Interview: Growing Better Day-By-Day, El Toro Restaurant
Raul Camarena, owner of El Toro Mexican Restaurant, taught himself the foodservice business from the ground up. Born in Jesus Maria, a small town in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, Raul had dreams of coming to America, but he never imagined how long he’d stay. Now, twenty-six years since he arrived in the United States, Raul is the proud owner of two successful Mexican restaurants. In those twenty-six years, Raul has worked in just about every job available in the restaurant industry, giving him the tools and experience that he explains are critical for success.
Taking a customer centric approach, Raul shared with us that it’s the quality of customer service and not turning his back on the basics that has allowed him to grow his business with the support of the community. During the COVD-19 pandemic, like many restaurants around the world, El Toro was forced to shut down. In Raul’s case, the lack of employees led them to shutter for two months. When some of the uncertainty had passed, and they re-opened, El Toro fulfilled To-Go orders slowly, focusing on a premium level of customer service instead of high-volume sales. This measured re-opening allowed them to successfully overcome challenges that the pandemic had created for the foodservice industry. Now, with most businesses around the world fully re-opening, to which Raul credits to the vaccination rollouts, Raul shares that his business is operating at around 90% of the volume they’d produced pre-pandemic. While he’s grateful for the increase over last year, his focus is on growing more and more each day, until he’s breaking previous records in both restaurants.
Patience and commitment to one’s core values are the principles Raul, and his staff, work by. Most importantly, understanding the jobs all his team members accomplish day in and day out has allowed Raul to grow organically even throughout these unprecedented times. During our interview with Raul, we also had the pleasure to speak with Rosa Maria Mondragon, the operating manager of El Toro Mexica Restaurant, who shared with us a similar story to Raul’s. When looking for work, Rosa applied to be a waitress at El Toro Mexican Restaurant. Interviewing with Raul himself, she was hired, and in the years that followed, Rosa learned all aspects of the restaurant business, until she rose to the position of manager, echoing the path to success Raul had taken. She too, is proud of her accomplishments.
When we asked Raul what he sees for the future, he told us with a smile: “I want to move forward and grow better day by day. We will continue giving our customers the high quality of food and customer service they’ve come to expect from us.” Nothing more, nothing less, Raul hasn’t forgotten his roots, or the building blocks he learned step-by-step, to become successful in the restaurant business.
Toro Mexican Restaurant
718 US-65
DUMAS, AR 71639
(870) 382-6699
http://toromexican.com
