Peter Gaudreau, CEO of Tacodeli, joins Zack Oates to share how a founder-led brand scales without losing the heart that made guests fall in love. Tacodeli’s recipe for success blends ingredient integrity, empowered people, and systems that extend hospitality beyond the dining room.

Keeping Founder DNA While You Grow (02:22)

Tacodeli began with chef founder Roberto Espinosa and a clear vision for quality. Growth brings change, but Peter insists the essentials stay fixed. “We doubled down on what got us here and built the tools to replicate it.”

Ingredient Integrity Is Hospitality (04:26)

Every decision—from sourcing eggs to blending salsas—shapes how guests feel. “Integrity and quality of the food are parameters we will not shift,” Peter says. Long-term vendor partnerships ensure consistency as the brand grows.

Hospitality That Travels Off-Premise (06:03)

With most meals now eaten away from the restaurant, packaging and presentation carry the brand forward. “It can’t just show up in a bag. It has to be user friendly and feel like us.”

Catering Built to Present Well (07:00)

Tacodeli’s catering program reflects that same attention to detail. “We show up with extras and make sure it’s early, accurate, and ready to serve.” That consistency earned them recognition among Austin’s top catering brands.

Empowerment and Service Recovery (12:03)

When a guest missed salsa, a manager personally delivered it after receiving their feedback through Ovation. “You can’t train for every situation, but you can empower people to do what’s right.”

Feedback That Coaches the Team (14:12)

Real-time feedback turns into coaching moments and weekly insights. “It gives us the common threads on what to fix and what to celebrate,” Peter says.

Tacodeli’s story proves that growth and authenticity can coexist. When teams are trusted, systems are strong, and food quality never wavers, hospitality reaches every guest—whether they’re dining in or unwrapping tacos at the office.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-gaudreau-0b357521/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tacodeli/

https://www.instagram.com/tacodeli/

https://www.tacodeli.com/

Transcript

00:00:00:06 – 00:00:24:00

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation, the Restaurant Guest Experience podcast. I’m your host, Zach Oates, and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five star guest experience. This podcast is powered by ovation, the feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what’s actually happening in your restaurants and exactly how to improve while driving revenue.

00:00:24:01 – 00:00:45:07

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation up.com. And today I’ve got Peter Goodrow with us. He is not only the CEO of Taco Deli, which, by the way, has the best beans I’ve ever had in my life. And I’ve never. You might have had good beans, but if you have not had taco deli beans, you have not really had good beans.

00:00:45:09 – 00:01:01:04

Zack Oates

But CEO of Taco Deli, he was former CEO of Ruby Slipper, CEO of Punchbowl Social, CEO of snooze I mean he Cheddar’s Tavistock McCormick I mean, this guy has been all over the place. Peter, how are you?

00:01:01:06 – 00:01:05:01

Peter Gaudreau

I’m doing fantastic. Zach, I appreciate you letting me hang out here. We did this morning.

00:01:05:07 – 00:01:21:22

Zack Oates

And first of all, I got to ask you, I know you spent a year over there at Cheddar’s. I gotta say that Monte Cristo that, like, is, like, unreal. That’s the first time I ever had one. Was that Cheddar’s? And I think I’m still trying to lose the weight from that meal.

00:01:21:24 – 00:01:31:14

Peter Gaudreau

Cheddar’s as, that capability for sure. Some of the busiest restaurants in the country as well, you know, in the casual dining segment. So it’s, it’s a special brand to, for for me.

00:01:31:19 – 00:01:40:00

Zack Oates

Yeah. And also, I mean, like Ruby Slipper. What an iconic brand. What was it like to take the reins over there? Ruby slipper.

00:01:40:02 – 00:02:01:13

Peter Gaudreau

Man. New Orleans just, hospitality and food and that guy. Right. And to be able to work with the founders there, and they held out of the wake of Katrina and just build something really special as a neighborhood brunch brand and has been growing across the southeast. They’re just a special brand, great food, real comfort. Biscuits are amazing.

00:02:01:17 – 00:02:22:15

Zack Oates

Well, and now you’re taking that next step in also taking something that is founder led, really infused with his spirit and energy. Taco deli. And how do you balance that strong founder presence with change and adaption into the new world?

00:02:22:17 – 00:03:05:17

Peter Gaudreau

Well, if Taco Deli’s iconic brand that grew starting 26 years ago next month from, founder led Roberto Espinosa, Mexico City born UT grad looking for some great tacos here back in 99 and really revolutionized the whole kind of breakfast taco and taco movement that’s been going on for all these years. So balancing that all the 25 plus years of experience working with the partners here, especially a chef founder, it’s some of the best work that I love to do that’s really helping them realize the potential of their brand, really keeping the core values that truly are what got them to where they are today.

00:03:05:19 – 00:03:24:05

Peter Gaudreau

And honestly, Taco Bell is all about the food, hospitality and food. Go one and one with me and Roberto has done an amazing job putting hospitality first in the way that he sources the ingredients. So through the food also comes hospitable city. I love to share a little bit more about that too, but it’s been an amazing journey.

00:03:24:05 – 00:03:44:20

Peter Gaudreau

I’ve been working with the team here for about two years and we are building the infrastructure to grow, which is not a small feat, right? To get a team ready to go out and replicate what’s been happening for 26 years. It’s a lot of hard work. And again, the goal is to be able to consistently share the brand with the communities in the neighborhood.

00:03:44:20 – 00:03:46:10

Peter Gaudreau

And we’re grown in Texas.

00:03:46:12 – 00:03:59:13

Zack Oates

And when you think about that, when you think about what the core values are that have helped you go forward, how did you separate the things that could change versus the things that were undeniable cannot shift?

00:03:59:15 – 00:04:26:03

Peter Gaudreau

Yeah, I think the DNA of Taco Deli has been built on hospitality, and coming from a chef, he’s set out to give guests the best ingredients. And I really think about hospitality and, the way that it’s been structure to Taco Deli for many years is through how they’ve made people feel, not just the hospitality and how you feel after that interaction or that experience, but actually, how does the food make you feel?

00:04:26:05 – 00:04:47:10

Peter Gaudreau

Right? That’s a big part of it, too. And Roberto has gone out and partnered with some of the best vendors, I think Vital Farms eggs right. So we a pioneer in the breakfast taco movement here in Austin that’s kind of taken the country. Roberto was one of the first to go out there and find the highest quality eggs, and it’s been hard over the past ten years to continue to maintain that quality.

00:04:47:15 – 00:05:07:04

Peter Gaudreau

But he has been unwavering in the way we’re going to do things. So if you think about the integrity and the quality of the food, those are some of the parameters that I had to put in place. Obviously, growth put strain on sourcing and otherwise, but we’ve really doubled down on our partnerships with partners like organic, pork out of New Britain from Canada.

00:05:07:04 – 00:05:24:12

Peter Gaudreau

Just amazing folks over there doing great things from Coffee Cuevas, a local roaster here and in Austin that just are growing with us and so many other farms that Roberto has been out there tasting the, helping us every season to make sure that we get the best of the best for that Donia sauce, which everybody’s got to have.

00:05:24:17 – 00:05:42:10

Peter Gaudreau

So again, leaning into what got us to where we are today and then doubling down on what needs to happen to be able to replicate that from the systems, the tools, the technology and all those things, and bringing that along with the high quality ingredients and the commitment to guest service and hospitality.

00:05:42:12 – 00:06:03:19

Zack Oates

Yeah, I love that because it’s like you have the quality ingredients. But to your point, like you’re also are out there getting quality everything, quality people, quality training, quality tech. I think that it all goes hand-in-hand and it all goes hand-in-hand to create a great guest experience. Right. And so what’s the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays?

00:06:03:21 – 00:06:23:15

Peter Gaudreau

I think it’s how you show up for your guests today. It’s more difficult. You know, almost 70% of our food gets consumed off premise, right? So how do you have those emotional connections? It’s different in today’s technology world. With delivery catering, we show up to people’s offices and cater and we’re not all there, but we’re showing up with our quality food and our packaging.

00:06:23:15 – 00:06:50:11

Peter Gaudreau

Even the little things like that, that just makes it present well. But also every opportunity to engage with our guests. We’re looking for better ways to do that through loyalty programs, through just across the point of sale, just having that moment with people and then really getting into the dining room. And for those guests that have chosen to have a margarita with us on a Saturday afternoon with their family and some tacos to make sure that they’ve got everything they need, and just leaning into that from a hospitality standpoint.

00:06:50:13 – 00:07:00:06

Zack Oates

So what point do you have specific catering packaging versus hey, here’s just like to go like do you have like a certain order volume? How do you do that with the catering packaging?

00:07:00:12 – 00:07:16:21

Peter Gaudreau

Yeah, we’ve developed and I’ll take some of the credit here. But over the past two years we’ve worked really hard on what it’s going to be from a convenience standpoint. So like it’s got to be user friendly too. Like it’s just can’t show up in a bag and have it appear on a table in some meeting, in some office somewhere.

00:07:16:23 – 00:07:32:18

Peter Gaudreau

Texas. It has to actually present. Well, it’s got to be user friendly from the sources that you need to make that taco perfect. You got to know what you’re going to get here and you understand what’s being presented. So we did a lot of work. We just got recognized here in Austin as a top catering. So that was a big win for our team.

00:07:32:20 – 00:07:54:09

Peter Gaudreau

But how do you show up for them differently with some extras? Just a little something that could make it different from, you know, just a little note from one of our team or somebody showing up there and, you know, being early and on time and, making sure they got everything they need. So just really leading into all the opportunities and channels, even third party and others that we find ways to do is just it’s so simple.

00:07:54:09 – 00:08:15:03

Peter Gaudreau

But when somebody personally checks that order to make sure that you’ve got every salsa from one of our team standpoint and make sure that it’s getting delivered to you the way we would want you to have it in our dining room. That, to me, is where it all starts to come together and hospitality starts to hit you wherever you are, whether you’re in your office getting a delivery, whether you’re having an event at the office or you come into our restaurants.

00:08:15:03 – 00:08:27:12

Peter Gaudreau

Right. So we’ve been really spending a lot of time with our management team to just double down on that as well and make sure that they’re spending enough time with the guests and making those emotional connections, which are so hard today, not so hard with convenience.

00:08:27:14 – 00:08:50:05

Zack Oates

It is. And people, a lot of times you think that, hey, they probably don’t want any come in, get their food and go, but little things go so far and data shows that it’s like just by apologizing to someone and using their name. If they had a bad experience, they actually become a guest that’s worth 24 times more than your average guest.

00:08:50:07 – 00:09:10:03

Zack Oates

And so it just creates this huge ripple effect of caring, caring about the guests and having that hospitality first mindset. And when you look at tactics, right, because there’s some good theory there on it. But in terms of tactics, what do you use to improve the guest experience?

00:09:10:05 – 00:09:30:19

Peter Gaudreau

Well, look, I think the guest experience will only ever be equal to the employee experience or the team member experience. So if we have our teams in power or if we have managers that feel like they own the business and, you know, in a taco deli, the tenure is amazing. It’s the best I’ve ever spent time with in a brand over 30 years doing this with kitchen managers.

00:09:30:19 – 00:09:58:06

Peter Gaudreau

I’ve been here for over 20 years. So when you want to talk about consistency and executing recipes, throughput and all the delivery things that give us some of the easy ovens in the whole fast casual segment was because of those people that we’ve trusted, empowered, and continue to retain, but also attract new audience because people want to work with high quality ingredients, they want to come in, they want to be cared for, and in turn, they feel empowered to care for the guests.

00:09:58:08 – 00:10:19:04

Peter Gaudreau

So that’s the perfect circle there. It’s not easy. Obviously, there’s a lot of training, there’s a lot of systems, there’s a lot of tools to help them to be able to do that, that need to happen and take place. But overall, if you get the right people and you put them in the right seat and you give them the trust to take care of the guests, that’s when hospitality guest experience really starts to click in.

00:10:19:06 – 00:10:39:03

Peter Gaudreau

And when you’re in growth mode, which is where we about to really begin, 2026 is to turn up the volume on our growth and share more neighborhoods. I love the Taco Bell here, so, but we’ve got to continue to engage with those that are coming to the party, our party, and make sure that they understand what’s got us here over the past 26 years.

00:10:39:03 – 00:10:49:06

Peter Gaudreau

So really spending the time making sure we get to know those people that are new to the brand and then spending enough time to have them understand what it takes to deliver the Taco Bell experience.

00:10:49:08 – 00:11:02:17

Zack Oates

And how do you train your staff to because obviously you can’t train them every single experience in every single way. But how do you train them? Like what are some principles that you use that help them understand? What is hospitality at Taco Deli?

00:11:02:19 – 00:11:20:13

Peter Gaudreau

Yes, it’s whatever’s right for the guests. It’s never whatever. So how do you focus on the needs of the guests and meet them where they are? Mentioned it before where they’re. If they’re going to come in quickly to grab their bag, let’s make sure we’re ready for them. From a timing standpoint, let’s get all of the things that are clicking to make sure that the food is executed perfectly and be ready.

00:11:20:18 – 00:11:42:06

Peter Gaudreau

Timeliness is important, right? It’s you know, convenience is king. And if we can’t meet them where they are there, then it won’t feel like great hospitality. So we spend a lot of time on the systems and tools that get us to be able to do that. And then when you have an opportunity to engage, whether you’re in the dining room, getting some a little extra sauce or filling up a beverage, talking about their day, take a moment.

00:11:42:06 – 00:12:03:15

Peter Gaudreau

It doesn’t happen often enough in today’s world. And then if, like an example that came out of our new Cedar Park location just last week, I didn’t get there. Salsa cause the manager manager says, no problem. I’ve got your address here. I’ll be over there in ten minutes. It’s real close by. Sorry about that. And the guest was like, wow, thank you so much.

00:12:03:15 – 00:12:08:06

Peter Gaudreau

That doesn’t happen enough anymore. So you can’t quite put that into a training.

00:12:08:07 – 00:12:12:06

Zack Oates

But they literally called the store to like, say, I can get my salsa.

00:12:12:12 – 00:12:13:15

Peter Gaudreau

And we drove it over there.

00:12:13:17 – 00:12:29:08

Zack Oates

Wow. See that’s amazing. And when you’re able to train your staff that that’s okay to do that, you’re not going to get in trouble if you do something like that. Because I think there’s a lot of times where people are like, oh, I don’t know, can I do that? Can I know that? How long has that manager been with you?

00:12:29:10 – 00:12:48:15

Peter Gaudreau

We were able to bring her from another restaurant. She’s been with us over a few years. So, you know, of course, seating in the restaurant is really important. And then she can bring in people that come from that neighborhood and community that will work for us and train them up. But we’ve got all the training tools and systems that we need, and those things help us be able to do things like that.

00:12:48:15 – 00:13:10:15

Peter Gaudreau

If everything’s clicking, then hospitality should flow freely and does. If we do work the plan, that’s how we think about the training side of it. But it’s really empowering the managers using some of the ten year right, lots of tenure on the team, bringing them along to make sure that we execute to the recipes and get up to speed quickly, especially during the new restaurant opening.

00:13:10:17 – 00:13:34:17

Zack Oates

That’s just a secret ingredient that is so hard to replicate tenure because there’s just so many efficiencies that come with that. And consistency builds trust. Trust and loyalty is not the 10th punch on a card, right? Loyalty is about the consistency and knowing that when I go to Taco Deli, I’m going to get the same thing cooked the way that I like it each time.

00:13:34:17 – 00:13:56:10

Zack Oates

And I’ll be greeted with a hello. And like, you know, like having that feeling of knowing what I’m walking into. It’s the same reason as adults, we’re not that much different than kids. My kids have watched the K-pop Demon Hunters probably 50 times now because they like the consistency, they like knowing what’s going to happen, and they’re excited to it because they know how their next hour and a half is going to be spent.

00:13:56:13 – 00:14:12:16

Zack Oates

So do with a meal. As adults, we like knowing what we’re going to get when we go there, and when something doesn’t meet our expectations, we lose trust. And that consistency is ease. I love that one selfish question. Period. Loved it. I’d love to know. How has it been helpful for you?

00:14:12:18 – 00:14:30:14

Peter Gaudreau

Like, I think the managers love it. They’re engaging with their guests in the moment. And the reason we were able to go over there, I think I said call, but they actually put in an ovation with you and she and she had it in her pocket and she got on the line with them and then talked to them on the line afterwards after getting that.

00:14:30:14 – 00:14:48:15

Peter Gaudreau

But I think what it’s from a 10 or 30,000ft look, it gives you the common threads of what’s happening in the business and what you should be spending your attention on. Right? Guests are giving this freely. Those are the ones that are passionate about the brands, and we’re seeing it in the communities, especially when we open a new restaurant.

00:14:48:15 – 00:15:10:23

Peter Gaudreau

The guests that know us are happy to freely give us feedback. That’s very constructive. There’s a top five that the team is talking about every week that they’re seeing in their restaurant with their team. So you want to talk training and coaching and what you can do in the moment. It’s live. So we love that aspect. And we love that the managers are freely engaging.

00:15:11:00 – 00:15:27:06

Peter Gaudreau

And I get to see what it is we should be working on from a global standpoint to make sure that we can deliver that promise we just talked about. Right. So it’s been great. I think the guests love it too. I think after we do have a high level of frequency, after 3 or 4 times, people go, okay, I’m good.

00:15:27:10 – 00:15:41:09

Peter Gaudreau

Yeah, I’ll talk to the manager next time, but thanks for asking, you know, but it’s it’s been amazing the feedback that we’ve gotten. And I can tell you the managers love it. It’s one of our topics today at our GM series. We have our GM’s together later today. And we’re going to be talking about some of their things.

00:15:41:09 – 00:15:50:01

Peter Gaudreau

So you’re helping us shape what fourth quarter is going to look like for the balance of the year. And into 2026. So we appreciate it so much.

00:15:50:03 – 00:16:06:11

Zack Oates

Know and I appreciate it. And as I often say it’s like ovation is a tool. But it takes people like you and your team that actually care enough to use it. And so just kudos to you and the team. And it’s amazing to see the feedback and the love that people have for you guys in the back end system.

00:16:06:11 – 00:16:16:20

Zack Oates

So that’s fun to see. Well, Peter, you’ve had such an amazing career. You know so many people. Who is someone in the restaurant industry that deserves an ovation, who’s someone that we should be following?

00:16:16:22 – 00:16:39:12

Peter Gaudreau

So many. We’ve mentioned Ruby Slipper earlier. So we’ll talk about Elizabeth McGee real quickly. She’s the CEO over there. She’s done a fantastic job over the past few years leading that team over there through growth, delivering on that experience. And if there’s a person out there, I’d say that understands that the guest experience will never, weigh the employee experience.

00:16:39:12 – 00:16:56:21

Peter Gaudreau

It’s Elizabeth, because she knows what it takes to really develop a team, not just from the leadership team standpoint, but all the way down to the team that’s out there taking care of the guest every day. So she definitely a ruby slipper. And Ruby Sunshine is doing amazing things out of New Orleans, and I’m excited watching their growth again.

00:16:56:21 – 00:17:05:05

Peter Gaudreau

One of my sweetheart brands there that I had a chance to work with over the years. And there’s there’s some great things coming out of the Ruby Slipper community over there. Yeah.

00:17:05:05 – 00:17:19:18

Zack Oates

And again, what a cool brand to be a part of and just doing some amazing things in such a fun city. And the things they’ve overcome obviously just awesome. So very cool. Thank you. And how can people find and follow you and Taco Deli.

00:17:19:20 – 00:17:39:20

Peter Gaudreau

Taco Deli where you’re based in Austin throughout Texas so you can find us on all the social channels? Of course, Taco deli.com will be, where you want to get your catering order placed and all that good stuff. But the nice thing about what we’ve been able to do over the past 25 years, 26 years now, is to show up where our guests are.

00:17:40:00 – 00:18:13:03

Peter Gaudreau

And there’s some really unique opportunities about Taco Deli that I haven’t experienced in my years working in the industry that, for example, we partner with up to 100 coffee shops throughout Texas that don’t have food service. So we actually drop our our hot tacos off to every morning. So we show up where people are. We’re also we have this award winning salsa that came from a contest that Roberto started maybe 20 years ago with one of his team members, and they all came in with their best salsa and the Salsa Dona award winning across the country.

00:18:13:03 – 00:18:34:07

Peter Gaudreau

Now in Whole Foods, we just show up where people are and we’re in events. We’re got tacos at the Dallas Marathon. We were, Austin City Limits the past couple of weekends, but we try to meet all of our guests where they are and show up for them. That’s truly what Taco Deli’s all about. As it relates to how do you get to know is better?

00:18:34:09 – 00:19:00:00

Zack Oates

Awesome. Again, I appreciate you hosting us while we were in town, especially during ACL. I know that’s pretty crazy, so but it was amazing. It was great to hear the stories and to taste the food. So get yourself to a taco deli if you were within a 500 mile radius of one. But Peter, today for reminding us that the secret ingredients to quality hospitality is quality ingredients and most importantly, people, today’s ovation goes to you.

00:19:00:00 – 00:19:02:01

Zack Oates

Thank you for joining us and giving ovation.

00:19:02:03 – 00:19:04:17

Peter Gaudreau

Thanks, Zach. We appreciate it.

00:19:04:19 – 00:19:27:06

Zack Oates

Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen. We’re all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by ovation, a two question, SMS based, actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you’d like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovation up.com.