At a time when many restaurants are closing their doors, two young Laois men have gone against the grain and are expanding.
El Fuego, a Mexican food truck business running in Dublin and Limerick, is the creation of Hugh Hackett and Fionn Kavanagh who are both 27.
Hugh is from The Heath and a past pupil of St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise, while Fionn is a Portlaoise native who attended Mountrath Community School.
Although they went to different schools, they have known each other for years and both went to the University of Limerick (UL) from 2014-2018.
“Funnily enough, neither of our degrees are related to food, nor have we ever worked as chefs although I did work in a Mexican food truck while on a J1 in San Diego, I never thought that experience would come in handy,” mused Hugh.
“The idea for the food truck came to us when we were in college in UL. I think every college student loves Mexican food.
“There was a farmers’ market on in UL every Wednesday but it lacked a Mexican food truck.
“We used to joke about how one day we would open a Mexican food business, but that joke became a reality in March last year.
“We both moved to Vancouver after college for a few years and once our visas were up, we decided to take a trip to Mexico and Central America to sample all the Mexican cuisine and beers.
“We did multiple cookery courses and got a few ideas prior to returning to Ireland and starting up the business.”
They both had a bit of money saved up to help finance the food truck.
“We also availed of a small business loan from Microfinance Ireland, with the help of Laois Enterprise and the County Council.
“We found that there really is a lot of support available from the local enterprise offices for people looking to start new businesses from loans to potential grants and online courses.” Hugh said.
They bought the trailer from another Mexican food vendor, called El Milagro, in Malahide.
“It was almost too good to be true, considering it was already being utilised as a Mexican food truck. The bulk of the work was done, we just had a few bits to complete.
“One of our very talented friends, Louise Keeley, who is also a Laois native, spray-painted and designed our food trailer. And then we were essentially ready to rock,” said Hugh.
There were a few bumps in the road but the duo didn’t let them deter them.
“At the beginning of our journey, there were a few issues. These things were sent to try us, as the saying goes. We bought a van to tow the trailer and on the van’s first outing it broke down and was written off about 5km from our house on the way to our first day at Mountainview Markets in Kilkenny.
“This was probably the biggest issue we came up against but honestly we just kind of laughed it off and kept the heads down.
“When you encounter issues like this and you are both friends it is easy to look on the bright side of things in comparison to if you started the business by yourself. There’s never really a dull moment. We’ve just become better problem solvers,” said Hugh.
“Our slogan, I suppose, is that we provide authentic Mexican food using quality Irish produce. We try our best to support local where possible and to incorporate Irish brands into our business.
“For example, we use O’Mimos hot sauces whom are based in Portarlington, and we use Blanco Nino tortilla chips, based in Clonmel.
“Our taco shells are made fresh by a Mexican couple in Dublin called Balam. This is just to name a few.
“Our menu is mainly tacos, burritos and bowls. We can cater for all allergens and dietary specifications, vegan, veggie, dairy and gluten free.
“Our most popular product is probably our beef birria tacos. I guess they are a bit niche. You can only find them in a few places around the country.”
El Fuego is currently open from Thursday to Sunday and preparation of the food is done in Laois.
“We do our prep in the kitchens in Mountmellick every Wednesday.
“Then we have the food truck open in different locations, Thursday to Sunday. We do a market at Spencer Dock, Dublin, with Irish Village Markets every Thursday from 11am-2pm We also have opened a new container at The Bernard Shaw bar ‘Eatyard’ in Dublin,” outlined Hugh.
Sometimes it’s a case of battling the Irish weather.
“I guess the nature of the business is that we are busier in summer than the winter months. There are just more opportunities in the summer months with music festivals and events.
“We are still kind of figuring out the winter as we go. We are still in our first year but there are other avenues for business such as delivery services like Uber Eats and Deliveroo which we have just signed up to in Dublin.”
Hugh lives in Dublin while Fionn is based in Limerick.
“This probably sounds a bit wild but it works because we have our new location in the Bernard Shaw in Dublin and also do the Milk Market every Saturday in Limerick,” said Hugh.
And the lads say that working together as friends has been a positive experience.
“We haven’t had any arguments yet. I think we are both relatively laid back so we don’t really stress about the small things. We are working well together, for now at least,” laughed Hugh.
“We really want to get our new location in Dublin to take off properly. It has been good so far but we are hoping to have a bigger impact coming into the summer months.
“We have done so much and we haven’t even been in business a year so I guess our plan is to just continue to progress in the same direction,” Hugh said.
“We would actually love to have a consistent spot set up in Laois on a weekly basis, but haven’t discovered any real opportunities unfortunately.
“We are gearing up for a big summer with festivals and everything else on the horizon. We’re so grateful for all the customers who have come to visit the food truck or our container in Dublin over the past few months.
“It has been a great start to our business and we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support.”
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