SAN ANTONIO — As far as dream job’s go, Chris Flores may just have us all beat.
In July, the Texas-based delivery company Favor announced they hired the San Antonio native as their first-ever “Chief Taco Officer.”
The job is just as savory as it sounds.
“As chief taco officer, it is my job to travel Texas, to taste tacos, document them, and then share with Texans and really anybody who loves our culture,” says Flores. “I've been to Dallas, I've been to Corpus, I've been the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso, I've done Austin, and then I did like an I-35 corridor, trying taquerias in San Marcos all the way up to Waco.”
If you are wondering how does someone get such a great gig? Chris says his background made him the perfect candidate. He’d previously been covering tacos around San Antonio for five years on his YouTube and social media accounts under the name “Eatmigos.” It appears others agreed with him.
“Whenever the job got posted, probably like 30 people tagged me and said, ‘Hey, you have to try out for this chief taco officer job with favor,’ so I looked it up and I was like, ‘This is right down my alley.’”
To be considered for the position, Favor asked applicants to send in video submissions, making their case as to why they should be tapped as the Texas taco connoisseur.
“I literally waited till the last day to record, to edit it, to submit, only because I just felt that all the ideas I had just weren't right. And then literally that morning I woke up and all of a sudden it came to me,” says Flores. “Favor yourself some tacos. Whenever the driver gets there, have a taco with him, but do it in front of the Alamo. Because there's nothing more Texas than the Alamo.”
He also recorded part of his video submission at the local taco staple Ray’s Drive Inn.
Flores says originally the plan was to travel the state only for a couple of months, but since the venture has been so successful in its goal of showcasing local taquerias, more cities and stops have been added.
“Every week I'll hit a different city and the destinations are pre-planned, and before I go there, I'll contact the taquerias and let them know I'm coming. I do what everyone does. I hit Instagram, I hit social media. I would look and if those pictures just talk to me, I'm like, man I got to eat this.”
However, it’s not just the pictures that help him select his stops.
“I'm really looking for taquerias that have a really good history because I mean right now, a lot of people don't realize the amount of work effort. I mean, a lot of times it's the family effort that people put into owning the taqueria and a lot of them are generational.”
Thanks to his travels, Flores says he is learning so much about the cuisine, and how it can change depending on the region.
“I am covering the full spectrum of tacos,” he says, “I don't necessarily have a favorite taco, but breakfast tacos, they just hit different. I mean, they just hit really different.”
Favor and Flores say the goal of the partnership is simply to shine a light on these family-owned businesses.
“Whenever I met Favor and I got the job, they said, ‘Hey, we've delivered over 11 million tacos.’ That's a lot of tacos. They weren't all to me. Maybe just 1 million, right? But they weren't all to me. The goal was to literally just showcase this cuisine. It's important to recognize and to keep these traditions alive for families just so that these stories are told,” he added.
“Because literally all the blood, sweat, tears and hustle that have gone in to all these taqueros, these taqueras, these taquerias. Man, it all has to be for something. And that's what I love about my job with favor. I literally get to go and grab that piece of culture, grab that piece of time, that hustle, and then showcase it.”
Flores still has more tacos to taste on his journey. He says his upcoming stops include Del Rio, Fort Worth, Houston, Laredo, and of course, San Antonio.