How a Guacamole Cart Built a 30-Year Business
Apr 03, 2026
How does a family with zero Latino heritage start a Mexican restaurant?
If most restaurants fail within the first 5 years… then how does it grow to celebrate 30 years of business (This coming July)?
Well to be honest, when we got started… there were already several other Mexican establishments in town that had been open for years.
So what chance did we have… if we weren’t even Mexican?
First, we owned the absurdity of it. We called our place: Los Gringos Locos.
The crazy dumb white guys. Trust me, it’s even funnier in Spanish.
Second, we focused on things the other restaurants didn’t.
Yes, we were going to be serving good food.
Yes, it was going to be fresh.
But the difference we aimed for was creating a memorable experience on the first visit.
And our secret weapon? Guacamole.
What if we could turn everyone’s favorite green dip into an experience they would never forget?
And so we created the Guac’n’Roll Guacamole Cart.
Whenever customers wanted to level up their chips and salsa, the Guac Cart would roll into gear, and come to a screeching halt right at their table.
From there, a guacamole expert would curate a bowl of heaven right in front of the customer’s eyes… and hand mix it with the clickety clack of custom made spoons.
And since I had zero social life in middle school and high school, guess who became the resident Guacamole Expert every single Friday and Saturday night?
Yours truly. And I loved every second of it.
Rolling that cart around the restaurant… for years… taught me lessons no other experience could have.
How to talk to people.
How to make them feel special.
How to create an experience that they wanted to tell all their friends about.
And when I helped them feel those things, they kept coming back and bringing more people.
Pretty soon, newspapers (and other restaurants) caught on. Today, tableside guacamole can be found throughout Los Angeles… but for the record…the Crazy Gringos were the first to do it.
But Guacamole was just one way that the restaurant went out of its way to create a memorable experience.
Add the famous Taco Tuesdays, colorful margaritas, and the fun parties our catering team would throw… pretty soon Los Gringos Locos became the go-to place for any party or event in the city of La Cañada.
But here’s what we learned over time…
It wasn’t just about creating a memorable experience once.
It was about delivering it… again… and again… and again. Consistently.
I guess that’s why we are thrilled and grateful to celebrate 30 years this upcoming year.
Which brings me to you.
Whatever you do, how can you make it memorable for the people you serve?
What are the little things you can do to make them feel special?
What are the extras that help people feel like you are really taking care of them… above what’s expected?
Because when you deliver the unexpected…
When you go the extra mile…
When you take care of people in a genuine way…
People turn right around and take care of you. Plus they tell all their friends.
I guess that’s how something that starts small… lasts decades.
And if may get a little personal, I would like to express a sincere thank you… to you.
Thank you for the support and encouragement through all these articles.
In fact, as I reflect on this… my 100th weekly article… I hope you sense the honor I feel in serving you, just like my family has served our community for the past 30 years.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for sharing.
And here’s to the next 100 stories that will hopefully brighten your day.
Just like my old guacamole cart.
Christian
CHRISTIAN HANSEN has gone behind the scenes in some of the biggest organizations in the world to find out the reasons why some people get chosen and why others don’t. As the #1 bestselling and LinkedIn Top Ten ranked author of “The Influence Mindset: The Art & Science of Getting People to Choose You” Christian helps teams and organizations who want to stand out and be the obvious choice. With degrees from Brigham Young University and The London School of Economics, he’s helped thousands of individuals position and sell themselves. A fan of international communication, history, and choral music, he currently lives in Utah with his wife. Reach him at: TheChristianHansen.com
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