79°  |  Mostly Cloudy
Current Conditions :    McAllen, TX   

Success Can Be Achieved With Determination and Commitment

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006

Nothing in life is easy and when you are in business for yourself, you have to be the best, especially if you expect to endure the demands of a business. These demands are often so extreme that they will shake you and your family from every angle. You will be tested and if you have it, you will succeed. The founders / operators of the Casa Del Taco restaurant have gone through exactly this kind of shaking. Sergio and Sandra Licon shared an interesting story of perseverance. Sergio was originally from el Valle de Juarez, a small Mexican border community called Waterfield, an area where no public services were available. This community borders with Isleta, Texas part of El Paso. He left his hometown to study in Mexico City and graduated from the well known Politecnico college. He met his wife Sandra in Mexico City. "Originally my wife Sandra and I were living in Mexico City and we had planned to move to Querétaro1 but certain circumstances made us come to McAllen", Licon stated. The Licon couple had invested in apartments in McAllen but construction had to be finished in order to sell it or do something with the investment. Sergio remembers coming to south Texas alone in October of 1982 to supervise the construction and he was commuting to Mexico City. Not long after, Sergio and Sandra opened the restaurant in February of 1983 and decided to stay. "Since my daughters were still in school, Sandra stayed in Mexico and became the commuter of the family", Licon explaned. She made monthly visits to McAllen and the following school break she brought our three daughters to live with us and we started to work very hard. Only enough money left to survive for six months "The truth is that the beginning was very difficult because Sandra and I had no experience in the restaurant business," Sergio explained. Before they opened the restaurant Sergio was working for an entity of the government exercising his CPA profession. According to him the only experience he had in preparing food was during their weekend visits to Cuernavaca. "I used to prepare the carnita asada and the salsitas and that was the extent of my kitchen experience", Licon stated. The couple had it rough, so rough that Sergio feared that Sandra was not going to make it, especially because she carried most of the burden of raising their three daughters and her full time involvement with the Casa Del Taco. In spite of the challenges, Sergio and Sandra have raised their daughters and all three are educated professionals; Sandra the eldest, then Adriana, the middle one and Debora Luz the youngest. Sergio added that his youngest daughter was named Luz (light) in memory of his mother who passed away one month before Debora Luz was born so she never got to know her. Almost ready to go back to México to start a new life but with no money During the first years of Casa Del Taco, Sergio often had to ask Sandra to take money out of their savings so they could cover payroll. Sergio considered payroll to be sacred and feels proud of never failing to meet payroll despite hard times. Once during a visit to México, Sandra's dad learned about the hard perils the couple was experiencing and that prompted him to suggest that they come back. "You will not be the first nor the last to come back to México", Sandra's father stated. The Licon couple were afraid that patrons were not getting used to their new style of Mexican tacos. "We were different and once, the manager of the Anthony"s store, who became close friend to the Licon's, came to visit and order his tacos. "We gave him tacos our style and he complained because he was expecting to have his usual tacos with ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and a crunchy tortilla. Frankly our tacos were very different from that", Sergio stated. Finally things changed and Casa Del Taco broke even Sergio and Sandra stayed in business for two painful years which were dangerous because they depleted their savings very fast. On four separate occasions, they came close to abandoning the Casa Del Taco project and returning to Mexico to the life they had before they came to the US. Sometime in 1985 they discovered they had just enough funds left to continue in business for six months. Sergio and Sandra made the decision one night to stay the six months. With hard work and a watchful eye on the expenses, the business broke even exactly at five and a half months and so they decided to stay. Casa Del Taco started in McAllen and at the end of 1986 a second restaurant in Edinburg came into place. It did well because they already had a business model and lots of experience. About six months later Sergio received an offer for another restaurant location in Pharr. He opened and later sold his part to his partner. In the early nineties, he acquired a property in Mission and that became Casa Del Taco number three. "We also have one in Weslaco, so that is four restaurants we now operate", Licon stated. Bill Clinton President of the United States makes a surprise visit Sergio was at his organic farm cutting some cilantro, when Sandra called him on the phone, "Sergio, go to the McAllen restaurant as soon as you can, Bill Clinton is there having lunch", she said. Clinton's attaché had been at the restaurant the night before but nothing was mentioned about the president's visit. Sergio knew that Congressman Rubén H. Hinojosa and developer Alonzo Cantu had already decided that if the president wanted to have lunch, they had already chosen Casa Del Taco. So, Sergio drove his truck to McAllen and used the alley entrance only to be surprised when he saw that armed presidential guards were all over the place and a helicopter circled the skies above Casa Del Taco. Sergio was not able to enter his own restaurant until he identified himself as the owner. Once inside he was more surprised because the customers that were already eating before Clinton arrived were not disturbed nor mistreated by the guards. "They were respectful to everyone and that impressed me since I am accustomed to other types of politicians in México where the restaurant would possibly have been evacuated", Sergio stated. When the president first entered the restaurant and sat in the private dining room, a couple of people were already there and the president gave orders not to disturb them but no one else was allowed to enter the restaurant from there on. According to Sergio, Clinton's visit was a great experience especially when the president requested tacos with no cheese. He does not like it so he chose to spread beans instead. After Clinton ate his tacos he leaned back, stretched his legs, and his arms and enjoyed his time because he felt at home. Alonzo Cantu, Ruben Hinojosa and Kika de la Garza had joined him while Clinton's lead attaché was continuously looking at his watch, perhaps sending him a quiet signal that it was time to leave. Apparently the airport had been closed for matters of security and in anticipation of Clinton's departure. Casa Del Taco recipes were brought from México Casa Del Taco's success has been the exclusive food dishes that he brought from México. Some of the recipes he has created or he added his own combination of seasonings to those from old recipe books. But one dish that has been a best seller is the Botana platter. "The Botana platter was already popular in the Valley and I took it and made adaptations to make it more palatable", Lincon said. He also attributes his success to employees that have stayed with him for many years. Casa Del Taco is now offers cabrito al pastor, which is considered a specialty because of the way it is prepared. Originally, Sergio decided to serve it on Fridays and Saturdays only on a trial basis because he noticed that going to Reynosa or México was more difficult and tedious because of the bridge lines. People deciding to stay here for dinner now can enjoy cabrito al pastor at La Casa del Taco. Sometimes the visit from the Border Patrol has a unique impact on People Back in the eighties, Border Patrol agents stopped by for lunch and suddenly Casa Del Taco ended up with no waiters and cooks. All of them took off running because they were afraid of being deported. This created quite a problem for Casa Del Taco because there was no one left to attend the customers. Fortunately he had his compadres as guests at home, Sergio called them, as they were getting ready to go shopping at La Plaza Mall. "Anthony's manager, Ted Cureton and Margarita, one of the employees who is still with us and myself," Sergio stated. The Border Patrol agents were only there for lunch but the impact was too much. Once the compadres arrived Sergio told them to put on a cap and apron and to prepare guacamole. "How do start to make the guacamole? One of Licon's compadres asked. "No chingue compadre, just prepare the guacamole anyway you know", Sergio replied. No better place to succeed Times are different now for Sergio and Sandra, both enjoy taking care of the restaurants and they keep busy most of the day. They travel using a pretext to visit their daughters. They have a chance to enjoy life from a different perspective. Sergio tries to play tennis every time he has a chance and meets at home with friends to plan and enjoy the game. In the early eighties when Sergio moved to McAllen he was familiar with this city, his sister who married a military man was already living here. Sergio recognized how this city was well urbanized, saw the potential and decided to invest. "McAllen has been an incredible city, prosperous and always moving forward and the city fathers have propelled the area very well". "There is no better place than McAllen, where you can enjoy the success earned by perseverance", Sergio Licon finalized.

Reader Comments

Thank you! Your comment will be posted shortly!

Be the first to comment!

Post your views on this story: