Member Spotlight: That’s Nacho Burrito

Festival stalwarts That’s Nacho Burrito have brought their vibrant brand of Mexican street food to countless hungry mouths over the years they’ve been in business. The partner-run venture are passionate about being able to provide accessible options to customers without having to sacrifice flavour or taste – foremost components in Mexican cuisine.

We spoke to them to find out more about That’s Nacho Burrito:

Why Mexican food?

When we started out, Anna was gluten intolerant and often struggled when we were out and about or at music festivals to find healthy, wholesome food which she could eat. We always found Mexican food to be a) delicious and b) fit the bill as you can make it versatile and easily gluten free with corn tortillas. It can easily be vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and is naturally nut free too, without sacrificing any flavour or fillings. It is easy to eat at a festival, filling and nutritious and suitable for so many people and we get that feedback a lot at events.

How do you master the art of the burrito?

We think the key is including lots of different ingredients so you get lots of flavours in every mouthful. And balancing all the ingredients well within the burrito with a balance of hot and cold fillings, not too many sloppy or dry fillings, but a good balance of flavour, texture and temperature so the overall experience is delicious. And of course hours of practice to roll a packed burrito without anything spilling out!

Favourite nachos combination?

It would have to be beef chilli nachos, with plenty of jalapeños and hot sauce for a good spicy kick, lots of guacamole and sour cream to dip the chips in, and the perfect balance of tortilla chips to toppings and dips.

What’s the biggest difference between trading at Glastonbury vs Download festival?

Aside from the background music being quite different, the general feel of each festival is so unique and polar opposites to each other. Download is a big, open site and is so focused on the music. All the customers are really just there to see their favourite bands, and love their food. Glastonbury is so much more than just the music, there are so many hidden areas, and places to explore. It’s a treasure trove of experiences unlike anywhere else so has a very different and unique feel.

How often do customers ask you ‘well who’s burrito is it then’?

Haha, not that often! But we do get a lot of people look at the name, not get it, then get it and started laughing.

How do you recharge after a busy festival season?

We always aim to get away somewhere straight after the busy summer, usually somewhere peaceful and quiet either in the UK or abroad to get in some sunshine and relax. We also love multi day walks and are currently walking the whole south west coast path in 1-2 week chunks so try and get some of that in.

Favourite past times when not serving up goodness?

We really like hiking, climbing, stand up paddling boarding. We also spend a lot of time skiing over the winter. Anything active and outdoors really!

How many burritos have you eaten in your life?

Way way too many to count! Roughly 1 per day for 4 months every year for 6 years! But you can’t go too wrong with a veg bean chilli burrito with all the fillings!

Most important aspect to keeping staff happy in the job?

We think it’s so important to treat staff well and we have a great staff retention which makes it so much easier when staffing festivals over the summer if we have trained staff coming back each year. Making sure they can enjoy the festival enough and see some key bands they want to see, making it fun while working with music playing and a smooth operating system and being organised so that everything runs smoothly while working as sometimes a festival can be so busy and hectic! Also having a chilled space back of house where staff can relax I think is good. And as many burritos as they can eat!

What does success look like for you?

We think being able to have the luxury of choosing when to work and being able to take time off to travel or pursue other hobbies. Working for ourselves is tough as often you can never switch off and you need to manage constantly your workload to ensure we have enough money coming in to support us. We ultimately get out what we put in though, which is rewarding. And when it works out and we’ve had a successful summer, then it is great to be able to take a month off and relax.

You can find out more about That’s Nacho Burrito and follow their journey here.