Tacombi is a 20-unit chain based in New York City, but it got its start a world away in many respects, in the resort town of Playa del Carmen on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
In 2006, David Wolos started selling tacos out of an old Volkswagen minivan there — combi is a slang term for bus or minivan — with no real knowledge of how to do it. He had never run restaurants or cooked for anyone besides friends and family. But he did have a dream.
“I had the intention of launching a Mexican brand,” he said. “I’ve always had a love of Mexican food and tacos. Having grown up in Monterey, [Mexico], where my mother's from, I wanted to share something that I thought was special.”
He started with two taco recipes, one for barbacoa and one for crispy fish tacos, and grew from there.
In 2010, he took the van up the coast to Puerto Morelos, about 30 minutes away, and shipped it to Miami. From there he took it via trailer to New York City and opened the first stateside Tacombi location in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood, with the van acting as a design feature and part of the space’s tiny kitchen.
Wolos chose New York for a number of reasons, partly because he wanted to live there, but also because it’s a great place to bring an idea to the world.
“People from all over the United States and from all over the world visit this city,” he said. “And so I thought, well, there's something cool about that. Over the years, we've served people from literally every state in the country and every corner of the globe.”
Now Tacombi operates in six states, including Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, and Virginia, but 13 of his restaurants are in New York City.
The original Nolita location is the only one with a van in it, however.
“The original van had a purpose,” he said. “Even when we opened the first location in New York, we were still making the food in the van.”
But now the restaurants have open kitchens that are part of the experience.
“As at a good taqueria in Mexico, you'll be very close to where the food is being made,” he said. “The bus didn't make sense in all the restaurants. It would have become a cliché.”
Wolos said Tacombi is more than a taqueria, however. It has full table service for the 70% of customers who dine in, as well as a full bar and fresh juices. Premium ingredients are at the heart of the menu, including house-made tortillas with simple but top-notch staples.
Average per-person checks are around $30.
Also, Tacombi’s menu seeks to serve the “greatest hits” of tacos from throughout Mexico. The most popular has traditionally been one of Wolos’ originals, the fried fish tacos, but tacos al pastor, from central Mexico, and birria tacos (whose beef version is from Tijuana, although a goat version originated in Jalísco), are now just as popular as those taco varieties have become trendier across the country.
The core menu still only has eight tacos. The three most popular as well as Sinaloa shrimp, carne asada, Pollo Yucateco, seared fish, and black bean & sweet potato.
Wolos does occasionally offer more off-the-beaten-path varieties, including those made with goat or beef tongue. “They have a cult following,” he said. “So we aren't shy to do it once in a while, but it's not for everybody.”
Most of the core tacos can also be made into quesadillas or burritos — or burritas, as they’re called on the menu. Wolos explains that that’s the term for them in Jalísco, which is the style he follows, with less rice than the Mission style that’s popular at most U.S. chains, and which originated in San Francisco.
All of the restaurants are company-owned, and Wolos plans to keep it that way, except for any overseas expansion or locations in stadiums or airports, where he’d license the brand to operators there.
But as the company opens new locations, he’s working on developing an operating-partner model along the lines of Chick-fil-A and Texas Roadhouse, where managers have a level of investment and ownership.
“As we've spoken with people at Texas Roadhouse and Chick-fil-A, they explained how it evolved over the years,” Wolos said. “We're [getting to understand] how the model works and what's fair and what's the best way to do this. We're tweaking it as we grow. It’s a work in progress.”
As for expansion, Wolos plans to backfill in current markets and then head to states such as Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and California, “where people know good Mexican food, and we think there's a place there for us.”
Tacombi has been named a 2024 Hot Concept Award winner by Nation’s Restaurant News. Awards will be presented at CREATE: The Event for Emerging Restaurateurs on Oct. 10 in Nashville. Executives from each Hot Concept — which also include Angry Chickz, Puttshack, Mecha Noodle Bar, Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, and Toastique — will be on-hand for a panel discussion with editor-in-chief Sam Oches that explores each brand’s unique story and how they’ve navigated challenges along the way.
