Generations of Deliciousness: How Tuly’s Tacos Launched Its Storefront Location with Help from TEDC Creative Capital

Table of Contents:

Delicious Food Runs in the Family’s DNA
Seeking out the Path to Growth
More Customers—More Crazy Work Schedules
A Storefront Location in Downtown Tulsa
Explosion of Flavors, Business Out the Door
Community Funding Helps Tuly’s Tacos Find Success

Leveling up your dream isn’t easy—but when it comes to turning a family taco recipe into a successful entrepreneurial venture, Joel and Claudia Ramos have cooked up a brilliant feast for Tulsans. Their new physical restaurant, Tuly’s Tacos, is serving lines of people out the door—a successful launch with the help of flexible, non-traditional funding from TEDC Creative Capital.

Delicious Food Runs in the Family’s DNA

Joel Ramos was born in Mexico and came with his family to the U.S. when he was just three years old. His father opened a successful taco stand, and Joel was surrounded by those passionate about feeding customers from a young age. Tacos were such a part of his life, in fact, that they are the reason he met his wife, Claudia.

“We met when we were seventeen,” Claudia says. “My parents were actually customers at Joel’s father’s taco stand.” It seemed that tacos would be a theme for their life together in one way or another.

Before he started Tuly’s Tacos, Joel worked in the automotive field. And though he was successful in that job, he wanted a different path for his career. Since he understood the food industry through his family, it was only natural for him to look for ways to launch his own food service business.

“I saw myself as a business owner rather than working for somebody else, which led me down the path of starting our first food truck,” says Joel. “I felt like we had a good product, and not enough people knew about it. I thought, maybe I can take it somewhere else and expand it into a different market.”

And Joel wasn’t the only one with food service experience. Claudia worked at Chipotle for three years, learning the ropes there. “That’s where I really get a lot of my knowledge and skills from,” she says.

Seeking out the Path to Growth

After opening their food truck in 2020, Joel and Claudia experienced the challenge most new businesses face—doing all the work themselves. “At the start, it was a one-man show with just myself picking up the shifts,” Joel says. While he worked the food truck, Claudia maintained a full-time job at a loan office and also helped out her husband before and after work.

Finding steady customers wasn’t easy, and it was tempting to give up on their dream. “It was very slow at the beginning, very slow,” Joel says. “That was really the rough moment, the testing ground, whether you’re going to keep going with this and believe in yourself or just give up everything you worked for, head back home, you know, pack up your bags. Thankfully, we never gave up.”

Rather than quitting, Joel and Claudia decided to double down and sought out catering jobs, too. It was a natural decision for two people who love sharing good food with others. “We tested the waters with the catering, a new market, a new branding, new techniques, and it went really good,” they say. But new challenges were just around the corner.

More Customers—More Crazy Work Schedules

It took a while for the Ramos’s catering business to establish a foothold. “At first, it was maybe one catering job a month,” Joel says. He worked hard to get the word out, visiting businesses and letting people know what they could do. Growth was slow—at first. But then they had a breakthrough.

What gave them their boost was one really great catering job. “That just was the spark to the fire,” Joel says. “One good client spread the word to his buddies, and before we knew it, we had a group of reoccurring events.” Soon, they were booked every weekend. However, that sudden increase in business made it hard to stay balanced. Claudia and Joel were burning the candle at both ends, a tiring process, but one they loved because it was their entrepreneurial vision coming to life. Then, another unexpected door opened.

A Storefront Location in Downtown Tulsa

Joel and Claudia were catering a wedding rehearsal, and as it turned out, the bride’s sister, Jackie, owned commercial property. Soon after the catered dinner, Jackie messaged the Ramoses and invited them to check out a physical location that was available to rent. Claudia and Joel took the opportunity to see what Jackie had available. But looking was one thing. Leaping into opening a storefront location was a different story.

“We were very unsure,” says Claudia. “This is something that we’ve never done before, something that none of us had ever done before.” She and Joel were just 25 years old, contemplating a step in business unlike anything their parents had accomplished. It felt intimidating.

Yet they pressed forward despite their doubts. They signed a lease, built out the restaurant, and tested out the kitchen on a catering order for 600 tacos. They scheduled their soft opening—and held their breath.

Explosion of Flavors, Business Out the Door

Joel and Claudia planned their soft opening to be easy, announcing their restaurant’s first day to a few clients and friends to come out and give them a little support. The results were off the charts.

“A lot of people came,” they say. “It was crazy to see! But it’s been like that ever since. We haven’t had a really slow day. It’s even picked up more—the lines are out the door.”

What’s bringing everyone in is their commitment to authentic flavors based on the recipes and cooking knowledge of three generations of family food service. They serve tortas, tacos, mini quesadillas, large quesadillas, burritos, and combo boxes so customers can taste-test everything. The restaurant now employs Joel’s two sisters, Daisy and Yuri Ramos, as managers.

Community Funding Helps Tuly’s Tacos Find Success

All of this success has been made easier with the help of financial support from the friendly, caring team at TEDC Creative Capital. “They definitely are helpful throughout the whole process,” say the Ramoses. And that was important to them as new business owners who had a lot of questions about the process of obtaining funding.

Working with TEDC as one of those community partners was simple and welcoming. “The process itself was pretty streamlined,” says Joel. They’ve used the funding they received for everything they needed to get started, including equipment, uniforms, furniture, electricity, renovations, a custom kitchen, and murals throughout the building by local artist VNICE.

Now, they’re looking forward to opportunities to open up additional locations and continue growing. They’re grateful to TEDC and Tulsa for the support they’ve received. And they encourage others with a vision like theirs to make a plan and follow their dream.

“I think it’s important for small business owners who are wanting to branch out but need funding to know that Tulsa really 100% backs up their small business owners here,” says Joel. “Downtown Tulsa is pretty special. There’s a lot of community, positive community, here. We hope a lot more Hispanic businesses join us here.”

As a community development financial institution, TEDC Creative Capital helps Oklahoma small businesses and startups thrive through flexible, non-traditional capital, funding vehicles and entrepreneurial educational programs that equip business owners for success. Learn more about how TEDC can assist you in reaching your small business goals.