you want.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
And always goes good with tacos.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Right.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Was that important to do, by the way, when you
were doing this business model that you wanted alcohol involved definitely.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Well, we that we evolved into that. After about store
number ten, we added the bar.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
So what was the epiphany though, why you did it?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It was basically just, hey, we're leaving. We're leaving an
experience off the table here, Like who doesn't want a
margarita in a taco?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
All some more money coming in and you know, you're
drinking and eating a lot of people like to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
That helps and also to help with the vibe of
the restaurant, you know, and we do homemade tortillas, you know,
we're making everything fresh in the stores. There's a lot
of love that goes into food. High quality ingredients or
tacos are big and hefty, a lot bigger than your
typical street taco, and then just a lot of the
(20:31):
you know I, like I said, one of my first jobs,
I was an executive chef at the World Bank. So
that was kind of my PhD program out of college
was I got to work with all these international cuisines.
So I have this huge background of knowing all kinds
of different flavors to combine with other flavors. So taking
those unique ingredients and pairing them up with other ones
(20:54):
really kind of gives us a I think, a competitive
edge for a lot of different people.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
So with you being the founder and everything that you
put together, it's your baby, and I imagine I'm going
to equate it to me running a sports radio station.
My fingerprint is all over it. And while I might
not be on the air, I'm trying to put my
vision on the air with imaging and how it sounds,
with my talk show host and getting that whole deal right.
(21:19):
So I'm the founder CEO of that. Well that said,
in so many stores, you can't be in every place.
So I'm very curious about how your vision, the food taste,
how it's prepped up and cooked, continues to be the way.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
You want it.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
And you have to hand that down to your staff
and your managers. And I get that part of it,
and I imagine you check in as you travel around
the nation, But how do you continue to keep the
vision and the food the way you want it for
the customers so everybody's happy.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
So a lot of that I think is built by culture.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Again that guid in Halo be damn good. Like that's
through and through our culture. Lots of open communication. And
one thing I learned early on is always hire people
better than you. Yes, so not being afraid to like share, right,
I don't have to keep everything to Mike Ripke, you know,
(22:19):
it's about providing opportunities, bringing people in that you know,
I may not be great at finances, but there's folks
that are, like bring those people in and bring all
their experience. Someone who's maybe better at ops than I am. Like,
bring that person in and let them succeed, give them
a playbook, and you know, just give them the guardrails
(22:40):
in terms of like, hey, here's the playground you get
to play in, but then let them run with it,
let them go for it, and let them get after it.
You know, and when you do that, it gives them
ownership of their particular part of the business. They feel
that much more proud and then they're getting to build
something along with you in their own way.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Mike and o Snuck is spri you. But I think
when it comes to whether you own a sports team
and you hire those right people that you talked about
and let them do what they were hired to do
or what you've done, and the same thing. It's a
common theme on this series about hiring great people it
could be smarter than me, that are good at what
they do and let them go because that's why because
if I start putting my fingerprints all over them, I'm
(23:21):
not going to get the desired effect, and I'm going
to be a control freaking It's probably going to backfire exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, yeah, right right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Let's talk about this story here in Rockville, and once again,
you being from the region, can you tell me about
you know, why you did it, when you did it,
how special is to you? Because if it were me,
it would be something pretty special about putting a store
and all that I've done over the last fifteen years
(23:51):
into something that a region I'm from, knowing how much
people love my food.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's very special. It means a lot
to me. I mean, you know, I grew up in
this area, and you know, real estate's tricky, so finding
the right spot. We've been looking in this area god
for probably three four years.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
By the way, can you talk about that for a minute,
because I think this is one of the things we
don't get a chance to talk about. And you do
have a lot of stories, which means you have to
look at a lot of real estate, So that means
a lot of recon with you and all the smart
people that do that. What goes into trying to find
that perfect spot. And I know exactly where you are.
That's a very high traffic area.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Parking is at its maximum there. It's only so many
people can park in that area where you're at, at
that little mini mall there, which is very popular because
there's a trader, Josen some other things there. But how
do you go about doing it? And I guess you've
alluded that it can take two, three, four years to
find the perfect spot?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, yeah, I think if you're patients it should take
a while. There's a lot goes into it, you know, visibility, demographics,
you know how easy or not easy it is to
get in and out of the spot where you're at,
synergy with other people and the thing do they play
well with you?
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Is it a good tenant? Miss?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Right?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
You know?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We usually try to look for places that where there's
some more daily use type businesses, so you've getting more eyeballs,
more regular on your on your store where you're at.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Is there any gut that comes into it about choosing
a place.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, there's definitely some gut that comes into it, but
it's usually backed up with a good amount of data.
I mean, you know, there's you definitely want to utilize
some of those data points.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
To check your gut, right.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
You know, you might look at a spot and for sure,
go oh, this is definitely right, and you know, and
then kind of use the data to sort of check
your gut if you will, so use it both helps.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
That makes sense in my field. I've been recognized a
couple of times, and I've been very grateful. But I'm
the kind of person to think and I'm going to
keep on kind of moving along, you know. I just
don't want to get too big about it. And you know,
awards or awards sometimes or recognition. Ernst and Young recognized
you as an entrepreneur. When you found out about it,
how did you react and how did you take it
all in?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I mean, it was a total honor obviously. I mean
that's a big deal, especially starting as humble as I
did out of a little food truck. And you know,
I think sometimes and you alluded to this a little bit.
You just you're kind of on your path, doing your thing,
and you always take the moment to.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Sort of sit back and go, oh, wow, look what
I've done.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
But I will tell you, though, and the reason why
I bring it up is that sometimes we don't, yeh,
because we're moving so fast in the world and there's
not enough time. I can't begin to tell you how
many times at a radio group that I've worked at
that we did get an award, we were number one
in ratings, and we got to go, yeah, but we
got to keep on going. There's really no time to celebrate,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
So it was one of those moments where I like
actually gave my permission to kind of take a step
back and absorb it for you, you know, and that
was nice. And there's been some other moments where where
that's happened, and you know, so that's it's I think
it's hard to do, you know. And sometimes when you're
on that journey, it's just part of your everyday life
(27:20):
of tackling issues and doing the next thing that's in
front of you. And then sometimes it takes something like
that to sort of hit you in between the eyes
and go, hey man, no, wait a second, like you've
done a damn good job here, Like take a moment,
pat yourself on the back. And that's not always now
the roses a little bit, you know, not to gloat
(27:42):
in it and not to be like, look at me,
I'm so special, but more just to kind of like
it ain't easy what we do, you know, And and
I'm sure other CEOs on here. I mean these were
founders CEOs. We work hard. There's a lot of stuff
that happens day to day that you have to tack,
you know, running a business, and you forget sometimes to
(28:05):
like take a deep breath, sit back and just kind
of go, oh wow, I've done a lot.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Yeah, I could agree more. I you know, we always
kind of joke in this series that it's windy ust
at the top when you're a founder or CEO, so
you experience issues and problems that you really can't talk
to anybody about and then you just have to kind
of suck it up, buttercup and keep on moving along. Yeah,
but to your point, when something nice happens about sit
back and enjoy the YadA boy that you know, people
don't get recognized like this all the time. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a special thing for sure.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I want to talk about philanthropic and charity work, and
I know that's on the website and that's something that's
important to you. Anybody that mentions love about their food.
I know that charity and philanthropic stuff is pretty important
to you. What do you like to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
So we do a ton with Make a Wish. We
love helping kids Great Cause, Great Cause, and our money
goes mainly to really support the actual wishes, to make
sure that kids are getting a great experience and getting
to spend time with their families when they're going through
such a rough time dealing with a lot of sickness
(29:05):
and health issues. So that's very rewarding to do that.
And we also do a lot with cancer research. You know,
my mom passed away from cancer. A lot of my
folks in the business have had parents that have died
of cancer. Friends, we all know somebody who's dealt with that.
So and we were real passionate about, hey, we want
(29:26):
our money to go to lab coats, right, like, let's
go find that cure.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
And we work with M.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
D Anderson, who's on the cutting edge a lot of
that stuff and in their research facilities in Texas, So
we helped them and are able to support those guys
and their efforts. And then we also help with drug
and alcohol addictions, so helping people, you know, get off
the streets or get off alcohol and get their lives
(29:53):
improved and give them a second chance to really help
them move forward in life.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Before get some final thoughts about torchuse tacos, I want
to impart some advice from you to our listeners again
and probably those future CEOs as entrepreneurs and people that
want to start a business yep, because there's a lot
out there. And uh, I've always told my daughter who's
in New York as a filmmaker, and I just graduated
from Elon, and I said, sweetheart, if if somebodys saying
(30:21):
no to you, you're not talking the right person. And
all you need is a door open. But your talents,
your gifts, and your passion have to take you through
the rest. And that's the advice as a parentagiver, as
you as a founder, CEO and entrepreneur that you've done
for a young person starting any kind of business. What
kind of advice are you imparting to them.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
The biggest thing is, if you know, do something you're
passionate about, don't worry.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
About the money, don't.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
I mean, obviously you got to make enough to put
food on the table and put a roof over your head.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
But like, take that off the table.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Go do something you're really passionate about, because the work
and determine nation it's going to take to get that
to the finish line. You gotta be passionate about it,
you really do, like, you got to love what you're doing.
You got to dig deep some days where just everything
feels like it's against you for whatever reason. I mean,
(31:17):
there were days that I was just like, oh my god,
how am I going to make payroll? You know, this Friday?
And I just would keep after it, and then some
catering would show up out of nowhere and I'd get
a couple grand to be able to like pay payroll
that day. And so that kind of passion and belief
in yourself is really what I think takes it, and
(31:39):
it's much more satisfying because you're doing something you love. Yeah,
you're doing something you're passionate about. You're doing something and
if it's something you're not, it's hard to show up
for that right because you don't really you're not passionate
about it. So my advice is always like, don't do
it for the money, do it for what you love.
(32:00):
And I'd say most times out or not when you
find that the money will come. You know, you may
not be you know Bill Gates or Elon Musk, but
you'll you can make a good living and be happy
and be doing what you love.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And what's more important than that than doing that?
Speaker 4 (32:18):
I agree one hundred percent. And it's really good advice.
I appreciate you imparting that on all the young people
out there. Let's do this. Just some final thoughts from
you about the experience that somebody's going to get at
Torchies and also the food and just kind of recap
what we've talked about the floors of your source.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, so you know, torches were all about being devilish
for your own good really just coming in, letting your
hair down, having a blast, being yourself, enjoy some damn
Caso for crying out loud. You know I am going
and you know we're not the place to come have
a kale salad.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Sorry, guys.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
We're a place to come get a fried chicken taco.
And you know you need healthy there if you want,
a lot of our stuff is lower calorie, but it's
really about the flavors and the food and just having
a good time, right and uh, you know, like I said,
Our tortillas are from scratch. We make homemade tortillas. Food's
made with a lot of love. We're making everything to
(33:16):
order and we have that full bar, so good atmosphere
to come in and just have a blast, have a cocktail,
have a margarita and uh and let yourself just be you,
you know, and and come come do it at Torchi's.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
You know, my final thought for me, I kind of
never done this, but I'm thinking about it now. I
probably should have. But you know, you came from really
a meek start in a food truck and now you
know extraordinary number of stores and success and a brand
that's pretty incredible and unique in a very competitive industry.
(33:53):
Have you ever pinched yourself and said, my gosh, I
just cannot believe this.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
There are days, but like I said, it does days
where you almost have to be forced into that, Like
you got to take that snuff back and just go,
holy cow, we're in this new state and there's three
lines wrapped around the building in a blizzard waiting for
us to open the store. Like there's no more humbling
(34:18):
thing than that to helping in a new city and
have that many people excited you there.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Well, It's great to meet you, and congratulations on all
the success so far, because I know there's a lot
of growth to continue. I know there's a special team
that you have. But welcome to this region too. We've
been talking about you guys ever since we found out
about it several months ago here at iHeart and we
all love a good taco and we've heard a lot
of people have already experienced your restaurant in other regions,
(34:45):
so we're stoked that you're here. Congratulations on everything. Thank
you so continue success, and we really appreciate you joining
us on CEOs. You should know.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Thank you very much. Great to be here. Thanks
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