Excerpt from The Harbinger - October 7, 2021
Words by Cesca Stamati

Standing at the front of class with a key lime in hand, 2007 East alum Brian Goldman listed the primary qualities of the green citrus: its sweet taste, the authentic Latin-American vibe and the tropical ambience. He drew giggles from his classmates with his made-up slogan:

“You get more juice out of a key lime than a regular lime.”

Was that even true? Goldman didn’t know. He improvised this entire speech for teacher Mercedes Rasmussen’s Marketing Principles class and had grabbed a key lime from his kitchen that morning when he remembered he had a presentation. To sell his product, he poured each student a small portion of homemade “limonada” whipped up at the last minute.

The assignment was to pitch something — anything — to the class and sell it within three minutes. Other students brought items like hair straighteners, smoothies and paper over the years, according to Rasmussen. Goldman’s mom had been buying bags of key limes for her cooking lately, so he grabbed one and went with it. 

Goldman wasn’t planning on pitching any more key limes in his life, but he believes these marketing skills helped him first pitch the idea for Taco Naco — a Mexican taco restaurant opened on Feb. 21, 2021 in Overland Park by him and his wife, Fernanda Reyes. 

But it all started at East.

“He was one of those [students] you remember forever,” Rasmussen said. “He was just so incredibly self-motivated. He took what I talked about and then went the step further because he could see his future. He had goals for himself already.”

Goldman first learned about the business world during his two years of marketing classes and participation in DECA throughout high school. He continued in college, studying Marketing Management at Syracuse University in upstate New York, and then got his master’s in real estate at UMKC. Now, he uses his background in business to market Taco Naco and manage a small graphic design company called Captiva Media.

Goldman and Reyes dreamed of opening Taco Naco on a notes list of business ideas while he was in graduate school, but didn’t consider following through with it until Goldman was assigned a final project for his Project Management elective at UMKC. While the assignment was small and only required students to plan a possible business, Goldman wanted to get something out of it that he could use in the future. He designed the restaurant’s website, bought equipment and asked Reyes to write him a menu.

When creating the concept for Taco Naco with Reyes, Goldman used a SWOT analysis — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats — which he learned first in Marketing Principles to decide the internal and external factors that could impact his business.

The detailed SWOT analysis drilled into his head since high school helped Goldman create his 50-page business plan for Taco Naco. When it came to making decisions about the economic side of opening a restaurant, he used the ideas he initially learned in AP Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

“[Microeconomics and Macroeconomics] helped a lot in making decisions,” Goldman said. “I wouldn’t have had the confidence on opening if it wasn’t for those basic understandings, especially during the pandemic.”

One of the greatest risks posed to Taco Naco’s future was their decision to open the restaurant in the thick of the pandemic. Prior to opening a permanent location, Taco Naco was a small catering business and pop-up “Taqueria” at the Overland Park Farmers Market and various taco festivals. Reyes and Goldman had been receiving positive feedback from customers, and finally made the jump to a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Goldman knew the restaurant business was risky — that’s why he never planned to be a part of it, despite dreams of opening a restaurant as a high schooler. He knew he wanted to be in the business world, but imagined becoming a real estate agent like his dad. He was discouraged early on by his poor score on the DECA food service exam which gave him little hope to begin with.

But plans changed when he met his wife, Reyes, in 2014. As a medalist in multiple international culinary competitions, Reyes had been learning recipes since she was 10 years old from her mom, who owned a family restaurant in Mexico. She dreamed of changing the idea of traditional Mexican food in also make in Kansas City, Mo. and it wasn’t long before she and Goldman came up with the concept for Taco Naco.

Reyes wanted a small, steady catering company, and wasn’t interested in the social media and branding aspect of Taco Naco. She simply wanted to cook. While she’s the chef and culinary designer, Goldman deals with the concept design, between decorating the restaurant, bringing in new menu items and creating a “Taco Tuesday” special to attract customers. The restaurant is a combination of both their efforts using their skillsets.

Taco Naco still hasn’t reached Goldman’s original concept — an expanded kitchen and more menu items — and they’re still waiting on merchandise to come for the restaurant staff. They never had a grand opening, but are hoping to celebrate on Taco Naco’s one-year anniversary with an outdoor party in the parking lot and food specials, if COVID allows.

“We’re very proud of Taco Naco so the quality always needs to [stay] the same,” Goldman said. “We’re never going to cut the quality of our food like other restaurants do. It’s always going to be the best. In that sense, it’ll never be this massive franchise kind of thing.”

If you walk into Taco Naco now, you’ll see walls decorated with Reyes’ handmade Mexican dream catchers — called Ojos de Dios — and a mini-market of homemade dry goods and various Mexican knicknacks found by Goldman that are for sale. Sitting on one of the market’s shelves are several crates of green limes — a reminder of where it all started.