NEWS/TALK 101.5 FM & WNWS.COM visited with Daryl Fortner – owner of Tulum Fresh Mexican Grill at 71 Carriage House Drive and 1319 Union University Drive in Thomsen Farms – for a question and answer session.
Question: First a little background information about yourself. Where are you originally from, and if you are not from Jackson, what brought you to the area?
Answer: My parents are from Dyersburg – Fortner – and Caruthersville, Missouri – Medlin. I was born in Hayti, Missouri, but my parents were living in Dyersburg at the time. My grandparents on both sides were from the Alamo and Jackson areas and we would come to Jackson for church and visit relatives on the weekends growing up in the 1970’s.
In 1977, we moved to Chula Vista, Calif., which is about as southwestern as one can get. Every couple of years we would come back for a family visit and eventually we all came back to West Tennessee.
My wife Carolina and I were the last to move back here in 2005 and decided that Jackson would be the best fit for us despite having close family ties all over West Tennessee.
Question: How much restaurant experience have you had prior to opening Tulum on Carriage House Drive?
Answer: I’ve been in the restaurant business since college in the late 1980’s.
In more than 30 years I’ve worked just about every restaurant position that exists from busboy to waiter to restaurant consultant to eventually owning my own restaurant(s).
I was a partner for 10 years in a company in San Diego that did restaurant consultation, building design, menu design, kitchen design, etcetera, and I think I’ve been in just about every kitchen in southern California. Ironically, we worked extensively with Hard Rock Cafe on many of their largest projects all over the world – me not knowing of their Jackson connection until moving back here.
Question: How did you decide on opening a Mexican style restaurant, and how did you decide on the name ‘Tulum?’
Answer: I love Mexican food, especially Baja Style Mexican and the creative chef driven recipes of Southern California Mexican.
Growing up, I would visit Mexico a lot, in particular my two favorite areas were Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Baja and the beaches of Tulum in the Yucatan peninsula. Since Cabo was already in use as a restaurant name, I settled on Tulum Fresh Mexican Grill wanting to emphasize the all natural, fresh from scratch approach we take on our menu.
Question: You opened a second location in Thomsen Farms. What was the determining factor or factors?
Answer: We knew back in 2015 that we needed to open a larger location than the 68 seat plus Drive Thru Carriage House location. Polling hundreds of customers, they wanted us to keep it counter service and I just couldn’t find an available location that fit the need.
In 2016, a commercial developer proposed the location where Tulum (No. 2) is now. It didn’t have a drive thru, but because (construction) was already nearly complete, we took it. They were awesome to work with and did a great job fitting it as close as possible to our needs.
Question: How many people do you have working for you at both locations combined, and how much time do you spend at each restaurant?
Answer: We have about 47 employees combined, not including my wife and I – and I work nearly every day of the week going back and forth between our two locations.
Question: Is it possible we will see Tulum continue to grow in Jackson, or other areas in West Tennessee and other states?
Answer: I think we’ve got Jackson covered with two Tulum restaurants, really just one that is centrally located would suffice even better. I’ve discussed other concept possibilities for Jackson, but nothing is solid yet. It would have to be a concept conducive to this market and one that is not currently here.
We are currently in talks for two locations in the Memphis market, one just like our Carriage House location with a Drive Thru, and secondly a “Cafe Style” version of Tulum Fresh Mexican Grill that would be table service.
The Cafe Style would be named something else, have a more expansive menu and have more Caribbean influence on the menu.
Neither of these are a done deal yet, but we are working hard to make them happen.
(PHOTO: Daryl Fortner owns Tulum Fresh Mexican Grill on Carriage House Drive & Union University Drive in Thomsen Farms)
David Thomas, Twitter – @DavidThomasWNWS
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