Today we’d like to introduce you to Jorge Landgrave.
Jorge, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
One of my biggest passions in life has always been cooking. I’ve always loved to grill at family events and get-togethers. One day in October 2016, a friend called me and asked, “I will have a company lunch at my house, can you cook some tacos for us?” With a big smile on my face, I replied, “Yes, I would be happy to!” And that’s how Coyote Happy Tacos was born.
After that day, I realized that I can turn my passion of cooking tacos into a business. My wife and I gathered what we had at home and started learning from there. We came up with countless recipes and presentations all day and night, working to improve our product each day while keeping the same quality and our secret ingredient – Happiness. We believe that the happiness we put into making our tacos is passed on to our customers when they eat them. Our customer favorites and most popular items are Tacos de Carne Asada, Discada, Pastor, and Quesadillas.
Our first event was a big success, and we let all of our friends and family know that we could cater their parties! But it was not all upside from there. The first few years were actually pretty rough for us. We did not have a lot of events. It was very slow and people only heard about us through word of mouth.
We finally began to gain more traction in 2019 when we catered a party for food blogger @houstonfoodiess to celebrate her 13K followers. The amount of exposure that we got from her post on her food Instagram allowed us to book more events the rest of 2019. The beginning of 2020 was good until we hit another obstacle, COVID-19. Fortunately, we were able to make it through that tough time. Things are starting to pick up again, and we are very optimistic for the future. No matter what the world is going through, we can always bring that one thing in this world that started this business and keeps it going. Happiness we can’t wait to taco party with y’all again!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No, it has not been an easy road, actually we started Coyote Happy Tacos because I lost my job after more than 12 years in the same company. One of the most difficult things has been on how to let people know about our service, that we can Taco your Party.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Coyote Happy Tacos – what should we know?
We do tacos for your private events and parties. We show up with a small push cart where we cook and put together your tacos. Your guest will order how they will like their tacos and we serve them. Our main Tacos are Carne Asada (Prime sirloin), Pastor (season pork) and our house recipe, Discada (a mix of beacon, chorizo, pork, steak, and veggies all together) we use corn tortillas and quesadillas are in flour tortillas and you pick what meat you want on it. Is a very personalized service. Always homemade salsa verde and roja, cilantro, cebolla, limes, chiles toreados. We always use the best quality ingredients.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
-My dad taught me to grill carne asada and burgers, still learning.
-My wife that is always supporting this passion to serve and grill.
-The support from food blogger @houstonfoodiess is a big role on our growth.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 281-450-5408
- Email: coyotehappytacos@gmail.com
- Instagram: @coyotehappytacos
- Facebook: coyote happy tacos
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