After leaving his job with financial-software provider Intuit earlier this year, Todd Martin decided to pursue his passion for food and open a restaurant.
Martin, 50, was a director of technical support at Intuit, and meeting with the CEO and regional vice presidents helped hone his business skills, he said. He'd been thinking about getting into the restaurant business for about 15 years, he said.
He was wondering where to start when he saw a tamale cookbook right in front of him. Now, he plans to open the Tucson Tamale Co. at 2545 E. Broadway, near Tucson Boulevard. He hopes to be dishing out tamales on Oct. 27, he said.
He and his wife, Sheri, 44, saved money for years to self-finance the company. Martin said his wife also works for Intuit and she'll stick with the job at least until the business gets off the ground.
People are also reading…
Why did you decide to start a new business now, given the tough economic times?
It's my fundamental belief about any business that if you have a great product and great service, you're going to be OK. You do also have to manage the back-end, in terms of finances and the nuts and bolts of a business.
One of the advantages of starting a business right now is the responsiveness of people doing work for you. Today the folks who are helping me have plenty of work, but it's all just-in-time work.
The other big advantage in starting a business during these times is you have less competition. In good times, there's more businesses opening up.
People aren't eating out as much and people aren't spending as much, but we're not a high-end product.
Why would someone buy tamales from you?
We're going to have over 20 to 30 different kinds of tamales. One of the reasons I started this business is I love tamales, but when you go out you have two choices: You get a red chile beef or green corn tamale. ... If you want something different, if you want something that's just going to blow your socks off, you're going to come here.
What's the menu going to look like?
We'll have about eight to 12 different ones available on the permanent menu and seasonal specials and weekly specials.
The other thing we do different is, every tamale is paired with a special sauce or salsa.