Los Tapatios expands to Volga

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VOLGA – A popular Madison family-owned restaurant is making its mark on Volga with a second location. 

Los Tapatios Mexican Restaurant has been serving up meals and drinks to locals and visitors of the Madison area for six years and has big plans for its second location, which fully opened to the public last Tuesday. 

“We opened Madison, actually (July 29) will be exactly six years. So that’s a little poignant,” said Jada Baltazar, who owns the restaurant alongside her husband, Humberto. 

Her husband had been in food service for a while, and when an opportunity to own a restaurant presented itself, they quickly took it. The couple bought the building formerly home to Skipper’s Pizza in Madison, and “opened about as quickly as we could.” 

Their entrepreneurial mindset has proven itself, and Los Tapatios holds a reputation of serving great food with excellent service among locals in Madison. Baltazar’s plan is for that reputation to continue in Volga. 

“Six years in we’ve made a lot of improvements here locally; we started online ordering and catering, all that to say that we’ve got a very entrepreneurial mindset,” she said. “The people I’ve spoken with in Volga, they’re very excited to have another option for food for their community.”

The second location has opened in the former Casey’s General Store at 100 Hansina Ave. in Volga.

According to Baltazar, you’d never know the building’s former purpose fol-lowing the construction of the restaurant. “People are going to walk in there, and they’re going to have a hard time picturing it hav-ing been a Casey’s. That’s how much work has been done and just how wonderful it looks,” she said.

Familiar quality

The Baltazars find Volga to be a great location for Los Tapatios for several reasons, and the family is eager to do business there.

“Personally, I’m looking for-ward to getting to know anoth-er community. I think Volga is … given its location to other cities, both larger and small-er, a very strategic location,” Jada Baltazar said. “I’m looking forward to getting to know people there, … that wonderful receptivity that we’ve had in Madison. I’m excited to experi-ence that in Volga.”

Expanding, much like the opening of the original restaurant, became an endeavor for the family as the opportunity presented itself.

“There is a family (in Volga) who owns the building … they loved our food, and every time they drove through Madison, … they would stop here, or order out or take it home,” Baltazar said.

The building owners offered the couple the opportunity to look it over and see if it would serve as a good home for Los Tapatios.

“And we did, and we went and checked it out and thought … we’d be able to make it into the look of the restaurant that we’d like. And we think the location is great. We think there’s a lot of activities, a lot of business, a lot of good things happening in Volga and in that area.”

Baltazar feels that adding a restaurant in Volga is a great step for the business, especially since the Madison location is always finding ways to improve as well.

“I think the improvements that we’ve made just with our one building … speaks to the growth mindset, the type of growth that we’re looking for. And that’s why we were more than ready to go explore Volga, because we are always looking for opportunities to expand and improve and add to what we offer,” she said.

The second location will feel familiar to those who have frequented the restaurant in Madison. Baltazar explained the menu will be “really familiar to the people from Madison who already love it.”

Employees also won’t have to learn a new register system, so the work spaces are remaining relatively the same to ensure the great service known in Madison will translate to the Volga restaurant.

“We’re trying to keep that pretty consistent,” said Baltazar.

The only real difference between the two locations is that the Volga Los Tapatios will have a broader drink menu from the beer and wine offered at the restaurant in Madison.

“We actually have a liquor license for Volga, so we’ll be expanding our drink menu a little bit more than what we have in Madison. … For right now, our cooks know what to do, our servers know what to look for, so we’re just looking at expanding our drink menu first off.”

Part of the family

Baltazar credits the Los Tapatios staff with much of the restaurant’s success in Madison and is grateful for their dedication to the business.

“A lot of our cooks and staff in the back of the restaurant, they’ve been with us the entire time. We have a server who has been with us for six years, and I think says a lot about the kind of service that she offers here. … They definitely want to work well with people and build peo-ple up.”

“Our amazing staff, our cooks and our servers… that’s what people come back for,” she added. “You know, (customers) come back for the food, they come back for the service. I think if either one of those elements was missing that we wouldn’t nearly have the repu-tation that we do.”

When asked what makes Los Tapatios’s staff especially valuable, Baltazar said, “For the most part, our staff has really been hand-picked. So, of course, there are certain qualities that everyone looks for server. But I think that we’ve really been able to nail it with who we’ve hired with attentiveness and pleasantness. And our staff definitely knows they have the power to satisfy the customer. We go out of our way … if we have the ingredients, we’ll make it for you. So I think that really speaks a lot to people.”

“I think a lot of the success has been to the quality of food, the quality of service people get, and then the Madison community is incredibly supportive of their local businesses. It blows my mind how supportive they are of their local businesses,” Baltazar added, thankful for the success the restaurant continues to have in its hometown.

Although this won’t be the last time Los Tapatios takes on a challenge like expanding, in the meantime the Baltazar family plans to settle into managing the Madison and Volga locations.

“Once we feel like we’re on solid footing, then I wouldn’t be surprised if you hear that we’re up to another exploit! I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but we do have a couple of ideas and we’re both of the same mindset, my hus-band and myself. We’re both entrepreneurial minded … and he has the hands-on knowledge and will to see it through.”

Contact Alison Simon at asimon@brookingsregister.com.