- 5/18/2025
Frank Neri is a chef and founder of El Primo Red Tacos, known for bold flavor and Birria mastery. After closing his first restaurant just before Michelin came calling, he doubled down on simplicity and focus.
Watch now to learn how a trip to Tijuana changed his view on flavor, a WhatsApp group kept him in the game, and doing one thing well became his recipe for success.
Watch now to learn how a trip to Tijuana changed his view on flavor, a WhatsApp group kept him in the game, and doing one thing well became his recipe for success.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We announced the closing one week before on one, let's say I announced the closing on a Monday.
00:05On Wednesday, I get an email from the Michelin guy.
00:07Come on.
00:07Guy asking for photos and a brief description and chef and all that information.
00:11We got media all over us.
00:13I mean, the PR guys were like, everybody was trying to get, so what happened?
00:16So they made a story of how we closed.
00:18I'm like, yeah.
00:18And the Michelin guy sent us an email like, are you guys going to reopen?
00:21What's the deal?
00:21I'm like, yeah, we're looking for another location.
00:22So it didn't really happen again.
00:24But that was my baby.
00:25That was the whole idea why I tried.
00:26I got into this industry.
00:30Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur.
00:36I'm your host, Sean Walchef.
00:37This is a Cali BBQ Media production.
00:40We are recording at my favorite studio on Earth.
00:45Why?
00:46Because we're at El Primo Tacos, downtown Miami, with the owner, proprietor, Frank Neary, Baja Restaurant Group.
00:56What's up?
00:56Thanks for having us.
00:58Thank you for inviting me.
01:00I'm thrilled to be part of this.
01:02We're really excited.
01:03We started this show.
01:04Shout out to Toast, our primary technology partner, for giving us the stage, sponsoring the show,
01:09giving us the opportunity to tell stories.
01:12We are inside of the origin story of this restaurant, this restaurant group.
01:18We're going to get into the story in life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator economy.
01:26We learn through lessons and stories.
01:28Frank, lay down the origin story of El Primo Tacos.
01:31Well, El Primo started as a pandemic pivot, 2020.
01:36When things got rough, we got forced to do delivery and takeout only.
01:42Yeah.
01:43We had the birria recipe that we had for years, that we would do it for brunch at PES, the restaurant we closed.
01:49So we said, let's just start doing birria because it was trending at that point.
01:53I believe Teddy in LA was doing that.
01:58He got the Super Bowl ad.
01:59So we said, you know what?
02:00Let's just push it out.
02:01And we did.
02:03We did at the big restaurant as a pop-up, doing it 20 hours a week.
02:06We had lines around the block, people waiting an hour or so for birria tacos.
02:10And it was a hit.
02:12It was a hit.
02:12And then start signing leases and trying to open up shops for it.
02:16And tell us about this location specifically, downtown Miami.
02:19Downtown Miami.
02:20We love the area.
02:21This is where we got everything started.
02:23I used to live here many years ago.
02:26It's an up and coming area.
02:28Well, it's been being developed for the past 10 plus years.
02:31Low and slow.
02:32Yeah, exactly.
02:33Yeah.
02:33At whatever rate the owners decide it's going to happen.
02:36So here we are.
02:39We've seen rough times here.
02:40Once we opened this location in 2022, we had the streets closed.
02:43It recently opened.
02:44So we're getting a better crowd, late night crowd now, because we have our own bar.
02:48There's clubs nearby and it's doing way better and good.
02:53So we just signed a lease for another location.
02:55We tried to do this in New York.
02:57Didn't really work out.
02:58And here we are staying local and growing strong and steady.
03:02Bring me back to your thought when you fell in love with culinary arts.
03:06Well, this was back in, well, going back, I'm going to disclose my age here by saying that.
03:11So 06, graduating college, me and my best friend, we always wanted to be in the restaurant business.
03:18We're business guys.
03:20So I was working in banking, private banking, wealth management back then.
03:24And we're like, we want to open a restaurant.
03:26So we went to see a consultant.
03:29He had access to capital, me, not so much.
03:31And he's like, yeah, you can open a restaurant if you don't know what you're doing.
03:36Yeah.
03:36My sister went to Johnson and Wales for hotel management.
03:40And she's like, yeah, I just do a little program.
03:42So Le Cordon Bleu, they were here in the U.S. at that point.
03:45So I went in already my bachelor.
03:47So I went in for a two year program, did my thing, learned everything because I wasn't able to tell someone how to chop an onion if I didn't know how to do it.
03:53Yeah.
03:54I like cooking, but not at that level.
03:55So I did that, did my, finished the school, did my internship, went to Spain, went to France, all over.
04:03And then back, worked in the family business for a little bit, put some money together, met my wife.
04:09And we started doing the, well, our first restaurant, which was Pes, which was a Baja Stout seafood restaurant.
04:16Okay.
04:18That went for a little bit.
04:19Unfortunately, we had to shut it down last year.
04:21Yeah.
04:23But based on, because of that place, that's where I got everything going.
04:26I mean, we started doing, before Pes, we started this during the pandemic.
04:32My neighbor next door to Pes, he was a Shawarma or yeah, Middle Eastern restaurants.
04:38They close.
04:39I have this thing that if nobody does, like in my city, we were, we were really big fans of Tacos al Pastor.
04:44Yes.
04:44We're big fans of El Gordo, Frank, Taconazo from Tijuana.
04:49And I told this to my partners, I like, all right, so I'm going to give Miami six months
04:55to find somebody to do really good Tacos al Pastor.
04:57If nobody does it, we'll do it ourselves.
04:59So we ended up doing it.
05:00Awesome.
05:01And here we are with Tacos al Porky, Primo, and we also have Miami Soundbar.
05:08And that's about it.
05:09That's what we got going on right now.
05:11What, I mean, I think one of the things, I mean, obviously a huge fan of Danny Meyer,
05:16Shake Shack, Setting the Table.
05:19Same here.
05:19I've heard him on podcasts recently say that one of his biggest regrets was setting the table,
05:24which is a foundational book for restaurant owners, is that he said with pride that he had
05:29never closed a restaurant.
05:30And I think especially having gone through the pandemic with our restaurants and having done
05:35this show and talked to so many restauranteurs, we're in a different place where it's actually
05:40how can you learn from closing the restaurants?
05:43You know, I think the more that I talk about closing our ghost kitchens, because we made a pivot
05:47during the pandemic where we're like, we're going all in Amazon prime of barbecue.
05:50We're going to open up more locations, get more barbecue to more people, you know,
05:54figure out how to use leverage technology to get more people.
05:57But like the ghost kitchen didn't work for us.
05:59And the more that I talk about opening and closing the location, actually the closer I get
06:05to other restauranteurs.
06:06That's why we do this show.
06:07Can you share a little bit about what you learned through closing the restaurants, but also
06:12in the pandemic, how you communicate with other restaurant owners?
06:15Well, during the pandemic, we created this local group, as I was mentioning,
06:19people going back.
06:20We are back and forth with ideas.
06:23Just a WhatsApp group.
06:24Yeah, WhatsApp group.
06:25Yeah, I mean, yeah, it turned into a recommendation and talk about your issues.
06:31I mean, at some point there was these guys, I'm not going to name names of big hitters.
06:35Yep.
06:36Let's call them the Cuban Mafia.
06:38They were like, all right.
06:39So tomorrow we're going to talk to the Santis and we're going to talk to the mayor.
06:43So instead of being 50% capacity, we're going 100%.
06:46Yeah.
06:46Mark it as a thing.
06:48And it happened.
06:49So I don't know what they did, how they squeezed them, but yeah, it did happen.
06:53Yeah.
06:54We went through the pandemic.
06:55We pivoted with this concept.
06:56Then we redid the whole restaurant, remodeled PES, tried it for about a good year and a half.
07:05We had to make the decision to close it down and we announced the closing one week before on one,
07:14let's say I announced the closing on a Monday.
07:16On Wednesday, I get an email from the Michelin guy.
07:18Come on.
07:19Guy asking for photos and a brief description and chef and all that information.
07:22We didn't get a start.
07:23We were just, we were a new addition to it and we're about to close.
07:27I mean, we got on the, on the list.
07:28We closed on a, no, I'm sorry.
07:31Let me go back.
07:33We got the email.
07:34We closed that Sunday and the list came out the next Wednesday.
07:36So we're already closed.
07:38I mean, we got media all over us.
07:40I mean, the PR guys were like, everybody was trying to get, so what happened?
07:43So they made a story of how we closed.
07:45I'm like, yeah.
07:46And the Michelin guy sent us an email like, are you guys going to reopen?
07:48What's the deal?
07:49I'm like, yeah, we're looking for another location.
07:50So it didn't really happen again, but that was my baby.
07:53That was the whole idea why I tried, I got into this industry.
07:56Yeah.
07:56Well, aside from saying that after I came back
07:58from doing the work abroad and getting some experience at some great kitchens,
08:05I went to Tijuana to this place that I can name.
08:07I can give you the dates.
08:08It was July 28th, 2012.
08:11Really?
08:11I went to Erizo, Javier Plasencia, my buddy, shout out to Plasencia.
08:15Yeah.
08:15And everybody in the crew, Oscar, more than anybody.
08:18And I tried that tostada de atún con machaca.
08:20It was a yellowfin tuna from Baja.
08:22Yeah.
08:23They have great tuna there.
08:25Yellowfin tuna on a tostada.
08:27And it had some machaca, which is from Sonora, which is a state right over.
08:31Yeah.
08:31It's a sun-dried shredded beef.
08:33They salt the beef.
08:34They dry it, sun-dried, and then they shred it.
08:36So that's what machaca is.
08:37They put it on there.
08:38And I was like, flavor exposure.
08:40I was like, I was in France.
08:41I was in Spain.
08:41Like, what the hell is this?
08:43I tried that.
08:44I was like, no, I definitely got to do something.
08:45So it took some time between 2012 and 2016 to finally get to sign a deal with Plasencia.
08:51We did.
08:52And then we opened up the restaurant in 2018.
08:54Wow.
08:54Learned a lot through chefs, divas, employees, everything.
08:58And here we are.
09:00That's incredible.
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09:41Can you share a little bit about technology?
09:43When did you find out about toast?
09:44Have you been using toast in your restaurants or did you make a switch at some point?
09:48No, I mean, I tried not in my own restaurants, but I worked with different stuff.
09:52Like I think it was Clover, if I can name names.
09:54Clover Square, you name it.
09:56But before we opened, I was talking to Lightspeed and everybody else.
10:00But then I forgot his name.
10:03The toast rep came to us and he was like, all right, he did a really good demo.
10:08Since I have a telecom and finance background, I'm good at reporting.
10:11I like reporting.
10:12I mean, I used to do spreadsheets all day long.
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10:15I love this.
10:16And the whole live thing that you could see it on your phone.
10:18And back then it was on through a browser, not really the app like it is nowadays.
10:23Yeah.
10:23Toast Now app.
10:24Yeah, exactly.
10:25Game changing.
10:26Yeah, of course.
10:27If you don't have the Toast Now app, go download it for your restaurants.
10:29It is game changing for people that are on the go like us all the time.
10:33Yes.
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10:33You see stuff all the time.
10:34So you know what?
10:35Let's go to Toast.
10:37We did Toast because of the KDS, the handhelds, everything.
10:40And now we have it.
10:40I mean, we did it on every single location.
10:42That's what we do.
10:43Toast.
10:44Everything else.
10:44And then we started looking through apps with Toast.
10:48I mean, Toast Payroll.
10:50And then came Davo, Davo sales tax.
10:53I know about Davo.
10:55Let's talk about sales tax.
10:56It's something that restaurant owners like I know personally from my own sales tax.
11:00When I opened with my best friend in 2008, we had a very difficult time paying sales tax
11:07to the point where we didn't realize that the operating capital, that wasn't our money.
11:11We're like, it became a huge problem.
11:13I wish I had Davo back then, but share what did you learn?
11:16Well, I had a bookkeeper back then.
11:20And obviously, as you said, I mean, that's not your operating money.
11:23That's not your money.
11:24So it was going to a separate account, but hey, you're short five grand on the payroll.
11:28You got to get it somewhere.
11:29So we did some movements and then we got in trouble with the state, obviously.
11:34And we learned our lesson that that's separate.
11:36And I was looking through the apps, found Davo that they do the automation.
11:40And here we are using it in all locations five years later, and it works great.
11:46They do the daily debits.
11:48They take the money, put it in an escrow account or a trust account, and they pay the taxes for
11:52you automatically.
11:53And it's amazing.
11:54I don't have to worry about that.
11:56Instead of having a bookkeeper, I also added Toast Books, which is great.
12:00Oh, cool.
12:00That works great.
12:01I was part of the pilot program.
12:02We were part of the pilot program.
12:04And we've been using it for the past two years as well.
12:06So yeah, we're big fans of technology, which is something not a lot of restaurant tours really
12:11apply.
12:12Everything is out there.
12:13It's available.
12:13So take advantage of it.
12:15Tell me about your storytelling principles for social media.
12:18You guys have an incredible Instagram account.
12:20Obviously, Biria is a trending vibe.
12:23It's still to this day trending.
12:25Can you talk?
12:26Everybody does it, but not everybody does it well.
12:27Ah, let's talk.
12:28Let's talk about it.
12:29How do you do it well?
12:30Well, we focus on one thing only.
12:32That's specialized.
12:32That's something I learned in business school.
12:34Specialized, specialized, specialized.
12:35Like in and out.
12:36Yeah, exactly.
12:37Exactly.
12:37Yeah.
12:37Yeah.
12:38Yeah.
12:38I specialize in something.
12:39Do it well.
12:40Yeah.
12:40Perfect it.
12:40And that's it.
12:41I believe in that.
12:42And it got to the point that I wanted to do a second taco shop.
12:45So I had this, which is beef only.
12:47Yeah.
12:47And then I wanted to do one pork only.
12:48I mean, if you were to ask me, I would do another one.
12:51But I mean, there's only enough time and money that one can spend.
12:55So yeah, we started doing the beef here.
12:58We had that recipe from back home.
13:00My mother-in-law helped us out with it.
13:02We kind of tuned it a little bit and perfected it.
13:04And we got it going.
13:06We got it going.
13:08Can you share a little bit about community?
13:10Like what it means to be here in Miami?
13:12What is hospitality in Miami like different from the rest of the country?
13:16Well, Miami's great.
13:17It's a really close circle.
13:19There's everybody.
13:20There's, what do you say?
13:24How do you call it?
13:24There's the media star chasers that think are above everybody else.
13:30I mean, they're cool, but yeah, there's those.
13:34There's the regular people like us.
13:36There's the huge ones that control everything from politicians too.
13:40But it is a tight, close community.
13:41We help each other.
13:43We had the South Beach Food and Wine Festival just a couple of weeks, just last weekend.
13:46Actually, we keep getting invited to it.
13:48But sorry, Lee, we can't keep going back because it doesn't make sense for us.
13:52Why doesn't it make sense?
13:54Events are hard.
13:55No, I mean, you're trying to serve a 5,000 or I think, yeah, 5,000 people events.
14:02You need to get your cart out there because we do our catering.
14:04We don't just send food.
14:06We bring a taco cart and that's how we do it.
14:09So they get the actual, like from the taqueros hand to get the right flavor.
14:13But it's not really cost effective because I need to get a team of six or eight over there.
14:19They give you credit.
14:20They'll pay for your produce, but not really avocados.
14:22They'll pay for your onions, not even your limes, onions and cilantro.
14:25So I'm not even for the beef.
14:27So it's like, you know what?
14:28You're saving this amount of people.
14:29It's going to cost you this much.
14:30And you don't really get the business because we're in downtown.
14:33Yeah.
14:33So the community, local community, they started recommending places like, oh,
14:36if you're in town for the festival, if you're going to be in the Grove, go to R.E.A.
14:40If you're going to be in downtown, go to Tam Tam, go to sound bar,
14:44go to who else I can think of, go to vice versa, go to over under.
14:48And yeah, I mean, that's how it works.
14:50People here, it's a tight community.
14:53Some like each other, some don't.
14:54And it works out.
14:56What would you say is your biggest failure as a restaurant owner?
15:00Biggest failure as a restaurant owner?
15:02A story.
15:03Well, initially with my first one.
15:05Yeah.
15:05It was big restaurant, big money.
15:09Leaving everything to someone that I knew was less qualified than us.
15:14Yeah.
15:15I mean, great chef, talented.
15:18He knows how to cook, but he's been around.
15:20He opened up a place in San Diego, ended up being there for a little bit.
15:23I mean, you know how I'm talking about.
15:25So, uh, and yeah, that's, that's one big regret that we have other than that.
15:32And we learned, we learned a lot of things and we've been able to grow when people have
15:36just gone out of business.
15:37Can you share a little bit about what do you do personally as a man, as a husband,
15:41as a father to, you know, restaurant business, stressful business?
15:44What do you, what do you do to unwind or to take care of yourself?
15:47Uh, play tennis.
15:48I love that.
15:49Yeah.
15:50Three times a week.
15:51At least my kids play soccer.
15:52When did you start?
15:53I started playing, well, a long time ago.
15:55I started playing tennis in when I was like 10 years old.
15:58I went to a couple of camps there in Florida and learned the basics.
16:02Then I kept playing again.
16:03When back, when I came back from, from, from abroad, play for like two years, stopped,
16:08and then just took it back six months ago after not playing for 12 years.
16:12Wow.
16:13And here we are playing again and trying to play tournaments, get better.
16:16And what's the big vision for next five to 10 years?
16:21Expansion.
16:22Yeah.
16:22At some point.
16:23Franchise or no?
16:24Uh, maybe.
16:26Yeah.
16:27I mean, yeah, probably own and operate it by us.
16:30Yeah.
16:30Cause our, at the end of the day, as a former banker, I have an exit strategy.
16:34So it's like, if someone wants the keys to the thing, I mean, just take it and I'm out.
16:39I'll go do something else.
16:40I have too many ideas, just very little money.
16:42Yeah.
16:42So, yeah.
16:44And what advice would you have to, we have a lot of restaurant owners, people that want
16:48to get into the restaurant business.
16:49What advice would you have if you could go back and talk to yourself in the beginning?
16:53I would say, well, small steps.
16:58Don't open up a big restaurant.
17:00Yeah.
17:00From the beginning, from the get go.
17:02Uh, fine dining doesn't necessarily mean you're going to make money for me.
17:07If you ask me again, if I were to get started, we'll do QSRs like a hundred of them.
17:11Instead of doing one big restaurant with a big menu and big payroll, small restaurant, small crew.
17:16That's what works.
17:17At least in my case.
17:18And do what you love.
17:22Do it.
17:22You don't have to please everybody.
17:23At least that's what I think.
17:24Uh, I like to specialize.
17:26I don't like A to Z menus.
17:27I don't like to offer sushi all the way to pizza.
17:30I like to offer one thing and doing better than everybody else.
17:33And that's what took us to where we are and where we're going.
17:36That's awesome.
17:37If you guys are watching this, we want you to be on the show.
17:39We have a show called rising tides live.
17:41We do that every Wednesday, Friday, 10 a.m.
17:44Pacific time, 1 p.m. Eastern time, 6 p.m.
17:46London time, wherever you are in the world.
17:48It is a rising tide of digital hospitality leaders.
17:51You can go to be the show dot media slash rising tide to sign up.
17:55If you want to connect with me, it's at Sean P Walchef on Instagram.
17:59It's probably the fastest way.
18:00I'm weirdly available.
18:01What's the best place for people to keep in touch?
18:03Um, the, well, El Primo Red Tacos, Baja Restaurant Group, Miami Soundbar.
18:08Tacos El Porqui, Justin and a few.
18:10But yeah, Baja Restaurant Group.
18:12Tell us about Miami Soundbar before I let you go.
18:14Miami Soundbar.
18:15That's a concept.
18:16It's a Japanese inspired high five listening bar.
18:19Yeah.
18:20Uh, I had a bartender at my big restaurant that taught me everything.
18:24His name's Gil.
18:25He's great.
18:25Uh, Gil, uh, he's a Broken Shaker alum.
18:29So he's, he knows he's one of the best for me, one of the best, uh, mixologists or bartenders
18:34out there.
18:35And I said at that point back in 2021 or 2020, I said, Hey dude, we got to do something together
18:40in the future, but we will.
18:41So things, we started putting things together.
18:44We partnered up with our buddy Edo from Mexico City.
18:47He's a partner, uh, uh, Convoy and he meets you.
18:51Yeah.
18:51Yeah.
18:52He's a Mexican Japanese from Tijuana as well.
18:53Sweet.
18:54And he has a whole bunch of concepts like, uh, touring in New York, everything.
18:57I mean, really good.
18:58So we put this together.
18:59We're talking about the idea back in 2019 or so, and we say, you know what, let's pull
19:04the trigger and found the right space right across through from my office that I was eyeing
19:07for years, for years, and we signed the lease on it, put it together and we're doing amazing
19:14things out of there.
19:15Great cocktails, great music, my own personal vinyl collection.
19:18Oh, cool.
19:19Uh, we spent a whole bunch of money on sound when a little over the top to be the best.
19:23And we're one of the best sound sounding or sound systems in the world, actually.
19:27So incredible.
19:28Yeah.
19:29Well, we appreciate it.
19:29We can't wait to eat.
19:30Uh, when people come, what do they need to order?
19:34El Primo Red Tacos.
19:35Well, uh, there's a classic.
19:37Quesa taco, which people like, which is a cheese taco on a corn tortilla.
19:43For me, my favorite is going to be the taco perron, which is an homage or a nod to Tijuana.
19:49Tijuana perron is usually they put, it's cheese, protein, beans, and avocado.
19:55Amazing.
19:55And that's what we do on a flour tortilla, handmade by a local lady.
19:59They're great as well.
20:00So the taco perron, we recently added, we cook as well beef tongue with a birria.
20:05So I'll recommend the taco, which is a beef tongue cubed, uh, diced, uh, I guess.
20:11Yeah.
20:11And then we put some crispy, uh, beef intestine on it.
20:14Amazing.
20:15Yes.
20:15Sounds awesome.
20:16Yes.
20:16Well, we appreciate you guys watching.
20:18Please subscribe.
20:19Please share the episode.
20:20Uh, please come have some birria tacos in Miami when you're in downtown Miami.
20:25And, uh, as always stay curious, get involved.
20:28Don't be afraid to ask for help.
20:29We'll catch you guys next episode.
20:33Thank you for listening to restaurant influencers.
20:35If you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at Sean P.
20:39Walchef, S H A W N P W A L C H E F Cali barbecue media has other shows.
20:47You can check out digital hospitality.
20:49We've been doing that show since 2017.
20:52We also just launched a show season two family style on YouTube with toast.
20:57And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand,
21:01and you're looking to launch your own show, Cali barbecue media can help you.
21:05Recently.
21:05We just launched room for seconds with Greg Majewski.
21:10It is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality,
21:15into enterprise restaurants and franchise franchisee relationships.
21:20Take a look at room for seconds.
21:22And if you're ready to start a show, reach out to us, be the show.media.
21:26We can't wait to work with you.
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