CHARLOTTE, NC (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – If you stop by the Charlotte Premium Outlets on a Saturday or Sunday, you’ll usually spot a line outside of a popular food truck there, Tacos Jalisco Style. The food truck serving up authentic Mexican cuisine is a great place to grab a bite, but to the woman who owns it, it also represents something deeper… a realization of her dreams.
Owner, Adriana Sanchez, first came to the United States in 2000 from Guadalajara, Jalisco, leaving a life of poverty behind.
“Sometimes we had nothing for Christmas…not even food. You were blessed if you had food at your table on Christmas Eve,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez would go on to start a family here but would return to Mexico in 2008 as the nation faced a recession. However, she would come back to the states just a year later, having to start the immigration process all over again. Then, after her second marriage didn’t work out, Sanchez decided to gamble on herself to help out her family, deciding to open up a food truck in 2020. That gamble paid off, with Tacos Jalisco style becoming a huge hit.
“I promised my mom I was going to buy her a house and I did,” Sanchez said. “So I’m proud to say that I did what I said I was going to do when I came here.”
The secret, she says, has been keeping it authentic and cooking the food with love.
“I don’t want just money to make money. I wanted to really taste the flavors that I grew up with,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said the work has been tough, but her four children have been her inspiration to keep pushing.
“I already told them on my wall it has to be their degrees. I don’t have a degree and I know how much struggle (I went through), and I don’t want them to go through the same thing,” Sanchez said.
In addition to the food truck, Sanchez has also started working with her brother doing home cleaning. That effort has inspired her 16-year-old daughter, Evie Medina, who works on the food truck to chase her dreams as well.
“Seeing that she’s actually done those things makes me really proud of her and shows me that dreams to come true,” Medina said.
But that’s the thing about dreams. Once you realize them, that opens up the door to dream even bigger. Something Sanchez is already doing.
“It feels good, it feels satisfying … but I’m not finished yet, I’m not done. There’s more coming up,” Sanchez said.
Speaking of things coming up, Sanchez is set to officially become a US citizen in 2023 and that’s when she’ll be able to return to Mexico to visit her mom who she hasn’t seen since the last time she left Mexico.
If you’d like to try out Tacos Jalisco Style is located at 5404 New Fashion Way, Charlotte, NC 28278 at the Charlotte Premium Outlets. They’re open 11 am-7 pm on Saturdays and 12-7 pm on Sundays.
