West Side taco joint is prepared to feed the Cinco De Mayo festivities this weekend

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – When you own a taco restaurant, Cinco de Mayo is one of the busiest times of the year.

Taylor Mason is the owner of Taylor's Tacos at Taylor and Laflin streets on the Near West Side. She turned a taco cart into a catering business before opening a brick and mortar location last year.

It started 10 years ago as a side gig inspired by the street tacos that are available in Southern California.

An initial attempt to go bricks-and-mortar in 2021 was scuttled when a drunken driver crashed into their storefront, Mason says. They pivoted to running an event space and catering before finally landing their current spot in Little Italy.

“Entrepreneurship is not for the weak,” Mason said. “Do your pushups, do your sit-ups. Get ready. Because it’s going to take you on a wild ride. You just have to be ready to solve a problem every single day.”

She tells the Noon Business Hour that the secret to running a restaurant is to be organized.

“The biggest thing is just making sure that your systems are in place.”

Once you have those systems in place, she says, you have room to grow.

“So we're just making sure that we have all of our ducks in a row so that we can continue to grow and be the best that we can be.”

Sunday is Cinco de Mayo and while Taylor's Tacos is closed on Sunday - they will run pop up taco shops at a bar in the Andersonville neighborhood and at Promontory Point on the South Side.

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