Tyres and Tamales Prove a Spicy Combination

A man with a passion for tyres and food from his homeland has created a business with a difference in the US. Victor Galindo, originally from the small Mexican village of Tene, is the proprietor of Victor’s Tires and Custom wheels in Salt Lake City, Utah. What sets Victor’s apart is that customers can not only leave the premises with a brand spanking new set of tyres – they can also roll out the door with a full stomach and singing taste buds.

Victor is, you see, a man of varied talents. After graduating from high school, he found a job at a tyre recycling facility, and several years later he also took on a part time job as a cook. While the long hours in two jobs were gladly accepted so that he and his wife could save for their own business, the entire time Victor was learning skills that he would later combine in an unexpected way.

His first garage business was nothing extraordinary, featuring all the usual equipment, tools and perhaps a Pirelli calendar or similar distraction on the wall, and the workshop specialised on the more traditional aspects of the tyre industry. Yet as an extra service Galindo offered hungry customers crisps and soft drinks while they waited. In 2004, however, he and his wife convinced city heath authorities that a combined tyre shop and restaurant was actually not such a bad idea.

“They didn’t think it would work,” Galindo told Utah’s Desert News newspaper. “But we knew it was a good idea. People come in here for tyres and they’re hungry. Why not let them have lunch while they’re waiting?” Indeed, the aroma of spicy pork tamales and jalapenos wafting through the tyre shop helps make business brisk. The tyre shop-restaurant combination is so popular that Victor will soon kit out another of his tyre shops with similar facilities.

“We sell a ton of tamales, probably about 2,500 a week,” Victor said, adding that it would be nice to also sell that many tyres. Galindo now owns seven tyre outlets across Utah. “My dream is to open one in every town,” he says. “With tamales, of course.”