DALLAS — Jose Luis Rodriguez can create the favorite dishes of his native Mexico while doing it with a French cuisine twist he mastered after more than two decades in the restaurant industry.
And he's hoping a dining public, mostly online, will find his creations delicious, too.
"Have a lot of faith, a lot of passion. I believe you know. The belief is the one that keeps me going," Rodriguez said after his first two weeks as full-time owner and chef.
His restaurant is called MixTitos Kitchen: "mix" for his variety of foods and "titos," which is Spanish for "a little bit of everything." The only unusual thing about it is where that kitchen is.
The building on W. Commerce is the home of the Commerce Fork Food Company. By industry definition it's a cloud, or ghost kitchen, location where more than 25 entrepreneurs and chefs rent fully equipped professional kitchens.
Linked by technology provided by the company, the individual businesses offer their food online delivered through companies like Uber Eats, Door Dash or GrubHub. There is no dining room, only a few picnic tables outside. A touch screen kiosk inside also allows walk-up customers to pick their favorite restaurant and order to-go in person.
"It is a really good concept," said Rodriguez "Here you have the opportunity to come and deliver what you're looking for at the restaurant you will be opening."
The idea of a cloud, or ghost kitchen, isn't necessarily new. But, pandemic or not, the concept is thriving.
According to a 2021 estimate by the research firm Allied Analytics LLC, the estimated global market for operations like this will be as much as $71.4 billion in the next five years and growing at a rate of 12% a year.
For Jose Luis Rodriguez, who spent 22 years as a waiter and server, MixTitos Kitchen is a first step to building a restaurant of his own.
"Since I was a kid I have that dream," he said. A dream written on a paper plate taped to the kitchen door. It says "if you don't build your own dream someone will hire you to build theirs."
"My biggest dream is what I can do for somebody else. What I can give to somebody else," he said.
And with a little help from Instagram, online orders, and his "restaurant on a cloud," MixTitos might be the next pandemic success story, too.
"It's my turn to do something different," he said while finishing his latest order chil-a-kuiles, discada tacos, and a grilled sandwich called mix-croque monsieur.
"I'm trying to do the best I can to succeed on this."