PHOENIX — The viral food truck in the Valley, ‘Naughty Tacos,’ known for its Quesabirria Tacos and 'risky' food name items, is going brick-and-mortar this year!
ABC15 chatted with Octavio Suarez, the founder of the business, regarding the opening dates for his two locations coming to the Valley, the expansion of the menu, and the meaning behind the business.
‘TACOS MALCRIADOS’
The business has a unique name (obviously), and here’s why it was named that way:
“The meaning behind Naughty Tacos… I’ve always said everyone has some naughty in them and everyone’s just a little a shy or what not. So, I just thought that it’ll bring them a little closer together,” said Suarez. “The provocative names that are behind the business... those provocative names are honestly what drew in a lot of the customers and of course the food is also good, so they [customers] came in and stayed."
![‘We’ve been selling only one taco and we’ve also been selling just the Birria Ramen, and it has gone viral… that’s one of the reasons why we haven’t been able to expand our menu but now that we’re in a restaurant you can expect breakfast bowls, breakfast burritos, you can expect our nachos, our carne asada fries [and] our regular street tacos,” said Suarez.](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0767288/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1376x768+0+0/resize/1280x714!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1f%2F67%2Fac550a5c4fc7be6af19c7549876b%2Fscreen-shot-2022-06-02-at-12.57.43%20PM%20%2811%29.jpg)
Most items' names are "naughty," so you can check their menu items' names here.
According to Suarez, the food truck pop-up locations have a limited menu to help serve the demand of his customers, stating that his trucks serve on average 450 people per stop.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
According to Suarez, he was a wedding coordinator and DJ for 15 years before he created ‘Naughty Tacos.’
Why change and go into the food industry? Well, the pandemic hit in 2020, so Suarez began selling Quesabirria Tacos and it was original clientele from those businesses that pushed him to the new venture.
“I started inviting wedding couples and all the customers from our venue to my house to eat and they’re the ones who got crazy for our tacos and they were like, ‘you have to launch a food truck,’ and I launched the food truck two months later,” said Suarez.
Suarez began his business in his home in December 2020, launched his food truck business in February 2021, and since then has gained popularity on social media with over six million likes on TikTok. Now the local entrepreneur is getting ready to open two storefronts in 2023.
FOOD TRUCK LOCATION STOPS
Thursdays from 5 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
- Address: 601 W Rio Salado Pkwy. in Tempe
Fridays from 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.
- Address: 6649 W Broadway Rd. in Phoenix
Saturdays from 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.
- Address: 9118 W Van Buren St. in Tolleson
Sundays from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
- Address: 8040 N 43rd Ave. in Glendale
FOOD TRUCK GOES BRICK-AND-MORTAR
- The first storefront was slated to open in January but was then pushed back. Octavio Suarez confirmed to ABC15 that the restaurant is set for its soft opening on February 28!
- Days of operation are Tuesday - Saturday; door opens at 4 p.m.
- Address: 1818 West Montebello Ave. in Phoenix.
Suarez confirmed to ABC15 that the second location is coming summer of 2023 “or sooner” near 43rd Avenue and Cactus Road in Glendale.
