Successful Modesto business specializing in Mexican treats expands to Arizona, beyond
The simple slogan “Go West, young man” sums up some of the earliest and most enduring advice on achieving the American dream. But when you already successfully started your business on the West Coast like Modesto’s Mango Crazy, the only place to go next is east.
That’s exactly what the childhood friends and founding owners of the Mexican street food-inspired restaurants are doing with a planned expansion to Arizona. Indeed, the sweet and savory snack and treats chain has expanded exponentially amid and in spite of the pandemic.
Before COVID-19, Larry Rivera and Andy Lopez had three brick-and-mortar locations and a food truck. By next month, that number will climb to 14 restaurant locations and four food trucks.
Mango Crazy’s owners are set to open their first restaurant outside of California, in Arizona by early to mid-November. The first out-of-state spot will be in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix. Rivera and Lopez are teaming with a partner in Arizona and hope to build-out quickly with 10 to 15 new shops opening in the state in the next year or two.
“Arizona is booming. It’s hot there and our product is refreshing. (The state) is vibrant and flowing with business. We feel like we’d be good there,” Rivera said.
The Mango Crazy concept lends itself to speedy development, Rivera said. The shops sell a colorful assortment of sweet and savory street food-inspired snacks like tostilocos, ceviche, fruit cups and agua fresca. Since their offerings don’t require a full kitchen, renovation of old properties is simpler and faster.
Rivera said they’ve also been lucky to keep and attract a loyal workforce, which has helped them grow throughout the pandemic while other businesses continue to struggle to find employees.
“We’re really lucky to have all of our employees and most of them stayed with us which is really important because of what’s going on in the workforce,” he said. “We can’t expand without them. That’s the special ingredient, the help we’ve gotten from people.”
Since debuting their first store in Modesto’s Village One Plaza shopping center in 2014, the Downey High graduates have opened new shops in as fast as 20 days. But since the pandemic most have taken about 60 days. As someone who covers restaurant developments and openings for a living, that is still beyond lightening fast by all standards.
When the pandemic started 19 months ago, Rivera’s and Lopez’s brain child was already growing. The men opened a new Ceres location in the former Rita’s Italian Ice in early March 2020. That was one of five former Rita’s in the area to convert to Mango Crazys, after the valley franchise owner of the frozen treat shops closed all his locations.
Then, things really began moving for the company that previously had two shops and a food truck in Modesto and a new flagship store in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf district that opened in late 2018. Since the pandemic started in March 2020 they’ve opened additional locations in Turlock, Atwater, Lathrop, Elk Grove, San Jose and more.
Their last store to open was in June, in the San Jose suburb of Campbell. Expect a few new site openings from Mango Crazy in November. The first will be in Visalia near Fresno, the chain’s farthest south location to date in the state. They are also completing work on the second Turlock site, on Geer Road in the Raley’s supermarket center. And then there’s the Chandler location in Arizona.
If things go as planned, expect a lot more openings and locations in Mango Crazy’s future. Rivera and Lopez are in the process of completing the legal paperwork needed to be able to franchise. They expect a big push into Southern California once they start franchising, which should be sometime in 2022.
And they’re not done conquering the sweet-and-savory foods market. Besides Arizona, Rivera said they’ve received interest from Las Vegas and Florida. After that? Who knows. Mango Crazy in space? I mean if Elon and Jeff can do it, fellas. Go up, young men, go up.
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
