None of my Business S5:E6- Mike and Rosie Weems

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike and Rosie Weems who founded and own Calle 75 Street Tacos. When it comes to businesses, the general public sees a shiny finished product. They don’t see the ten years of work that led up to it. The heavy lifting, the second guessing, the “what are you thinking?”, and the 1000 incremental steps that got you to opening day.

Mike and Rosie didn’t grow up with a passion for Tacos or had dreams of running two restaurants. Mike wanted to play punk rock and Rosie was advancing in her retail career. One bite of family recipe at a niece’s birthday party changed everything.

The constant in this story is the the product they had their hands on was too good to ignore. People loved these tacos almost as much as their own children. The hard part was building a business around it. I mean, let’s face it. They weren’t the first people to sell tacos.

Their story started at a Farmers Market in the middle of the state. They took their show on the road to Capitol City Farmers Market here in Boise. My favorite part is when they essentially crashed the new vendor meeting after being told there wasn’t room for them. Mike and Rosie, said “We’re coming to your meeting and making you tacos”. The committee’s response after consuming said tacos? “You’re so in!”. It is that kind of moxie that is behind their success.

From there, an opportunity came to them to open a physical space in the $320mil development The Village in Meridian. Running a restaurant is a totally different animal than working Farmers Markets and events. There is a slew of new requirements and regulations and regulatory bodies to comply with. We discuss what that first year was like for them.

4 years after that, they finally set up shop in downtown Boise. They wound up in a space that was over 100 years old which came with it’s own challenges. Then a liquor license fell in their lap and they had to call an audible.

This story is loaded with the small decisions and thoughts to take an idea into a full blown business. My thanks to Mike and Rosie for coming and sharing this part of their journey with me.