Today we’d like to introduce you to Simon Madera.
Hi Simon, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started my first stint in the liquor business when I bought a liquor store at the Triangle on 45th and Lamar. While in grad school I lost my banking job to the financial crisis and used a student loan to by the store. I know I could never scale that business, so I started taco flats on burnet road. Two years later I bought a little Tejano bar on the east side called kellee’s place, and turning it into our mezcal cantina “la holly”. in 2019, the owners of zocalo cafe, a long time Clarksville Mexican restaurant was sold to me and I then turned it to taco flats Clarksville. When the pandemic hit, I only knew one way to react to crisis, it was to get to work. We started finding locations that would be friendly to the covid times, and the lingering perception for years to come. We partnered with Key Bar on West Sixth and added a taco flats food truck location. We took over as the shuttered Micklethwait craft meat bbq restaurant in Smithville, and then put another one of our food trucks at craft pride on rainey after via 313 moved. During this time we used the ppp to build up our core staff, and establish a back office to support the growth that we would one day see again. A lot has happened in a very short period of time. The biggest project that we took on was the Carne Lenta in Smithville. The smoked meat taco place “Carne Lenta” also houses a neighborhood bar with sports, a butcher shop with a cocktail bar in it, and a small street music venue. This also has proven to be the right place right time approach as we see the growth moving in that direction. Local tourism and weekend traffic from Austin and Houston will hopefully only increase throughout the years.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I touched on this in the last questions but for me, it was the financial crisis that led me to the service industry, and the pandemic taught me how continuously think on my toes because everything changes daily. Now with multiple units, and still in a pandemic, our challenges are bases on how government dollars are distributed to employees. We are required to use our ppp dollars for retaining and hiring staff, but hiring new staff is impossible because people don’t want to work due to unemployment benefits. There will not be challenges in this business.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Taco Flats Holdings LLC?
My parent company is the holding entity of our stores, so we operate each different concept with the same philosophies. We are known for making all things in-house, tortillas, marinades, chips, and soups, etc. We also never freeze or microwave items because we don’t own the equipment. In cocktailing, we do what’s right. We make our mixes, juice our citrus daily, make our syrups and shrubs etc.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I can talk about this for days, but don’t. I think I covered a lot in a short space.
Contact Info:
- Email: simon@tacoflats.com
- Website: www.tacoflats.com | www.carnelenta.com | www.cantinaholly.com
- Instagram: @tacoflats, @cantinaholly, and @carnelenta
- Facebook: @tacoflats
- Twitter: @tacoflats
Image Credits
Lori Gola photography
