Why LaLa Tacos Is Built Differently
Built for Weddings, Corporate Events, and Large-Scale Catering
LaLa Tacos at a Glance
LaLa Tacos is a Southern California taco catering company built to handle everything from weddings and private celebrations to corporate events, military events, galas, and large-scale gatherings. Our operation includes 22 custom taco carts, multiple service configurations, specialized indoor equipment, and the ability to operate multiple catered events simultaneously throughout Southern California.
Wedding taco catering remains one of the most important parts of our business, but the same systems and equipment also support corporate taco catering and high-volume events with guest counts reaching up to 2,000 people. Our goal is not simply to serve great tacos. It is to operate an organized, professional catering company capable of handling complex events while still giving individual customers personal attention.
LaLa Tacos at a Glance
950+ weddings catered
22 custom taco carts
Large-scale catering for events up to 2,000 guests
Wedding, corporate, military, private-event and large-group catering
Indoor, outdoor and tableside taco catering
Multiple events served simultaneously throughout Southern California
Why LaLa Tacos Offers Complimentary Tastings
Choosing a caterer for an important event is a significant decision. For a wedding, corporate event, milestone celebration, or other large gathering, customers may be trusting a catering company with thousands of dollars and with an experience that cannot simply be done over the next day.
We have always felt there is a simple question catering companies should ask: If someone is considering spending thousands of dollars with us, why should we charge them just to find out whether they like our food?
That is one reason LaLa Tacos offers complimentary tastings for qualifying events. But over the years, our tastings have become important to us for another reason. They give us an opportunity to listen.
We Want You to Taste the Food Before Making the Decision
Photos are important. Reviews are important. Menus and pricing are important. But food is ultimately something you have to taste.
We can describe our tacos, explain our menus, show photographs from events, and tell you about the hundreds of weddings and thousands of other events we have catered. None of that replaces sitting down and tasting the food yourself.
A tasting gives you another piece of information before making your decision. We think that matters.
Tastings Also Help Us Understand Our Customers
I personally enjoy hosting many of our tastings. There is a reason for that.
If all I did was take wedding orders by telephone and email and never spent time talking with the couples choosing LaLa Tacos, I would lose one of the best opportunities I have to understand the most important segment of our business.
During tastings, I hear what couples are actually thinking about. Why are they considering taco catering for their wedding? What matters most to them? What are they worried about? Is it important that the service feels different from traditional wedding catering? Are they concerned that their guests will have enough food? Are certain family members skeptical about serving tacos at a wedding? How important is presentation? Where are they trying to stay within a budget, and where are they willing to spend more?
Those conversations have taught us a tremendous amount. Some of the decisions we make at LaLa Tacos today came from listening to customers rather than assuming we already knew what they wanted. That is something I never want the company to outgrow.
A Tasting Should Help You Decide, Not Become Another Fee
There are plenty of legitimate costs involved in operating a professional catering company. We simply decided that, for qualifying larger events, the tasting did not need to become another charge for the customer.
When someone is seriously considering LaLa Tacos for an important event, we would rather invest in giving them an opportunity to experience our food. If they love it and decide we are the right caterer, great. If they decide another option is better for their event, we respect that too.
The purpose of the tasting is to help people make a more informed decision.
Why We Have a Minimum for Complimentary Tastings
We do have a minimum anticipated catering amount to qualify for a complimentary tasting. There is a practical reason.
LaLa Tacos receives a large number of inquiries, and if every inquiry automatically included a tasting, we simply could not accommodate everyone while continuing to properly operate the rest of the business. The minimum helps us keep the program manageable.
But a minimum is a guideline. It does not mean we stop looking at people as individuals. There are times when someone is considering a smaller event or working with a more limited budget and we still invite them in.
I have always felt that, whenever reasonably possible, a bride or couple planning a smaller wedding should be able to receive the same warmth, attention, and experience as someone planning a much larger one. Some of the nicest thank-you messages we receive come from people who did not expect to be invited to a complimentary tasting because their event was smaller. That gratitude matters to us.
Sometimes You Can See More Than a Number on a Quote
One of the things you learn from meeting people face-to-face is that a catering quote never tells the entire story.
Every once in a while, I sit across from a couple and can tell that they are genuinely struggling to make their wedding budget work. Over the years, there have been occasions when I have reduced pricing substantially to help a couple. On a very small number of occasions, we have gone much further.
Those are personal decisions. They are not promotions, advertised discounts, or something someone can request by meeting certain criteria. They come from a simple belief: When a business has been good to you, you should find opportunities to be good to people too.
LaLa Tacos has been fortunate. Thousands of customers have trusted us with their celebrations. Couples have invited us into one of the most important days of their lives. Families recommend us. Venues recommend us. Customers return for another event years later.
You cannot receive that kind of support year after year and never look for opportunities to give something back.
It Also Keeps Us Accountable
Offering complimentary tastings reflects something else about how we operate. We have to be confident enough in the food we serve at events to put it in front of prospective customers before they book us. That matters.
A catering website can make a lot of promises. At a tasting, you get to form your own opinion. We would rather earn confidence that way.
Especially for Weddings
We have catered more than 950 weddings, and we understand how carefully couples evaluate the companies they trust with their wedding day.
There are venues to choose, photographers to interview, florists to consider, entertainment decisions to make, guest lists, budgets, timelines, and dozens of other details competing for attention. Food should not have to be another blind decision.
For couples considering LaLa Tacos for their wedding, a tasting is an opportunity to experience the food, ask questions, talk about their guests, and decide whether LaLa feels right for their wedding. And for us, it is another opportunity to listen.
Why We Continue Doing It
Complimentary tastings are not a promotional gimmick. They are part of a larger philosophy behind LaLa Tacos.
As the company has grown, we have tried to continue looking at the business from the customer's side of the table. Sometimes that means building technology that provides pricing faster. Sometimes it means investing in equipment that helps us serve very different types and sizes of events. Sometimes it means changing something because customers showed us there was a better way. And sometimes it is much simpler.
Sit down with people. Let them taste the tacos. Listen to what matters to them. And never become so busy that you forget who the business was built to serve.
That is why complimentary tastings remain an important part of LaLa Tacos.
What Florist.com Taught LaLa Tacos
Long before LaLa Tacos, co-owner Aron Benon built and operated Florist.com. The businesses could hardly be more different, but many of the lessons he learned there still influence how LaLa Tacos is operated today.
One of the biggest lessons was simple: do not assume you know what customers are thinking. Measure it. Test it. Learn from it.
At Florist.com, Aron would regularly review the previous day’s sales and customer behavior. Sometimes something would immediately stand out. For example, roses might have been selling particularly well, but one rose arrangement in the first position could be receiving a high number of clicks and producing very few sales. Meanwhile, another arrangement farther down the page might be converting much better.
That meant there was a puzzle to solve. Instead of changing everything at once, the approach was to test one thing at a time. Change the product name. No meaningful improvement. Change the description. Nothing. Adjust the photograph to make the arrangement more inviting. Still no meaningful change.
Then try something completely different: place a more expensive arrangement next to it so the original arrangement appeared to be a better value. That worked.
The lesson was not really about roses. It was about understanding customer behavior and being willing to keep experimenting until the reason became clearer.
Another lesson came from studying what people actually did on a webpage. Years ago, Florist.com used a service called Fireclick that allowed the company to see how often individual links on a page were being clicked. Sometimes the results were surprising. Something that seemed important internally might receive almost no attention from customers.
That led to another important question: If customers are not using it, why is it taking up valuable space?
Sometimes a link was moved farther down the page. Sometimes it was changed. Sometimes it was removed completely. That philosophy still influences how LaLa Tacos thinks about its website and quoting experience today.
Every button, paragraph, menu choice, photograph and option competes for a customer’s attention. More information is not automatically better information. Everything on a page should earn its place.
Clutter is not your friend in online sales, whether someone is shopping for flowers or looking for taco catering.
Florist.com also taught Aron the importance of search long before most local businesses were thinking seriously about SEO. A company can have an excellent product, but customers still have to find it. Understanding what people search for, how they reach a website, what they do once they arrive and what ultimately causes them to take action became part of the way Aron evaluated a business.
That thinking carries directly into LaLa Tacos. We study how customers find us. We look at where people move through our website and quoting process, where they hesitate, what they choose and where they leave. We test different ideas, including A/B testing when appropriate, and measure whether a change actually improves the customer experience or the results.
We also believe in doing the due diligence before making important decisions. An idea sounding good is not enough. Whenever possible, we want to understand the numbers, the customer behavior and the real-world results behind it.
And perhaps the most important lesson from all of it is this: Always be willing to adapt.
An idea that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Something we are convinced customers will love may turn out not to matter to them at all. A system that worked when the company was smaller may need to change as LaLa grows.
We do not believe in continuing something simply because that is the way it has always been done.
Taco catering and ecommerce flowers are very different businesses, but every business has its own puzzle. At LaLa Tacos, great food and great service will always come first. But systems, measurement, testing, SEO, careful analysis and a willingness to adapt have also played an important role in the company’s growth.
The puzzle is different. The discipline is the same.
Why We Built the LaLa Tacos Instant Quote Calculator
As LaLa Tacos grew, so did the number of wedding, corporate, private party, baby shower, and other catering inquiries we received. Celina and I eventually faced a pretty simple choice:
We could hire an army of employees to answer pricing questions, prepare quotes, send follow-up emails, and respond to the same questions over and over again, or we could use technology to make the process easier for both our customers and our team.
Before deciding what to build, I personally visited more than 100 catering websites looking for ideas. After reviewing all of them, I still had not found the kind of quoting experience I was looking for.
Most catering websites still required customers to fill out a blind contact form, send an email, or make a phone call before they could get meaningful pricing. Then they had to wait for somebody to respond, and often go through several more emails just to figure out whether the catering fit their budget.
Try our instant quote calculator here:
So I went back to something I already knew.
The E-Commerce Foundation
Long before LaLa Tacos, I built and operated Florist.com. That experience taught me a great deal about e-commerce, customer behavior, technology, logistics, and how people actually make buying decisions online.
One of those lessons was simple: Don't hire an army when technology can handle the repetitive work better. Hire a developer.
That is how the LaLa Tacos Instant Quote Calculator came to fruition.
It Is More Than a Calculator
The name makes it sound simple. It isn't. The Instant Quote Calculator does much more than multiply a menu price by the number of guests.
As a customer builds a quote, the system uses information about the event, including the occasion, event date, city, guest count, service style, and the choices made throughout the quote, to determine what information and options may be most relevant.
In many ways, it is like having one of our best salespeople available every time someone visits the website and builds a quote. A good salesperson doesn't give every customer exactly the same presentation. They listen, pay attention to what the customer wants, notice what interests them, and help guide them toward choices that make sense for that specific event.
We designed our calculator to do some of the same things.
Contextual Event Matching
If someone tells the calculator they are planning a baby shower, we can show them our custom baby shower taco carts and other choices that are relevant to that occasion.
Why make a customer search through everything LaLa Tacos offers when we already know what type of event they are planning?
That sounds simple, but it is an important part of how we designed the system.
Behavioral Logic and Relevant Incentives
The calculator can also respond to choices a customer makes while building a quote. For example, the calculator can recognize when a customer shows interest in an upgrade or additional item but ultimately decides not to include it.
In some situations, that may create an opportunity for us to present additional value or a booking incentive that is relevant to what the customer was already considering.
That is a simple example, but it illustrates the difference between a basic price calculator and the system we wanted to build.
The calculator isn't only asking: "What does this event cost?"
It can also help us think about: "What information, option, or additional value might make the decision easier for this customer?"
Unlocking Value on Slower Dates
This is another area where the calculator can act more like a salesperson than a spreadsheet. To be very clear, LaLa Tacos does not raise its prices simply because a date is busy. That is not what this system was designed to do.
The purpose is to help us recognize opportunities where we may want to give a customer a little more value. We have years of catering experience and historical information about when our business tends to be busier and when certain dates or periods may be slower.
If we know that a particular date is traditionally slower, we may decide that we are willing to offer something extra to help convert an inquiry into a booking. Maybe that means a complimentary item. Maybe it means presenting an additional incentive that we would not normally need on a Saturday when nearly every taco cart is already booked.
The customer gets additional value, and LaLa Tacos has an opportunity to turn unused capacity into another catered event. That is sales. We simply taught technology how to help us do some of it.
The Blueprint Stays Proprietary
The baby shower cart, behavioral incentives, and slower-date example are only a few examples of what the Instant Quote Calculator can do.
Today, the calculator includes many other features designed to help customers make better decisions and help LaLa Tacos turn more inquiries into bookings. And we are not finished.
We continue developing new features as we learn more about how customers plan events, compare catering options, and make purchasing decisions online. We will share more of those ideas over time.
There are also rules, decisions, and logic operating behind the scenes that we do not publish because some of what we have developed is proprietary. We are happy to explain what we built and why we built it. We do not necessarily need to publish the blueprint.
Why We Continue Improving It
The Instant Quote Calculator was never something we built once and forgot about.
We continue looking at how customers use it. What do they select? What do they remove? What questions do they have? Where does the process become easier, and where can we improve it?
We believe planning an event should be easier, and we will keep investing in technology that gives customers useful information sooner and makes the process of choosing their catering simpler.
Why We Invested in Building Our Own Customer Journey System
Due diligence has always played an important role in how LaLa Tacos owner Aron Benon approaches major business decisions. Before deciding to develop our own customer-journey and operations system, we spent considerable time studying what was already available.
We reviewed established CRM platforms, watched demonstrations, tested free versions, compared features and examined whether existing software could be adapted to the way LaLa Tacos actually operates.
There are many good systems available. Some are excellent at managing sales pipelines. Others specialize in email follow-up, customer records, reporting or task management. Many cost considerably less than developing custom software.
But after an extensive search, we kept arriving at the same conclusion: LaLa Tacos was trying to solve a different problem.
We were not simply looking for a place to store customer names and sales leads. On any given day, our office may be communicating with someone considering LaLa Tacos for the first time, a couple deciding whether to schedule a tasting, a customer requesting a Formal Quote, someone telling us they are ready to book, and existing clients making changes to events that may be only days or hours away.
Those communications should not all be treated the same way.
So rather than force our operation into software designed around a generic sales process, we decided to invest in building a system around how LaLa Tacos actually operates. We call that system LaLa Little Helper, our custom customer-journey and operations system built specifically for LaLa Tacos.
The Goal Is Better Attention, Not Simply More Automation
As a company grows, it becomes easier for customer service to become less personal. We want the opposite to happen.
Our objective is to use technology to help our team become more attentive as LaLa grows, not less. That means understanding not only who a customer is, but what they are trying to accomplish at that particular moment.
Someone gathering information is different from someone requesting a Formal Quote. Someone considering a tasting is different from someone saying: “Everything looks good. How do we book?”
And once someone becomes a customer, our responsibility does not suddenly become smaller. In many ways, it becomes greater.
Goldmine is being designed around that entire relationship, from the first inquiry through the event itself.
Not Every Message Has the Same Importance
A traditional inbox largely organizes communication according to when it arrived. Catering does not always work that way.
A general question about an event several months away can be important. But a customer saying “We are ready to book” may deserve faster attention. Someone contacting us because they need catering later that same day has an entirely different clock. And a booked customer sending a new gate code, parking instruction or event-time change for an event happening that afternoon could be more urgent still.
Goldmine is being designed to help our team recognize those differences.
Instead of asking only: What email came in next? we want to be able to answer: What needs our attention right now?
We Want to Recognize the Moments That Matter
At higher communication volume, important moments can sometimes be surprisingly easy to miss. A customer may have gone from researching caterers to being ready to place an order. Someone may need a fast answer because their event is today. Another customer may have been waiting too long for information.
Goldmine is intended to help bring those moments forward so our team has the opportunity to respond appropriately.
We also study how customers interact with our communications, including which types of follow-up help people move forward and where they tend to encounter friction. The purpose is not simply to sell more catering. It is to learn how customers make decisions so we can communicate with them more effectively and provide useful information when they actually need it.
Customer Service Does Not End When Someone Places an Order
Traditional sales software often concentrates heavily on acquiring the customer. Our operation cannot stop there.
Once someone has trusted LaLa Tacos with an event, the information we receive can become even more important. A customer may change the guest count. The event time may move. The menu may change. There may be new parking or access instructions. A gate code may change. A delivery detail may need to be updated.
Those are no longer simply sales communications. They can directly affect the execution of an event.
Our system is being designed to recognize important order communications and help keep them visible until the appropriate action has been completed.
Reading an Email Is Not the Same as Completing the Work
This became one of the most important principles behind Goldmine.
Suppose a customer changes the guest count shortly before an event. Someone can read the email. Someone can even reply: “Thank you. We received your change.” But that does not necessarily mean the work is finished.
Depending on the request, event information may need to be updated, pricing may need to be adjusted, the kitchen may need revised information and employees responsible for the event may need to know about the change.
Our goal is for important changes to remain visible until the necessary operational steps are actually completed.
We do not want to measure whether someone saw the message. We want to know whether the action behind the message was completed.
Technology Should Know When a Human Matters More
Building our own system does not mean we believe every decision should be automated. Some situations deserve human judgment.
A large event may deserve personal attention. An unusual request may need someone to think through the options. A customer who appears ready to book may benefit from direct human interaction. A complaint deserves more than an automated workflow.
And when the system cannot confidently determine what something means, we would rather have it say: “Someone needs to look at this.” than confidently make the wrong decision.
Technology can organize information, identify patterns, surface urgency and remind us when something needs attention. But hospitality is still a human business.
The purpose of Goldmine is not to replace that human interaction. It is to help make sure the moments that deserve it are easier to recognize.
Why Make the Investment?
Developing a custom system requires a significantly greater investment than subscribing to an off-the-shelf CRM. We understood that before we began.
But the objective was never to find the least expensive software. The objective was to build the right system for the operation we are creating.
That decision reflects a philosophy we have followed in other parts of LaLa Tacos as well: Study the problem carefully. Test what already exists. Understand the tradeoffs. And when the existing solution is not good enough for the operation we are building, invest in creating something better.
Goldmine is one example of that philosophy.
Our taco carts, equipment decisions, Instant Quote Calculator, quality-control procedures and other operating systems began with essentially the same question: Is there a better way to do this?
As LaLa Tacos continues to grow, we believe technology should help us answer that question while allowing us to take better care of both the people considering LaLa Tacos and the customers who have already trusted us with their events.
Why LaLa Tacos Operates 22 Custom Taco Carts
As LaLa Tacos grew, we learned that the right taco cart is not simply the one that happens to be available. It should fit the event.
A backyard celebration for 50 guests does not need the same equipment as a 300-person corporate event. A wedding inside a ballroom creates different requirements than an outdoor party on grass or gravel. And when several events are taking place at the same time across Southern California, having enough equipment matters just as much as having the right equipment.
That is why LaLa Tacos gradually built a fleet of 22 custom taco carts in different sizes and configurations. We did not start with a goal of owning 22 carts. The fleet grew because the events we were catering required it.
Matching the Cart to the Event
One of the first things we consider is guest count.
For a smaller backyard party, we may choose a compact cart that fits comfortably into the space and feels appropriate for the size of the gathering.
Large weddings, corporate events, and other high-guest-count events require something very different. Some of our larger carts are configured so several members of our team can serve guests at the same time, allowing us to create substantially more service capacity when the event requires it.
That distinction becomes important when hundreds of guests need to be served efficiently. Sometimes one larger cart is the right solution. Sometimes several carts positioned in different areas of a venue make more sense.
The goal is not to make every event work around the same piece of equipment. The goal is to choose equipment that works for the event.
The Venue Matters Too
Guest count is only part of the decision. We also consider the venue itself, available service space, guest flow, access, and the surface the cart will travel across.
A cart operating on a ballroom floor has very different requirements than one traveling across grass, gravel, pavement, or uneven outdoor areas. Even something as simple as the wheels can matter.
Our carts can be prepared with different wheel configurations depending on the conditions we expect at the venue. It is a small operational detail most guests will never notice, but those details can make a significant difference when equipment is being moved into position and service is being set up.
We would rather think about those things before the event than discover them when the cart reaches the property.
Why a Large Fleet Matters
LaLa Tacos routinely caters multiple events on the same day throughout Southern California. On a busy weekend, that can mean weddings, corporate events, private celebrations, deliveries, and other events happening simultaneously in different cities.
That changes the equipment equation completely. It is not enough to own one beautiful taco cart. You need enough equipment, in enough different configurations, to send an appropriate cart to each event while other carts are already working somewhere else.
That is one of the biggest reasons our fleet continued to grow. Twenty-two carts give our operations team flexibility. Different guest counts, venues, access conditions, service requirements, and simultaneous events can all call for different solutions.
A Working Commercial Fleet Has to Be Maintained
Owning equipment is only valuable if that equipment is ready to work.
Our taco carts are not showroom pieces. They travel throughout Southern California week after week and are used at real events. Approximately every four months, each cart goes through an inspection and tune-up.
We review the wheels, hardware, cooking equipment, overall condition, and appearance so problems can be addressed before the cart is assigned to another event. Presentation matters, but reliability matters just as much.
A cart can look beautiful and still fail the customer if it is not mechanically ready for service. That is why we think of our carts much like a commercial vehicle fleet. Equipment has to be inspected, maintained, and kept ready for the next assignment.
So Why 22 Taco Carts?
Because over time, the operation told us that was what we needed.
Different events require different capacities. Different venues require different equipment. Different surfaces create different access challenges. Indoor locations can have different operating restrictions. And multiple events happening at the same time require enough equipment to serve all of them properly.
The number 22 is not there for bragging rights. It represents years of learning what happens when a catering company grows beyond serving one event at a time.
Our philosophy is simple: We should not ask the event to fit the equipment we happen to own. We should own the equipment that allows us to fit the event.
Why We Invested in Tableside Catering and Propane-Free Indoor Taco Carts
Sometimes the best ideas in business begin with a problem you cannot stop thinking about.
One winter, we received a frantic phone call from a bride-to-be. Rain was in the forecast for her wedding. Her guests could move indoors. Her taco cart could not.
Traditional taco carts generally rely on propane, and many indoor venues prohibit propane-powered cooking equipment because of fire and safety requirements. We could certainly bring professional tents and protect our cooking area, but that did not completely solve her problem. Rain still runs off tents. Guests would still have to leave the building, walk outside, get their tacos, and return indoors.
She had planned an outdoor taco experience. Now the weather was changing the entire event. And it bothered me.
Long before LaLa Tacos, when I was building Florist.com, I learned an important lesson: When a customer has a real problem, “that is just how it works” is not a very satisfying answer. If the problem matters enough, you figure out whether there is a better way.
Then Came the Wind
Not long afterward, another event made the problem even clearer.
We were catering a wedding in the desert where high winds were expected. Because of the conditions, the taco cart had to be positioned on the opposite side of the building, well away from where the guests were seated.
That protected the cooking operation, but once again the equipment was dictating the guest experience. The weather had essentially decided where dinner would be served.
That was the moment the problem became bigger in my mind than rain. It was not really a weather problem. It was an equipment problem.
Traditional taco catering had been built around one assumption: the taco cart operates outside and the guests come to the cart. I began wondering why that assumption had to remain true.
Building a Taco Cart That Could Go Indoors
It took me months to finally sit down and work through the idea.
We designed two specialized taco carts that do not rely on propane and can give us additional options for indoor service where traditional propane-powered carts cannot be used. That solved one problem. Then it created a much bigger idea.
Customers had asked us before: "Can you bring the taco cart inside?" Others had asked whether we could serve tacos directly to their tables.
At first, those seemed like two completely different requests. They were not. Once we had equipment capable of operating differently, we began rethinking the entire traditional taco-catering model.
Why should guests always have to stand up, walk across the venue, wait at a taco cart, build their plate, and then carry everything back to the table? What if the taco experience came to them?
That Became LaLa Tacos Tableside Catering
Our Tableside Taco Catering service was designed around a very different experience. Guests remain seated. Our team brings the taco service directly through the dining room and serves guests at their tables.
There is no traditional taco-cart line.
There is no need for an entire table of guests to get up at the same time.
There is no carrying a plate across a ballroom while wearing formal clothes.
Dinner becomes part of the event instead of an interruption to it. And importantly, this is not simply preparing tacos somewhere else and having servers carry finished plates from the kitchen. We wanted to preserve what people enjoy about taco catering while creating a more elegant service model around it.
Why Tableside Service Changes the Guest Experience
Once we began developing the concept, we realized that tableside service solved far more than the original weather problem.
Guests Can Stay Together
At many weddings and formal events, dinner is one of the few times the entire table is seated together. Traditional buffet and taco-cart service immediately breaks that apart. Some guests get up. Others wait. People return at different times. With tableside service, the table can remain together and continue enjoying the event.
No Long Dinner Lines
At larger events, guest movement matters. Sending hundreds of people toward one service area can create lines, congestion, and a large wave of people moving through the venue at once. Tableside service changes that flow completely. Instead of hundreds of guests going to dinner, dinner moves through the room.
It Works Beautifully for Formal Events
Someone attending a wedding, gala, military event, or corporate dinner may be wearing a suit, formal dress, or heels. Carrying plates across a large ballroom may not be the experience the host envisioned. Tableside service allows taco catering to fit naturally into a more formal setting without losing the personality and flavor that made the couple or organization choose tacos in the first place.
Easier for Older Guests & Mobility Concerns
Not every guest wants to walk across a venue and stand in a food line. For elderly family members, guests using mobility devices, parents managing young children, and others who simply find buffet-style service inconvenient, bringing dinner to the table makes the experience considerably easier.
Weather Becomes Less Powerful
Rain, wind, cold evenings, and extreme heat can all affect an outdoor food-service plan. Indoor-capable equipment and tableside service give us additional ways to adapt when venue conditions or weather make traditional outdoor service less desirable. We cannot control the weather, but we can build an operation that has more ways to respond to it.
It Opens Different Kinds of Venues
Ballrooms, hotels, high-rises, corporate facilities, and other indoor locations can have very different equipment requirements from a backyard or outdoor wedding venue. Investing in propane-free equipment gives LaLa Tacos more flexibility when working with locations where a traditional propane-powered cart may not be appropriate. That does not mean every venue is automatically suitable for every piece of equipment—we still review the requirements of the individual location—but it simply means we have more options.
Then We Tested It at Scale
One of the clearest demonstrations came at a large event at the Pacific View Event Center at Camp Pendleton.
Why Camp Pendleton Matters to LaLa Tacos
Becoming an authorized caterer at Camp Pendleton is one of the newer chapters in the LaLa Tacos story, and it is one we are especially proud of.
We received our authorization about six months ago, but getting there involved much more than simply deciding we wanted to cater events on base.
LaLa Tacos went through an extensive approval and vetting process before we were authorized to provide catering at Camp Pendleton. Members of our team who work events on the installation also had to complete the required background screening and access process before they could enter the base for an event.
That preparation taught us very quickly that catering at Camp Pendleton is different. And we decided our approach to serving customers there should be different too.
We Built a Quote Calculator Specifically for Camp Pendleton
Once we became authorized, one of the first things we did was build a dedicated Camp Pendleton version of our Instant Quote Calculator.
Camp Pendleton is not one generic event location. Different authorized venues can have different layouts, operating requirements and service considerations. A taco cart may work beautifully at one location. Another venue may be better suited for a staffed taco bar or a different service configuration.
Instead of asking every Camp Pendleton customer to begin with a generic catering form, we built our calculator to work in conjunction with the Camp Pendleton venues we are authorized to serve.
A customer planning a wedding, retirement, promotion, military celebration, unit event or private gathering can select the appropriate venue and begin building a catering estimate around the actual event they are planning.
The goal is simple: make it easier to understand the options, pricing and type of service that may work before the customer ever has to pick up the phone.
That is the same philosophy behind much of what we build at LaLa Tacos. If we can remove unnecessary uncertainty for the customer, we should.
Every Time We Go Through the Gate, We Feel It
There is another side to catering at Camp Pendleton that has nothing to do with quote calculators, taco carts or logistics.
Every time Celina, I or members of our crew go through the gate, there is a sense of pride. You know where you are.
You see the Marines and sailors serving there. You see military families going about their lives. And when you are there to cater someone's wedding, retirement, promotion, military celebration or another important day, you understand that you have been invited into a community that means a great deal to this country.
Our employees feel that too. There is something different about loading up after one of those events and knowing who you just had the opportunity to serve.
We Want to Earn More Camp Pendleton Business
We are still relatively new to Camp Pendleton, and we make no secret about the fact that we would like to cater many more events there. But we want to earn that business.
That means learning the venues, understanding the requirements, preparing our employees properly, developing equipment and service options that work for different locations, and making it easier for military customers and their families to plan their events.
Building a dedicated Camp Pendleton Quote Calculator was part of that commitment. So was putting members of our team through the required access process.
And every event we cater there teaches us something that helps us become better at the next one.
Proud to Serve Those Who Serve
We hope LaLa Tacos becomes a familiar name for weddings, military events, retirements, promotions, family celebrations and other gatherings at Camp Pendleton.
We are also exploring special offers and complimentary enhancements for qualifying military events and active-duty service members as another way of showing our appreciation.
We know tacos are a very small thing compared with what the men and women of our military do for our country. But feeding people is what we do.
And when we get the opportunity to do it at Camp Pendleton, we are proud to be there.