Outside of the Innovative Learning Classroom Building, or ILCB, aromatic spices fill the air, paired with hints of savory, smoky meat. The sizzling of a grill rings through the ears of students passing by.

Aggies and other customers alike begin to form lines, eagerly anticipating a plate of tacos before the clock even strikes noon. The window cracks open and a gust of cilantro-scented smoke escapes as bold flavors erupt from a less than 300-square-foot kitchen.  

Within the condensed space, a family finds their rhythm on the grill and in the prep station, every so often engaging in conversation as orders bounce around before calling a name aloud, signaling to the crowd of customers that an order is ready. Small but mighty — three people per food truck, exactly — the Loredo family diligently serves the Texas A&M community.

Established in 2005 by Raul Loredo Sr., the family-owned food truck, Taqueria Puro Potosino, was founded in Bryan-College Station to bring authentic Mexican food to Aggieland. Now, 20 years later, Loredo Sr. said Taqueria Puro Potosino has left a lasting impact on the community, spanning from Northgate to campus.

“There was only like two or three or four trucks here in Bryan-College Station in total,” Loredo Sr. said. “So I think we saw that it was needed, so I decided to open my own. But we were the very first ones ever on Northgate.”

With recipes dating back at least three generations, Loredo Sr. said he has crafted his own flavor profile while maintaining the authentic Mexican experience. 

“We have served so many generations, you know, like classes, and they come back 10 years later, and they tell us how they’ve been doing after graduating, and they come back to visit us and enjoy our food,” Loredo Sr. said. 

After moving to College Station from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Loredo Sr. noticed most of the local businesses were focused on Tex-Mex cuisine rather than authentic Mexican restaurants, which sparked an idea — why not open his own? 

After convincing his wife that the mobile food business was worth the investment, Loredo Sr. made his way to Houston to make his first big purchase: a trailer. However, $32,000 later, he made the journey home with a food truck instead. 

“He went to Houston, and he was already going to make his first purchase, and it was going to be a trailer,” his son, Raul Loredo Jr., said. “They would bring them from Mexico, already built. But then they had an actual food truck. … It was the first one that they were going to sell. So now he changed his mind, and he wanted that one, and that was the first truck he bought: that food truck in Texas from Mexico. It was perfect.”

After combining the idea of plentiful tacos and the name of the region in Mexico the Loredo family originated from, Taqueria Puro Potosino, the newest food truck of Bryan-College Station, was born. The next obstacle for the Loredo family was kickstarting the business and finding a location willing to host them.

Loredo Sr. said they began selling outside of an event center in Bryan and eventually decided to migrate to Northgate, as it was a popular attraction on the weekends. After finding a gas station willing to host them, Taqueria Puro Potosino grew in popularity and today can be found outside of TXAG Store on Northgate.

Loredo Jr. has been helping out with the family business since he was about 9 years old. He recalled helping fill salsa containers and doing little things to help out with the hopes of one day taking over the business. With 10 people employed — all of whom are family members or close friends — the Loredo family takes pride in keeping the work within the family.

“The satisfaction of all of us working as a team to make everything come out good; it keeps us happy,” Loredo Jr. said. “It’s all a team. Like, starting with the person that takes the order and has the interaction with the customer and the people that serve the food. It’s not just the chef. … It takes everyone. It’s hard a lot of times if you just hire staff; they really just show up, and they don’t care. People won’t come back. But I feel like keeping it within the family, everyone’s trusted; they have a passion for it.”

In 2020, the Loredo family began partnering with Aggie Dining, becoming a sub-contractor under Chartwells to sell to students and customers on campus in various locations, including outside of the ILCB, Zachry Engineering Education Complex and the Veterinary & Biomedical Education Complex.

“We listened to the students, and the students wanted more local and unique flavor profiles,” Aggie Dining Senior Director of Operations Donald Koshis said. “Our organization can perfect a lot of things, but we can’t perfect local and reaching out to the food trucks and working with the university, creating a food truck alley. … So we like to get involved with the local communities that hold the same values that Aggie Dining has, and that’s where Raul [Loredo Sr. has] done a great job.”

Through the years, the Loredo family has tweaked their menu to continue catering to their customers with their fan-favorite street tacos — homemade corn or flour tortillas, beef or pork, bacon, guacamole, lettuce, grilled peppers, onions, cilantro, cheese and plenty of pico de gallo. In recent years, Loredo Sr. said they have been able to purchase two additional trucks to serve more people, and he said what makes him smile the most is watching more and more people enjoy his tacos.

“Everybody here has been welcoming, and they support us by buying our food, and that gives us a reason to sell them good food and make them happy when they eat our tacos,” Loredo Sr. said. “I am really proud of being able to be accepted at Texas A&M, to sell food here and have that opportunity. I’m really proud of being able to serve from when we first started opening, you know, 20 people, 10 people, and like that, to now be able to serve thousands of people. That’s been really nice.” 

One of many connections Loredo Sr. said that encapsulates his family’s mission is graduate student Ruby Hernandez ‘18, who has become a close family friend in recent years as she is on her third degree from A&M. From freshman year, when she was missing home, she said Taqueria Puro Potosino provided a familiar taste, making home not feel so far away.

“It’s always very nice to walk in after a very long week, order some tacos and have them be super happy,” Hernandez said. “And it’s just always very nice to see how familiarized they are to their clientele, because even if you show up one day, they’ll remember your name and ask you how you are. … It’s more than selling food to them.”

Expanding their horizons over the years, Loredo Sr. said Taqueria Puro Potosino has served countless Aggie Dining events, with Koshis reaching out to him before other caterers. In celebration of the holiday season, Taqueria Puro Potosino partnered with Aggie Dining to serve a “Thankful” dinner at Sbisa Dining Hall on Nov. 18.

“His food is truly authentic,” Koshis said before the event. “We’re actually gonna do a pop-up for our Thankful event, where he’s going to bring in about 600 tamales that they’re going to serve. He brought some to us to try last year at Thanksgiving, and
 we knew that’s what we’ve got to do here for this year.”

Koshis said the Loredo family embodies all of the Aggie Core Values, and he hopes their partnership continues to grow. For the past 20 years, the A&M community has continued to keep the Loredo family in Aggieland, and Loredo Sr. said he doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

“[I want] to thank the whole Aggie community for supporting us and allowing us to be part of campus, because it makes us really happy to be here,” Loredo Sr. said. “I look forward to serving many, many more generations in the future.”