Now another popular mobile food business is making a move into new digs.
The Dos Gringos food truck first hit the streets in 2016 and in May 2023, longtime friends Jesse Trujillo and Santino Lochi took the business over, bringing their own vision to the operation.
Since then, they've been busy — really busy — seizing new and exciting opportunities. Their most recent move: landing a concession spot at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, where Dos Gringos will be serving up its signature dishes to a crowd of enthusiastic Colorado Rapids fans. But this opportunity didn't happen overnight. It was the result of a lot of hard work and dedication to delivering fresh tacos and exceptional customer service at every event.
The journey to the stadium can be traced back to Trujillo and Lochi's first food truck season, when the team did a few events in Castle Pines that eventually led to an invitation to serve at the 2024 BMW Championship, a PGA Tour event held at Castle Pines Golf Club. "I guess through word of mouth, the team at Castle Pines reached out ... and we were like, heck yeah," Trujillo recalls.
"They basically built a platform for us between the ninth and eighteenth hole, and we just drove the truck up onto the platform. It was especially cool since we are both avid golfers. Being able to sit there, look out, and see golfers while having our truck there serving food was a fun experience," adds Lochi.
Dos Gringos owners Jesse Trujillo (left) and Santino Lochi with RapidMan and Trujillo's dad, John, and brother, Josh.
Dos Gringos
"After the event, we just started bugging them, emailing and emailing, and then they reached out. We were pretty surprised, actually. Initially, it sounded like Ball Arena might be the choice, but then Dick's Sporting Goods Park was the choice, and we couldn't say no," explains Trujillo.
"Yeah, I mean it's exposure, you know, trying something new. Plus, we get to be in a major league sporting stadium," Lochi adds.
Having officially inked the contract this month, Dos Gringos will debut its dedicated concession stand, Dos Gringos Cantina located in the northeast corner of the stadium, on Saturday, March 1 when the Colorado Rapids take the field against FC Dallas.
"We're going to start with just tacos on Saturday — carnitas, carne asada and chipotle chicken," Lochi says. "We haven't quite figured out how we want to do it because they want us to have some items ready on hand. ... We're not sure if we're going to have like five or six ready or if we're going to try to just do them as they order. We just want to make sure we are putting out fresh, high-quality tacos. We'll gradually add items just to see what's working, what's not working, what's efficient and what's not."
"Yeah, we might throw some loaded fries on there," Trujillo notes. "The burritos will definitely make an appearance. Eventually, all the items on the food truck menu are going to come out. And who knows, maybe some new items in the future."
One of the key differences between the food truck and the stadium concession is the division of labor. At the stadium, KSE will be handling the front-of-house operations, including the registers and drink service, while the Dos Gringos team will focus solely on food preparation. "It's a great setup for us because we can focus on what we do best and make sure the quality of our product is what we want it to be," says Lochi.
While the team is excited about the debut this weekend, they also acknowledge that there are some unknowns and challenges that come with entering new territory and operating in a large-scale stadium environment. "You can only prepare so much. I mean, we don't know what the volume is going to be like. I think we are afraid it's going to be crazy popular because we know our food is good. It's exciting, but again, we are not sure what to expect," says Trujillo.
Despite some pre-debut nerves, the Dos Gringos team remains confident that the stand will be a hit with stadium crowds, especially after experiencing a taste of success at a private meet-the-team event for the Denver Nuggets last week. "Our tacos were a huge hit. People were coming back two or three times to get more," Lochi says.
Hoping to see the same kind of enthusiasm at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, the team is eager to embrace this new opportunity and take another step toward their ultimate goal of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
To keep up with Dos Gringos, follow it on Instagram @dosgringos_co.
