Maria Martin: Juan More Taco

Maria Martin and her family recently opened a Richmond outpost of
Juan More Taco on Robinson Street in The Fan.


The family also owns and operates a Juan More Taco in
Fredericksburg. Virginia.


But the story of Juan More Taco begins in Honduras, where Maria
was born and raised.


"Honduras has a lot of Mediterranean Middle Eastern influence.
And we use a lot of spices and I'm not saying spices in the sense
of spicy hot food, just flavorful," Maria Martin said when asked
to describe Honduran food. "I go to some places [taco restaurants
in the U.S.] and I have to see what I'm eating because everything
tastes the same. There is no difference. For us and our places,
every meat has distinct flavors. So that's the beauty of the
Honduran flavors that we have put into our food. You can really,
really taste the flavors."


Love eventually brought Martin to Virginia where she and her
husband raised their children. Once the children were grown and
out of the house, Maria sought another job.


She went from feeding her family and friends to feeding her
community through a food truck.


"We started researching and we find this little tiny trailer in
Florida. We went, we saw it, we bought it. By December 2, 2016,
we opened our doors and served food through our window," she
said. "It was amazing. Not even six months later, and I have
people saying you know, we want to support you to open a brick
and mortar. But I'm like, I'm not ready."


She was ready a few years later.


Juan More Taco opened as a restaurant in Fredericksburg in 2019.


In March 2020, Maria put in a big order of food for the
restaurant just before COVID-19 shuttered the industry. Or so she
thought.


"In my head, I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'm losing my business,'" she
recalled. "I just had a $3,000 delivery of food. What am I going
to do? The first thing that comes to my mind is we can feed the
elderly, right?"


Martin and her family put out the word on social media.


That first week, about a dozen people took her up on her offer
for free food.


By the end of that summer, Maria and Juan More Taco were feeding
75 seniors every single day.


"COVID was our busiest time. It was insanely busy. I had like 20
employees. We didn't close one day of the week. It was work,
work, work, work work. We were super busy with the food truck,"
she said.


On this episode of Eat It, Virginia, listen to Maria Martin talk
about what she learned about herself and her business during the
pandemic and learn why she chose Richmond to open her next
restaurant.


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