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La Fábrica del Taco is a Mexican restaurant based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It started as a taqueria a few years ago, but given its great success, they have been opening different business lines including a bar, show business and social innovation.
Our client’s challenge was to extend the “Fábrica del Taco’s” experience out into the rest of the street where their flagship store is located.
Our main objective was to create a global vision that could recreate a non stereotypical image of Mexico abroad.
We visited the neighborhoods were the restaurants are currently located in order to understand the dynamic and the gastronomic offer of the place. We conducted several interviews with Argentineans to understand their perception of Mexico.
Based on the main concept, we developed the entire expansion business model under an umbrella brand that guided the creation process for the space and the communication strategy.
Our team designed 3 visions with different approaches. Each vision included different food stores that could recreate the entire universe and complement the experience and global message we wanted to communicate. The first vision was related to Mexican markets highlighting popular and folkloric icons. The second concept was a socio-cultural center serving as a Mexican cultural embassy and the third and chosen vision was based on a Mexican fair with a festive and colorful environment.
Mexican fairs are know by its traditional games inspired by icons, tales and folkloric characters from Mexican popular history. Besides this playful atmosphere, fairs are also known by their “easy-to-grab” snacks. Therefore, we complemented this universe with three typical food stores that are always present in a Mexican fair: a tavern, a seafood bar and a candy store.
The tavern was called “El Catrín” after the famous character of “La Lotería”, an elegant and gentlemanlike person that represents a caricatured and satirical version of the wealthy population during the times of the Mexican revolution.
The seafood bar “El Huachinango” was created in an attempt to expand the stereotypical image of Mexican food beyond tacos. One of the best known dishes in the pacific coast is the “aguachiles”, a recipe made of shrimp submerged in liquid seasoned with chili peppers, lime juice, salt, coriander, and slices of red onion.
The candy store was perhaps, the most characteristic place of a Mexican fair. The candy portfolio contains a wide scope of colors, textures, levels of spiciness and formats. The aim of our message, was to recover the happy memories of children and adults coming from the love of fair candies. Therefore, we called this store after the name of a traditional candy made with amaranth grains covered with honey: Alegrías.
In addition to the food stores, the experience was complemented by fair games, children workshops and drink gardens for the adult consumers to have a chilled drink. The integration of food and non food concepts created a holistic experience of the initial brand “La Fábrica del Taco”, which was taken to a new level through a street and live experience that went beyond the current business lines.