In Smyrna, Mexican food unites a community behind a worthwhile cause

Monica, Brenda, and Jose make tacos to serve at their makeshift restaurant in Smyrna. Photo credit: Liliana Alvarado

On a recent Friday night on a quiet street in Smyrna, diners sat in an outdoor space illuminated by fairy lights while waiting for their food to arrive. A menu board advertised homemade tamales, gorditas, and tacos while two women cooked behind a flat-top grill. The scene had all the trappings of a restaurant patio—but this was no regular restaurant. It was a makeshift taqueria that a married couple, Maria and Jose, had been operating out of their backyard for years. The couple’s eldest daughter, Brenda, stood at the entrance greeting customers.

The taqueria – Grimaldo’s Tacos – has been not just a business but a lifeline. What began as more of a casual side hustle became more serious in November 2022 after Jose, who doesn’t have health insurance, fell ill; suddenly, selling food was “a complete need for us” to pay his medical bills, Maria said. Now Jose was standing near the grill watching the action. Once the chef behind this operation, he’s no longer able to cook—but he still likes to linger around and help where he can.

Selling food to survive isn’t a new idea: A recent report from the Latinx Alliance identifies this entrepreneurial spirit as common among Latino immigrants, whose rates of self-employment are higher than those of the general working population in the state. Many independent businesses, the report notes, “began as ways to support families and meet specific community needs.”

I’ve even seen my mother do it: When we first arrived in the U.S., she brought my brother and me along as she sold homemade tamales door to door. She didn’t speak English and had no job at the time, but she knew she had kids to care for and couldn’t wait around.

Diners wait for their food at Grimaldo’s tacos. Photo credit: Liliana Alvarado

There are more than 90,000 Latino-owned businesses in the state, according to the report, and nearly half of those businesses said they had majority Latino customers. About a quarter of the businesses in Georgia are co-owned by families, higher than the average nationwide.

Wearing a hairnet and apron, Maria sat for a moment to talk about the history of her business.

Originally from Mexico, she and Jose began selling food around 2013. Jose was working in construction then, while Maria was a stay-at-home mom. When Jose got sick a decade later and had to be hospitalized multiple times, he was forced to stop working and Maria stepped in. Besides selling food, Maria also cleans houses. The couple have three daughters; while “the girls also work,” Maria said, “it is not enough to cover everything.” She and Jose “wouldn’t want to leave them with too much responsibility,” she continued—the couple wants to make sure any debt is paid off so it doesn’t weigh on them and their children.

The two women at the grill were Maria and Jose’s youngest daughter, Miriam, and Miriam’s godmother Monica. “When we first started selling food, I was young, so I couldn’t help with much,” Miriam said. “But as I got older, my dad started teaching me how to work the grill.” Given how much she’s learned from her father, Miriam said, she feels like “the son he didn’t have.” Now she was fielding multiple orders at once, grilling meat for tacos while scanning the crowd. She sometimes notices customers she hasn’t seen in years, she said, dropping by to show their support. But it was no surprise to see people come out and support considering her dad is well known by the community around them and is “very grateful to everyone for their support”.