Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregory Mata.
Gregory, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I worked at Anheuser Busch Houston Brewery for 22 years. I started working there two weeks after I graduated high school in 1995. Everything was great. After asking Christ into my heart in 2001, I started to feel convicted of making beer. I started to pray for another job. After a few years, my praying for a new job stopped. Fast forward to 2014, my wife unexpectedly had a major heart attack. God performed a miracle and she survived after being in a coma for three days. Afterwards, my prayers picked back up except they changed a little. Instead of praying for a new job, I started to pray to serve the Lord more somewhere else. I had my resume out for a couple of years and tried speaking to others if they knew somewhere that I could apply. All the while, I had been praying and journaling on God’s plans for me. I never thought the plans would’ve led me to this but here we are. I worked as a waiter for two weeks while I was in college but knew that it wasn’t for me. I never knew how to cook because my mother was very traditional and didn’t allow my brothers and I around the stove.
Little did I know that all the while I was praying, a lady (now like a mother to me) who attends church with us was praying to work in a kitchen. Cooking is what she loves and it’s her way of serving others. Over a year and half in and we are still growing. The statistics are stacked against us. We are a start-up company in the restaurant industry. 8 out of 10 fold in the first year and yet we are thriving. It hasn’t been easy, hurricane Harvey drastically changed our plans for opening in the fall of 2017. It added six extra months to open the doors and really hurt the pockets. You see when I left the brewery, my family and I invested it into the taco shop and hurricane Harvey ate a lot of what we had saved to endure the initial trend of slow start. Despite the hardship, we are successful and growing. I am grateful to have an opportunity to bring authentic Mexican recipes and tacos to Kingwood. More importantly, I am thankful the Lord chose me to be witness for Him and serve others. It’s never been about the tacos, it’s been about serving the Lord.
Great, 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?
Other than the financial hardships due to Hurricane Harvey, the biggest struggle I feel we have is the design of the kitchen. I wish I would’ve known more on what we needed. I mean we started with a house blender and one refrigerator. We now own and use an immersion blender and have three refrigerators. I wish we had a walk in cooler and two stoves. We could use a catering van and some other items but hey we are learning through school of hard knocks. I guess the Lord chose this path so we can be strong and endure anything.
Please tell us about Kingwood Taco Shop.
What do we specialize in? Tacos!!!! Lol. I mean we make other things like menudo, fideo, enchiladas on occasion, and bunuelos. If you ask me, “momma” has so many other recipes that she would like to make but we haven’t had a chance to scratch the surface of her capabilities. What am I most proud of as a company? I am proud to see that God chose a group of people without any restaurant experience to do something extraordinary. I am happy to bring our community homemade Mexican food. No microwaves. Fresh, made with love recipes. What sets us apart from others? We are serving the Lord by serving others!!!!
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory would probably be having our family over for Thanksgiving. My mother would cook for about 30 people to come eat at our house. She is dearly missed. I also remember spending time with my dad on the golf course.
Pricing:
- We have breakfast tacos that cost $2.50 each.
- Our meat/lunch tacos are $3 each.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2510 Mills Branch Dr.
Suite 12o
Kingwood, TX 77345 - Website: kingwoodtacoshop.com
- Phone: 281-973-1098
- Email: kingwoodtacoshop@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingwoodtacoshop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kingwoodtacoshop
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kwtacoshop
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kingwood-taco-shop-kingwood?osq=kingwood+taco+shop
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