GALESBURG — “Location, location, location” has long been the motto in real estate and in business, but in restaurants, the saying doesn’t always hold true.
Taco Hideout is a prime example. The restaurant is tucked away in a residential area on the southwest edge of town. First-time visitors may be surprised to find a packed parking lot and a bustling dining room at the end of the curvy, dead-end road.
“I don’t know how it works so good,” said owner Jack Perez, admitting this is not the location he would have picked for the business. “But on Fridays and Saturdays, we have people standing outside waiting to get in the building.”
So if it’s not the location, it must be the food — and at Taco Hideout, it’s tacos and enchiladas made fresh to order and at an affordable price.
“I tell you, if you’ve got a good product, they’ll come,” Perez said. “We’ve been real lucky and fortunate over the years to establish a good customer base.”
Perez’s parents, Lupe and Jesse Perez, first started the business as Little Alcapulco in 1964. At the time, it was on the southeast corner of East Berrien and Chambers streets — the building is still there — and it later moved to Grand Avenue.
Some time later, Lupe’s brothers, John and Angelo, opened a restaurant on West Berrien Street, where Taco Hideout is now. Lupe eventually merged with his brothers, and Little Alcapulco became John’s Taco Hideout. When Angelo moved away, followed by John, Lupe bought them out and became the sole owner of Taco Hideout.
The restaurant remains on that same family property on Berrien Street, with Jack Perez starting work there at age 12 and taking ownership in 1994. Lupe died in 2014, and Jesse helped out in the restaurant until just a few years ago.
“She would come in and help periodically and visit with people. She’s the heart of this business, she always has been. We wouldn’t be standing here talking right now if it weren’t for her,” Perez said. “My parents did the hard part of establishing a restaurant with this food that nobody had heard of. I got the easy part of it because it was already established.”
Perez’s daughter, Brandi Smith, still works with him as a part-time waitress at the restaurant.
Read on as Perez shares some more of the restaurant’s history, along with his favorite menu items and his advice to other business owners on standing the test of time.
RM: Taco Hideout was the first Mexican restaurant in Galesburg, right? What made your parents decide to take that leap and offer something different?
JP: My dad was always ambitious. He always worked hard. And he was always trying to do better for himself, which meant doing better for his family. He accomplished all of those things. He was a hard worker. I learned a lot from my dad and my mom both.
RM: Were people receptive to this “new” cuisine at the time?
JP: Not in the beginning. I know my dad was unique in streamlining the menu. He’d seen dishes that people didn’t recognize, like stuffed peppers and tamales — or things people had heard of but weren’t popular in the beginning — my dad streamlined the menu and removed those items and concentrated on the things that were very popular. We’ve kept that concept to this day.
RM: How did you win people over and continue to grow as a business?
JP: We strive real hard to put out the best quality food we can do and keep our prices very affordable. I understand, along with my staff, that our customers are the most important thing about our business.
RM: When did you become involved in the restaurant, and how did you decide to make it your career?
JP: (I worked here) from age 12 to 17 or 18, and then I moved on to other jobs. I was in mid management at Archer Daniels Midland in the mid-‘90s when my dad was wanting to retire. We talked about it and came up with an arrangement. I worked both jobs for a year and a half and finally I quit ADM and did the restaurant full time. That was in 1994. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if it wasn’t for my son. He was 18 at the time and he had a great deal to do with the business at that time. His name was Adam.
RM: Today there are Mexican restaurants all over the place, not to mention the chains like Taco Bell, Taco John’s, Chipotle, etc. What sets Taco Hideout apart from the rest?
JP: It’s hard to pinpoint that. We do things differently. For instance, we pan fry our shells for our tacos — we don’t pre-make them. You come in and you want them soft or hard, we can make them. Our enchiladas are made on the spot. We don’t pre-make anything. We’ve got a microwave back there that hardly gets any use. The heat on our food is because it was just made fresh, and that’s a concept we’ve kept for 54 years almost.
RM: What are the most popular items on the menu? Do you have a personal favorite?
JP: The taco special and the enchilada special. They’re five corn shell tacos or enchiladas for $5.69 and that’s real reasonable. Those are our two most popular items right there. My favorites are the flour fried tacos.
RM: Your restaurant is off the beaten path, in a residential area — how do you get the word out about your business and keep people coming back?
JP: We’ve done a lot of social media. I’ve got billboards throughout the city. I tell you, if you’ve got a good product, they’ll come. We’ve been real lucky and fortunate over the years to establish a good customer base.
RM: What is something a lot of people don’t know about Taco Hideout?
JP: This building you’re in right now actually was called the Hideout Lounge — that was a night club my dad and his brothers owned for a short time. The actual original restaurant was about 100 yards east of where we’re at right now. It burned down in 1976. My dad brought the restaurant business over to the lounge and just closed the bar part of it.
RM: What has been your key to success for all these years?
JP: Just always knowing your customers are the most important thing. I tend to micromanage — I like watching every dish that leaves my kitchen. I’m not able to, but I try real hard to.
RM: You probably see a lot of the same customers over the years and get to know them.
JP: It’s funny because the restaurants you’ve done up until now (in this business series) are all good friends for mine — Joe at Rib Shack, DeWayne at Pizza House, Becky at Maid Rite, Dawn at Grandview. They’re all good friends and they’re all customers, and I’m their customers. I go to their establishments quite often and I see a lot of my customers in there. It’s real nice seeing them.
RM: What is your advice to other businesses on standing the test of time like yours has?
JP: You’ve just got to keep trying to work hard and always believe in yourself. Always remember that your customers are the most important thing in the restaurant business.
Robyn Gautschy: (309) 343-7181, ext. 265; rgautschy@register-mail.com