The Small Business Administration recognized the couple's business as the 1999 Amarillo minority small business of the year.  The restaurant near East 10th Avenue on Ross Street, which has been open for two months, has presented new challenges for the couple.

Veloz comes from a restaurant family. As a teen-ager, his grandparents taught him how to cook in a restaurant kitchen.  He also worked in his father Jorge's restaurant in Midland before coming back to Amarillo as a 19-year-old to take over Tacos Garcia, then on East Amarillo Boulevard.
"Life was too easy," he said. "I wanted to learn how to work."

First, he wanted to challenge the kingpins of fast Mexican food, Taco Bell and Taco Villa, he said.
With two employees, he discovered that task would be daunting.  Instead of instant success, Veloz found himself in a battle that he realized would require changes in his restaurant if he were to succeed.  He learned what his customers wanted, he said, and switched from a counter service to a sit-down restaurant.

Because of the high-traffic on Amarillo Boulevard, Veloz said he attracted customers by posting a sign near a corner stop light advertising 99-cent breakfast burritos.  After six years on the boulevard, Veloz moved to 1412 S. Ross, where Tacos Garcia's staff grew to 25 employees and developed a strong following.  When it came time to expand the restaurant again after 51/2 years there, he weighed the choice between extending his lease and expanding that location versus building a new, larger restaurant. The costs came out about the same, he said, leading him to take the steps to move. When he was unable to locate the owner of his first-choice site, he moved up the street on Ross toward 10th.

Instead of moving his restaurant to southwest Amarillo, Veloz said he wanted to stay in the east Amarillo neighborhood.  "The neighborhood response has been incredible," Veloz said. "The area's been good to me."  The architectural firm Terrance Doane Associates of Amarillo designed the building, which is just under 5,000 square feet. Bringing the building to completion has some family touches, Veloz said.  Mitsy Veloz chose the color scheme and the interior decorations, and George Veloz' younger sister, Sylvia, painted the decorative flower trim. The chandeliers and some decorative lights on the outside were located in storage in an Amarillo warehouse, where they had sat unused since being taken out of a former restaurant in the hotel that was replaced by the Holiday Inn Express on Interstate 40, he said. The interior furnishings were purchased in Juarez, Mexico, and the fountain came from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the hometown of Veloz's father.

The larger restaurant has meant an increasing the number of employees from 25 to 45. Seating capacity is 110, which is gradually expanding to 160 as the kitchen and crew come up to speed, he said.  Managing the larger staff has proven to be a learning experience, he said, because he has to mesh their personalities and abilities.  "That will be a project all in itself - learning to cope with the 45 personalities," Veloz said.

While other Mexican restaurants have built a following through splashy billboard campaigns or catchy radio spots, Veloz said he is building clientele through word-of-mouth by helping with school and community projects.