After a video about their soft serve margaritas went viral on Tiktok, a small Cudahy restaurant says their sales have tripled.
Mexic103, 3506 East Layton Ave., has been open since 2018, owned and operated by husband and wife Gilberto Isidoro and Ericka Martell.
But business was slow, Martell said.
“We have our regulars, but we needed more customers,” she said. “It was looking rough, to be honest.”
Martell said through the years, she and Isodoro have periodically sought out ways to bring in more customers. When a customer showed Martell and Isidoro a social media video of soft serve margaritas at a restaurant in Texas, the restaurant owners thought it might be a fun way to encourage a few more people to try Mexic103.
“My husband started researching and looked at machines, and we were like ‘let’s give it a try,'” Martell said.
Isidoro created a recipe through trial and error, and customer feedback. The margaritas are made with real fruit, tequila and a lactose-free (but not dairy-free) soft serve ice cream mix, mixed in a standard soft serve ice cream machine. They are designed to be eaten with a spoon, and each contain roughly the alcohol content of two standard margaritas, Martell said.
The impact was immediate – and much bigger than the restaurant owners expected.
Mexic103 officially added strawberry, mango and strawberry-mango swirl soft serve margaritas to their menu April 6, after testing them out during the previous weeks. That same day, Meli Coughlin, of Oak Creek, went to the restaurant with her family.
There, Coughlin took a video of the sweet alcoholic treats and posted it to Tiktok.
“It’s sweet, refreshing and it’s perfect for summer. We absolutely loved it,” she said. “The drink’s creative and fun, and we figured posting it would kind of draw people to want to go and support a local business.”
The video blew up. As of May 27, Coughlin’s Tiktok video had more than 67,000 likes, 14,500 saves, 39,400 shares and 460 comments.
“I was definitely surprised it took off like it did,” she said.
Within days, customers were flocking to the restaurant. Martell said she had no idea a video of her restaurant had been circulating on social media until guests told her they had come in because of Tiktok.
Mexic103 staff separated tables to allow more guests in, but even with a seating capacity around 50 people, lines for people waiting to get a table reached the door. On Cinco de Mayo, the line wrapped outside the building, Martell said.
The demand was unlike anything the restaurant had experienced before. When Mexic103 first opened in 2018, it was only Isidoro and his mother in the kitchen, and Martell as the sole front-of-house staff member. In recent years, the operation had grown slightly to include two servers and a third who helped out part-time. But with the sudden popularity of the soft serve margaritas, Mexic103 found itself severely short-staffed.
So, the restaurant quickly got to hiring. As of now, it has six part-time servers and two bussers. The kitchen continues to be operated by Isidoro and his mother, but Martelll said the restaurant is looking to grow the kitchen staff as well.
Now that the initial wave of hype has died down, more staff have joined the team and the restaurant’s patio is open for summer, Mexic103 is in a better position to meet the demand for its specialty margaritas.
“It’s been steady, which is good,” Martell said.
At the end of April, Mexic103 added a second soft serve machine, offering piña colada, lime and piña colada-lime swirl. On May 26, they switched those flavors out for two new flavors: raspberry fruit punch and passionfruit, which can also be swirled together. Each dish is $16.
In addition to the soft serve booze, Mexic103 offers traditional on the rocks and blended margaritas, among other drinks. Its food menu includes individual tacos and taco platters, as well as burritos, enchiladas, nachos, quesadillas, sopes and more.
Martell said the increase in interest in the family-run restaurant is a blessing, and she asks customers to continue to have patience.
“Our main focus is customer service,” Martell said. “We try to seat everyone as fast as we can and serve them as fast as we can. … We’re trying our best daily.”
Martell said before the viral video, Mexic103 had few followers on social media. The business’ promotion by a stranger has not only made a major improvement in sales, but has also given the restaurant a larger online following, with close to 1,000 followers on both Tiktok and Instagram, and around 13,000 on Facebook, which has been the restaurant’s primary social media platform since it opened.
Coughlin, who said she enjoys posting videos on her personal social media about local places to check out, said she was amazed at the impact her single video had.
“It’s crazy how it can attract so many people to want to go to a restaurant, just off a Tiktok,” Coughlin said.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Soft serve margaritas and a viral video were game changers for this Cudahy restaurant
Reporting by Kelli Arseneau, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
