Elevator Pitch: The Taco Guy

Elevator Pitch is a regular feature on Lifehacker where we profile startups and new companies and pick their brains for entrepreneurial advice. This week, we’re talking with Kerrison Garcia from Melbourne taco delivery service The Taco Guy.

In 128 words or less, explain your business idea.

The Taco Guy is a food delivery service and our aim is to provide convenience for our customers. We remove the hassle for our customers of having to leave the office and wasting time waiting to order, then having to wait for the food to be cooked. This allows them to enjoy their meal and get back to the tasks that are more important. Our fresh homemade tacos are not only convenient, they are also delicious.

We love bringing people together and think that tacos are a great way to do that. The tacos arrive disassembled to ensure freshness. It also allows everyone to build their tacos together, which helps create a sense of sharing within a community; and just makes for a better experience.

What strategies are you using to grow and finance your idea?

The Taco Guy has been completely bootstrapped. We began with an idea three months ago of delivering tacos and taking advice from Noah Kagan of appsumo.com, validating the idea before creating anything. My relatives were my very first customer, to whom I delivered my very first version of a chicken taco (which since then has dramatically improved).

Our strategies for growth have been mainly through referrals of recent customers, and by continually targeting the places where our customers hang out, and also partnerships with various organisations.

What’s the biggest challenge facing your business?

The biggest challenge facing our business right now is timing; being able to cook for a large order can be quite the challenge, especially having little time and manpower in addition. We’re constantly trying to improve every single step of the process of creating a taco, from making the tortillas, prepping the vegetables and then cooking the fillings. We also test out different ways in which we can make the process easier such as, prepping a few ingredients ahead of time and storing it for future use.

How do your differentiate your business from your competitors?

There are a few great taco places in Melbourne, a few being large food chains, but none of them have a delivery service. We’re able to make lunches convenient for our customers, where they don’t have to leave the office and their time can be used more effectively, or just used doing something more enjoyable. Time is all we have, and every bit counts.

What one phone, tablet or PC application could you not live without?

I could not live without Google Calendar and Gmail. I would not be able to remember every single event I must attend to, whether that is for business or personal life. Being able to view the calendars of friends to see when everyone is available, so that a lunch can be organised without even having to ask everyone is amazing, and is such a time saver. I also have all the tasks and to-dos I have to complete on the calendar which is nice as it’s all in one place.

What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

The best piece of business advice I’ve received would be to “just start”. Just get it out there, even if it’s not perfect, and to correct course as needed.

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