HOTLINE — Celebrating our 25th Birthday

Wow, how can a quarter century have passed since we started el Restaurante magazine? We have several exciting things planned for our year-long celebration (stay tuned for details!), but in this issue we want to recognize the consistent support of our advertisers. Every one of them has contributed in some way to el Restaurante’s success, and in turn, the success of the Mexican/ Latin restaurant community.

This goes to Texican Specialty Products, Inc. This company, which makes tortilla chip serving cabinets, has consistently advertised with us since our very first issue! We are truly grateful for their 25 years of support!

The list of advertisers below is not comprehensive, but it does include those companies that have consistently supported the magazine since its founding in 1997. The year after the company name is the year the company first advertised.

Texican Specialty Products, Inc. ....... 1997 V & V Supremo Foods, Inc. ................ 1997 BE&SCO Manufacturing, Inc.............. 1998 C.T. Beavers Co................................. 1998 Aztecas Design Inc. .......................... 1999 HS Inc. ............................................ 1999 Land O Lakes ................................... 1999 Robot Coupe USA Inc........................ 2000 X-Press Manufacturing..................... 2000 Culinary Software Services/ChefTec .. 2001 Escalon Premier Brands/ Mama Linda.................................... 2001 PanSaver......................................... 2001 Best Mexican Foods ......................... 2002 Lodge Manufacturing ...................... 2002 MIC Food ........................................ 2002 Neil Jones Food Company ................. 2002 Bridgford Foods Corp........................ 2004 Somerset Industries Inc.................... 2004 Dutchess Bakers Machinery Co.......... 2007 Gran Gala, Gemini Spirits & Wine Co.. 2009 Tomlinson Industries ....................... 2009 La Perla Spice Co.............................. 2013 Sysco .............................................. 2013 Comstock-Castle Stove Co................. 2014 Folcklor Latino................................. 2014 Lacandona Furniture........................ 2014 Novamex......................................... 2014 Worldwide Beverage Imports, LLC. ... 2014 21 Missions Agave/KBWest Inc.......... 2016 Grecian Delight................................ 2016 Megas Yeeros................................... 2016 Menu Masters.................................. 2016 NatureSeal ...................................... 2016 American Eagle Food Machinery ....... 2017 Cabelleros ....................................... 2017 iTi Tropicals ..................................... 2017 MegaMex Foods............................... 2017 Optimal Automatics......................... 2017 Red Gold, Inc ................................... 2017 Superior Food Machinery ................. 2017 Teasdale.......................................... 2017 Ardent Mills .................................... 2018 California Milk Advisory Board.......... 2018 Casa Madero.................................... 2018 Grandeza Spirits .............................. 2018 Mayson Food Products ..................... 2018 Rovey Seed Company, Inc. ................ 2018 Tortilla Masters ............................... 2018 Chile Guy......................................... 2019 Fetzer Wines.................................... 2019 Grain Craft ...................................... 2019 Natura’s Foods of California .............. 2019 Tito’s Vodka ..................................... 2019 Clarkson Grain ................................. 2020 Vilore.............................................. 2020 Energy Solutions ............................. 2021 Gordo’s............................................ 2021 Performance Food Group.................. 2021 Simplot........................................... 2021

Mexican cuisine appears headed for great year if predictions from Flavor & The Menu’s new Top 10 Trends edition come true. In fact, seven trends on the magazine’s Top Ten list are applicable to Mexican/ Latin restaurants. Consider how to incorporate each of those trends, as described by Flavor & The Menu below. • Next-Level Charcuterie: Energized by social media, charcuterie boards began their resurgence as the ultimate shareable.

• Spanish Bocadillos: Spain’s simple, rustic bocadillo is finding a home on American menus. • Tropical Flavors: With mood-boosting colors, vibrant ingredients and an island-escape sensibility, the flavors of the tropics offer escapism and joy. • Mexican Comfort: Next-level tweaks of craveworthy dishes like quesadillas, taquitos and birria provide safe adventure wrapped in homey comfort.

• Plant-based Seafood: Plant-based seafood is starting to make waves on menus, as innovative suppliers introduce alternative products to foodservice.

• Savory Hand Pies: Concepts specializing in hand pies have revved up the engines of innovation around items like empanadas. • Bananas: Menu developers can peel back the layers of possibility found in the humble banana: dialing up its tropical tones...or exploring eclectic mash-ups.

What’s driving the projected surge in the popularity of those items this year?

“This year’s collection of Top 10 Trends signals a shift, whereby younger consumers are indeed in the driver’s seat when it comes to food and beverage trend inspirations,” Cathy Nash Holley, Flavor & The Menu’s publisher/editor-in-chief, explained in a news release about the report. “Our research has proven that social media has advanced to a point at which restaurant trends are becoming inspired by consumer behavior.”

The takeaway: Watch popular social media channels to see what your customers are sharing about the foods and drinks they’re making at home and consuming at their favorite restaurants for ideas to add to your menu. In it’s 2022 State of the Restaurant Report, released February 1, the National Restaurant Association predicted that while the industry is on a path to recovery, the year “remains a year of transition.”

“The restaurant and foodservice industry has adapted and is carrying on with absolute resilience, so we’re optimistic about the path toward recovery in the coming year,” said Marvin Irby, interim president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, in a press release about the report.

The report covers everything from projected industry sales to technology to trends in menu optimization and sustainability. Below are some key findings that show how the restaurant industry is expected to fare: • The industry is forecast to reach $898 billion in sales, with the workforce projected to grow by 400,000 jobs, for total industry employment of 14.9 million by year’s end. • Food, labor, and occupancy costs are expected to remain elevated, and continue to impact profit margins. • Ninety-six percent of operators experienced supply delays or shortages of key food or beverage items in 2021 — and these challenges will likely continue in 2022. • More than eight in 10 operators say

technology provides a competitive advantage, especially in off-premise dining. Many plan to invest in online or app ordering, reservations, mobile payment, or delivery management, in addition to back-of-the-house technology. • Roughly 50 percent of operators expect recruiting and retaining employees to be their top challenge in 2022. • Sustainable, quality- and temperature-retaining packaging options will reign in 2022. • Scaled back menus will be the norm.

Six in 10 full-service operators say their menu contains fewer offerings now than it did before the pandemic. •

“While recovery speed varies across the industry by segment, the constant innovation and sustained flexibility of restaurant operators are creating a new future for the restaurant industry,” Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and

Knowledge Group at the National

Restaurant Association, said in a news release about the report. “There will continue to be ample opportunities for growth in 2022 and beyond.” › To download the 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry Report, visit restaurant.org.

El Charro Café Ventana

The original restaurant

Monica Flin

ARIZONA. The iconic Mexican restaurant — the country’s oldest Mexican restaurant in continuous operation by the same family — is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

Here at el Restaurante, we’ve been following El Charro since 1997, the year the magazine debuted: We featured the restaurant on its 75th birthday in our July/ August 1997 issue.

Some things have remained hallmarks of the restaurant that Monica Flin founded in 1922.

Then a one-woman operation (at a time when it was rare for women to work!), the restaurant still has a female at the helm: Flin’s great grandniece, Carlotta Flores, who runs the business and has had help along the way from family members including husband Ray Flores, Sr.; daughter Candace Flores Castillo; and sons Marques and Ray, Jr., the latter now president of parent company Flores Concepts.

Hand-crafted recipes based on Sonoran and local ingredients remain El Charro’s calling card. The chimichanga is one of them. It is, after all, Flin’s invention. As legend has it, it was born when Flin started to utter a Spanish cuss word starting with “Ch” after accidentally dropping a burro into the frying pan, but changed her utterance to “chimichanga” (the equivalent of “thingamajig”) because her young nieces and nephews were present.

Much, however, has changed in the decades since El Charro began. Expansion, for example, has made it impossible for one person to go it alone.

Today, Flores not only heads the flagship El Charro Café but also is chef/owner of Flores Concepts, which includes three El Charros plus Charro Steak & del Rey, Charrovida, Barrio Charro, Pub 1922, Carlotta’s Kitchen, Sir Veza’s, and The Monica (coming soon to downtown Tucson). She also teamed with bread maker Don Guerra in 2021 to open Barrio Charro, a grab-and-go restaurant featuring signature “tortamano” sandwiches made with Azteca bread. And there’s the company’s Tamale of the Month Club that launched in 2020, too.

And business isn’t only about the bottom line.

As company information says, “Enhancing lives is part of our company purpose; giving back to each of our communities is basic to our way of thinking.”

Congratulations, El Charro — here’s to continued success for a century more!