Real Mexican Food!
History...
Francisco Sahagun headed north from his small town of El Molino, Mexico, in 1981 to make some quick cash to pay off some debts. He made the cash, but it wasn't until two years later that things really started to take off.
Once a subsistence farmer in Mexico, Sahagun spent the next 17 years building a restaurant business and today is the patriarch of a family-run chain of eight taquerias and restaurants with 80 to 100 employees.
Five of the restaurants are called Taqueria Santa Rosa and are scattered from Sonoma County to Ukiah. In Addiction, the Sahagun family operates three restaurants, including a brand new venture.
Sahagun started the business slowly after moving his wife and six children from Mexico to the North Coast in 1983, working to save money, he worked has a gardener during the day and in restaurant at night, while his wife worked as a house cleaner.
Sahagun purchased his first business in 1987, now Taqueria Santa Rosa on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa CA. When he started in business, his youngest daughter was 15 and all the children worked in the business. It was crowded, which led the business to expand, over and over again. Now 65 and semiretired, Sahagun grew his business not because of one single thing, but a combination of elements. Like a lot of immigrant families that come to the United States to seek their fortune, the Sahagun's pooled their resources.
They had to borrow money from family and friends to start the business. In their case their biggest resource, then and now, has been an abundance of hard workers: All six children work in the business. Also, the key was a good timing. There are about 30 Taquerias in the county today and scores of Mexican restaurants.
But when Francisco started his Taquerias in the county, they were a new thing. They offered fresh, fast food-tacos and other simple Mexican dishes at low prices. The family business now employs about 80 to 100 people, according to Sahagun.
The Sahagun's expansion coincided with a rise in the Latin population in the past decade. Although a ready population of Latino consumers helped their business, their success depended on cross-over consumers because about half of their customers are non-latinos. Eight restaurants in 17 years is a good track record, but there were some early failed endeavors that taught the family valuable lessons that the Sahagun acknowledged.
After the fifth Taqueria, the Sahagun's decided to expand beyond the Taqueria concept, and so there's Don Pancho's in Petaluma, which offers a more expanded menu with sit-down service. The key to Sahagun story is working together, every one works for the common cause. In the addition to the restaurants, the Sahagun's have two trucks that make regulars runs, one through Santa Rosa and other in Windsor, serving a lunchtime clientele.
"The Sahagun's family success is to honesty and hard work. This is the land of opportunity, if you work hard and are honest you are going to make it in this country. There is the American dream and we just want to say one thing: Gracias."
