Insight
Rypka: Banks will not lend $600K to first-time restaurant founders
“I didn't have any money. I didn't know people with money and that's really kind of almost how you have to start a restaurant. You know, bank's not going to just take a bet on you and give you a 600 grand to go open a brick and mortar restaurant.”
Disclosure
Rypka: Torchy's Tacos operated illegally from a co-founder's driveway
“We ended up for a week literally cooking out of Bill's driveway. We Took the trailer, and we hooked up the power to the trailer at his house, which was totally illegal at the time, but, you know, we were trying to stay in business and, you know, keep some cash…”
Insight
Mike Rypka: Food trailers are great for starting but unsustainable long term
“Hey, look, this is a great way to start, but it's not a good way to sustain. It's very weather-dependent, It's a lot of heavy lifting every day of like shipping food back and forth. And so I was really like, hey, we got to get a brick and mortar.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rypka: Only two of 300 promo customers agreed with critical review
“And I think out of the 300 articles we got only two people agreed with the article, so you can't please everybody, but that's a pretty impressive vote change there, so.”
Assertion Supported
Rypka: Torchy's won an 18-month lawsuit to shut down a copycat
“We definitely went to the lawyers, and the thing went on for about 18 months, but we were able to get them to close everything down, so thank goodness for that.”
Disclosure
Rypka: Torchy's founders mutually declined the CEO role after PE investment
“They had actually asked like, do one of you guys want to be the CEO? And we all kind of said no.”
Opinion
Rypka: Torchy's lost its identity by building 5,000-square-foot mega-restaurants
“The restaurants started to get
Away from our core, you know what I mean?
Like, we're a cool local taco shop, right?
Like, that doesn't look like 5000 square feet.
That looks more like 3000 square feet.
Like, cool, funky, graffiti on the walls not this big…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rypka: Food truck culture did not exist in Austin in 2006
“At that point, there wasn't really a food truck slash food trailer culture. That you see nowadays in different cities and definitely not in Austin.”
Insight
Rypka: A restaurant brand needs to be bigger than its founder's name
“I never wanted a place that, like, had my name on it because I always felt like the place needed to be bigger than me”
Assertion Supported
Rypka: The Trailer Park is Torchy's Tacos' top-selling item
“Our first Taco of the Month was called the Trailer Park, which is our number one selling taco today all these years later.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rypka: Torchy's co-founder charged $15,000 of pumpkins to the company Amex
“Unbeknownst to me, he puts, you know, I think it was around 15,000 dollars worth of pumpkins on our business Amex card.”
Disclosure
Rypka: Used early Torchy's investment funds to avoid home foreclosure
“We took some of that money to kind of help just hadn't had a paycheck yet. Right. And so I took a little bit of that cash and just kind of like kept my house from getting foreclosed on and got Caught up a little bit on some bills.”
Disclosure
Rypka: Torchy's aims to expand into most or all 50 states
“I mean, immediately, I think we'd like to be a national brand in most, if not all, 50 states. International, that's probably above my pay grade at this point but definitely, definitely nationally we definitely want to expand more up and down the east and west …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rypka: Spent $40K in Savings Bonds on Drugs as a Teenager
“I think I went through 40,000 dollars worth of savings bonds and, you know, probably six months and crack and drugs and everything else.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rypka: Managed $10M–$15M Annual Food Operations Across 12 Cafes at Dell
“I ran all the food service over both campuses, and there was about 12 different cafes and different buildings, and we also had a huge catering department that did tons of catering. So it was a big, big job. And a lot of responsibility. I mean, I was in charge …”
Disclosure
Rypka: Took out a home loan to fund first Torchy's trailer
“I ended up taking a loan on my house and using that to help Kind of get the trailer painted and get our logo on there and buy some of the equipment.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rypka: Austin Chronicle coverage sparked 20-to-30-person weekend lines for Torchy's
“We got a big write-up in Austin Chronicle, and that really helped change things, so we were definitely on our way to, like, we were having lines, 20, 30 people long, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”
Assertion Partly supported
Rypka: Torchy's Tacos had 35 locations by 2017 investment deal
“Oh, no, we were at 35 at that point.”
Disclosure
Rypka: Torchy's always places an internal manager in new locations
“Now if we go open a new restaurant, I always make sure there's at least one internal hire that's a manager in that restaurant, versus just everyone being new from outside.”
Disclosure
Mike Rypka: Has maintained continuous sobriety for 33 years
“Yep, I still haven't had a drink in 33 years. I just celebrated this month.”
