Cooking runs in the blood for Jason Phillips. His grandmother and father both worked as chefs. Phillips, who grew up in Northern Virginia, said his first venture into cooking was when his parents got him involved in a chili cook-off when he was a kid.
“Back then, I didn’t know how to cook for flavor, I was just trying to make it hot,” Phillips laughed.
As an adult, Phillips built a career as an entertainment rigger. For ten years, he traveled around the country building theaters before working full time setting up events for Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center at National Harbor. All along, Phillips knew he wanted to own his own restaurant before turning 50 and saved money from each paycheck toward that goal. He formed his LLC in 2019 with plans to move forward.
Then COVID-19 upended his life. While the global pandemic has been tough for everyone, it hit those in the hospitality and entertainment industries particularly hard and many people, including Phillips, lost their jobs.
“The first couple months of the pandemic I was literally glued to my recliner just freaking out, I had no idea what I was going to do. I thought I had lost all of my momentum,” Phillips explained. After the initial shock, Phillips began to think of ways to bounce back and make his dream a reality. Because of the CARES Act, Phillips was able to pull money from his 401k, but it wasn't quite enough to purchase a food truck and start up the business.
After difficulty obtaining a small business loan and lack of response from local food trailer companies, Phillips thought he had hit another wall.
At the encouragement of his friends, he started a GoFundMe page to raise the last bit of money he needed. In one weekend, he raised $2,500 and raised $4,500 in total.
At that point, everything started to fall into place for Phillips. He was able to purchase a truck he had been eyeing for a while that was just reduced in price. He got the all clear from the health department and was ready for business.
When asked why he chose tacos for his food truck, Phillips said that Mexican food has been one of his favorites for a long time. His parents were friends with the owner of a local Mexican chain called Anita’s, and Phillips even worked there for a while. “I thought for a truck, tacos should be fairly simple to do, and easy to stay focused on and you can do so much with [them],” said Phillips.
The name of his new food truck, Tacos Mixto, translates to mixed-up tacos. He specializes in both traditional and more creative, fusion styles best represented by his Chicken Florentine tacos. Many of Phillips’ friends are vegan or vegetarian so it is important for him to have options for everybody on his menu. His black bean and chorizo soup is made with Field Roast Vegan Chorizo. Portobello mushrooms can be substituted for meat in many of his other dishes. Even the competition chili from Phillips’ childhood made the menu, although he promises it’s much tastier and less hot than the original.
Phillips had a graphic designer create his logo which is a stylized version of the Mayan ouroboros symbol. “it is a symbol of regeneration, rebirth and adapting to change and I was like wow, this really embodies everything that I’m doing right now,” Phillips explained.
In the long run, Phillips hopes that the truck will be the first step on the way to opening his own restaurant someday.
Phillips has been blown away by the tremendous support that Tacos Mixto has received from the community. Phillips has already booked appearances at NOVA BMX in Woodbridge and Horgan Court in Kingtowne, among others. Despite the challenges that this year brought for Phillips and so many people, through his own determination and generosity from friends and strangers, he has been able to achieve a long-time dream. “You are the news we need right now” one of his friends said to him recently, and if the response he has received from the community is any indication, that is certainly true.
Check out the Tacos Mixto menu and find out where the truck will be by visiting tacosmixto.com or following them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
