Taco Del Mar Celebrates 15th Anniversary
with Price Rollback in Arizona Market

MIDLANDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

10-12-2007

(Jaime) Reyes expands franchises ventures with Taco Del Mar, L'Evento Caffe concepts
Starting his franchising efforts with Subway sandwich shops in Omaha, Jaime Suarez Reyes, president of Jasur Group, is bringing "tacos with an ocean view" with Taco Del Mar stores in Omaha and plans to open eight to 10 locations by the end of next yean "After buying our first Subway in 1997 at 24th and L, we have owned eight stores, sold three and currently own five," said Reyes. "When we bought a former liquor store by our 24th and Cuming location, we looked carefully for a new business to put there with the Subway and looked at many concepts before choosing Taco Del Mar." Reyes, who once worked in telemarketing, said the experience heljjed make him resistant to sales pitches.

“The hardest person for me to sell is myself, but we visited Taco Del Mar's home office in Seattle, checked out the headquarters and operations, and I met people I knew 1 wanted to be involved with."

Impressed with management, Taco Del Mar's menu and price points, Reyes signed on as master developer for Omaha and Des Moines and Ames, Iowa. "It's a good brand with excellent quality, service and value," he said.

"We expected to open two in Omaha in a year, but it looks now more like it will be seven or eight." One Taco Del Mar is open at Grayhawk at 14805 West Maple Road, and two more at the food courts at Westroads and Oak View malls will open this fall. The menu, Reyes said, will be the same in both standalone stores and food courts. "We want the customers to have the full experience wherever they are," he said.

Now with 266 locations open nationwide and in Canada and Puerto Rico, Taco Del Mar was founded in 1992 by CEO James Schmidt and his brother, John. Schmidt and David Huether, president and COO, visited Omaha's store in September as part of an eight-week annual road trip where company leadership meets with franchisees. Taco Del Mar revenues for fiscal year 2007 were $5 million.

"With the market fully developed for Subways, we had to expand in a different way with a different product," Reyes said. Taco Del Mar's "fresh Mex" foods are unique in the market for fast casual dining with beef and seafood tacos served in a colorful Baja-themed environment, as well as a selection for vegetarians, Reyes said. Catering with box lunches, taco bars and taco salad bars, six-layer dip and burritos in bulk is available at the Grayhawk location.

As Taco Del Mar's master developer for Omaha, Des Moines and Ames, Reyes will build and own stores and help develop stores and provide advice and guidance for franchisees. "We have three franchisees signed up and another three in the works." Reyes said. "My job is to help them maintain the integrity ofthe brand image, run operations correctly and support them with the tools they need to be successful." Reyes' own success story may be inspiration in itself for franchisees he assists. A native of Morelia, Mexico, Reyes' first trip to the United States was in 1968 when the family traveled to Disney Land in Anaheim, Calif., for his sister's 15th birthday celebration. "I was eight years old and told them I was going to live here someday. People laugh when little kids say things like that, but I really meant it," Reyes said. Getting a lead on a job in the Omaha packinghouses from relatives.

Reyes in 1983 began the process of establishing a work history, obtaining visas and then returning to his wife and children in Mexico. "The packinghouses were the only place I could get a job without speaking English," Reyes said. "I took language classes at the University of Nebraska for about two months until I reached the point where I could continue on my own to learn English."

Writing down five words per day and mastering their meaning, use and grammatical context, Reyes found jobs cleaning offices with Midwest Maintenance and selling homes for CBS Real Estate, cars for HP Smith Ford and insurance for American Family. Before buying his first Subway in 1997, Reyes also worked for Sitel Market- ing. "My wife and children joined me here permanently on July 2, 1990, on a day so hot that my kids still write about it," Reyes said.

His wife, Patricia, is human resources coordinator for Jasur Group, and son Jaime, 25, is vice president of operations. Daughter Lorena, 23, is a student at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine; son Adrian, 21, is a senior at Creighton University; and daughter, Paulina, 20, is a nursing student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Jasur Group includes some 70 Subway and Taco Del Mar employees — a number Reyes expects to reach 200 as Taco Del Mar expands in the coming year and with the addition of a European style coffee shop concept, L'Evento Caffe. "We have been working on the concept for some time and will open our first location at Washington and Grant in Papillion by the end of this month," Reyes said. Six possible locations are being planned, starting with the former Barista's Daily Grind, 344 S. Washington St. in Papillion; a drive-through kiosk near the Cabela's store at 129th Street and Giles Road; and next to his 24th and Cuming Subway store.

When Caribou Coffee suddenly closed four Omaha locations Oct. 1, Reyes pursued subleasing the spaces to replace with L'Evento shops and opening five stores on the same day, but no agreement was made. He also met with about 30 former Caribou employees to offer them jobs — an offer that still stands as positions become available at L'Evento, he said. From left, Taco Del Mar President David Huether, James Schmidt, CEO and cofounder of Taco Del Mar, and Jaime Suarez Reyes, president of Jasur Group. He’s planning to open eight to 10 locations in Omaha by the end of next year.