Interview: A Successful Tacos & Mariscos Restaurant Today, a Wish for a Bakery and a Food Truck in the Future
“I’ve been traveling from Tennessee to Florida, from Florida to Georgia and from Georgia I say hello to the world via Sazon Magazine!” exclaimed Felipe Lopez enthusiastically as he agreed to give us some time to chat while taking a brief break from work in Miami.
Felipe Lopez is the proud owner of Tacos y Mariscos Lindo Mexico in Madison, Tennessee. Madison is an ancient settlement turned suburban neighborhood in the northeastern part of Nashville in the state of Tennessee. The restaurant has been around since 2003. Originally it was operated by Felipe and his two brothers, but in 2008 when the market crashed the Lopez brothers decided to go their separate ways. It was then that Felipe Lopez began his journey as owner of the business. “My establishment is a noble and humble one, it requires most of my time and the days are long, but I love what I do so I do it gladly. We operate as a team. There are nine of us in our kitchen and everyone knows how to do everything, that way if anyone is missing, we call all fill in easily and the result on the plate is always the same quality and flavor that is expected of any of our recipes.” He also tells us that he used to have the same restaurant in Mexico City or as many refer to it in Spanish “El DF”. He worked on his own taqueria project for many years, but the uncertainty became overbearing for him and eventually he decided to unite forces with his brothers in the United States. “Madison is a tiny city but being so close to Nashville really gives us the advantage of tourism and decent traffic, even during COVID! We were able to maintain 75-80% of our business and customers. That’s not too bad considering the pandemic. We closed completely for a total of 2 days and then open back up hitting the ground running hard with takeout services to mostly Latino clientele.” Filling take-out orders during a global pandemic and staying in business has been a daunting juggle for most businesses in our country. It is indeed a great success to have the structure and location capacity to be able to pivot into these new pandemic requirements and realities.
Felipe also talked about the operation of a bakery, a confectionery and a food truck that have also been in all gears during these strange times. Ultimately, he feels that he has plenty on his plate and he won’t be opening any other business for at least a while.
“Thank goodness we are where we are, and we will keep pushing forward.” This is Felipe’s sign out while also admitting that although he’s taking a few days off he is also using that time to explore the possibilities of another business. It was a pleasure talking with mister Felipe Lopez, we wish him and his family great success in their future endeavors.