Restaurant Unstoppable #1251: Pete Mora, Founder of Fajita Pete's

Host: Eric Cacciatore
Guest: Pete "Pedro" Mora
Release Date: February 9, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Eric Cacciatore interviews Pete "Pedro" Mora, founder of the rapidly growing, Houston-based Fajita Pete's. Pete shares his entrepreneurial journey from fleeing political turmoil in Colombia to building a unique, off-premise-centric restaurant brand. The conversation digs deep into lessons on franchising, scaling, leadership, resilience, leveraging technology, and the future of the restaurant business. With candid stories and actionable insights, Pete reflects on the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship in hospitality.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mantras for Success

• Give a Damn Every Day & Suck a Little Less Every Day
  "We have two here at Fajita Pete’s: give a damn every day... and then suck a little less every day." (04:35, Pete)

  • Core to hiring and building culture: Hire attitude, train skill. If staff care, the rest can be taught.
  • Continual improvement is essential, especially in the “penny business” of restaurants.

• Atomic Habits (James Clear) as Foundational Philosophy
  "The whole idea of improvement... little by little, minute things that you can do, that you can apply to your health, your business. It’s just taking that first step." (06:40, Pete)

  • Start with attainable, incremental goals that compound over time.

2. Business Model Evolution & Early Struggles

• Off-Premise Focus and Lean Footprint
  "We are primarily 98% of what we do is outside of our walls. We're an off-premise concept... a thousand and fourteen hundred square feet." (08:03, Pete)

  • 26 locations; 30% of revenue from catering (mainly corporate), split remainder between delivery and pickup.
  • Some locations have seating, but most are streamlined for catering and takeout, maximizing sales per square foot.

• First Restaurant & Real Estate Lessons
  "My mom always told me we didn’t bring you here to fill out applications, you know, so you’re either going to find out if you’re going to make it or not, and it’s better to start when you’re young..." (13:51, Pete)

  • Opened first full-service restaurant, Poblanos, just out of college with family support and a shoestring budget (~$80k).
  • Emphasized getting hands-on business education, seeking flexible lease terms, and learning how to turn a failing space into an asset.

3. The Immigrant Hustle & Resilience

• Overcoming Adversity:
  Pete recounts his family’s escape from Colombia after both his parents were kidnapped by guerrillas:
  "But I think for me, it was very important to see that you could achieve things... it’s out there to get, right?" (16:46)

• Entrepreneurship as Legacy & Disease
  "Entrepreneurship... it’s almost like a disease. I tell people—it’s not for everybody. It puts you... it’s everywhere on you." (17:38, Pete)

  • Embraced risk early, understanding there’s always more to learn and a need to control what you can.

4. The Fajita Pete’s Concept & Niching Down

• Transition from Full Service to Focused Model
  "My catering taught me... you can’t cater everything because it doesn’t travel well. So my menu was very focused on what could travel, what was compartmentalized..." (35:02–35:40, Pete)

  • Simplified menu, focused solely on fajitas and sides that traveled well.
  • Created the “Fajita Pete’s” name and brand clarity—customers know what they’re getting.

• Origin of Fajita Pete’s & Guerrilla Marketing
  "People say, hey, you were a ghost kitchen before ghost kitchens. I was thinking, I don’t want to pay that much rent." (38:35, Pete)

  • Delivered to smaller corporate groups, filled market gap unserved by larger restaurants (willing to deliver small orders).
  • Grassroots marketing: identified target customers, delivered food personally, made connections with decision makers.

5. Scaling, Franchising & Team Building

• First Steps in Expansion
  "I go up to Dallas for franchising symposium... they got one opened in Dallas. Of course, it was a horrible idea. It did great. But I had no way to control it." (47:06–47:38, Pete)

  • Got lucky with early franchise partners, but realized systems and oversight were necessary.

• Organizational Growth & Partnerships

  • Brought on partners with complementary strengths—organization, operations, technology.
  • "You compartmentalize operations... Training... Marketing... create all these systems to help you in the goal of sucking less every day." (97:36–98:02, Pete)
  • Emphasized self-awareness:
    "I had to understand I want to suck a little less at that, so then get somebody that’s slightly more organized to help me..." (56:29–56:58, Pete)

• Franchising Lessons & Systematizing Culture

  • Franchising is a grind—there are no guarantees. Success depends on the operator’s drive and adherence to culture and systems.
  • "They can have the vision, they can have the core values, they can have the training, but if they don’t care..." (05:42, Eric)

6. The Power of Community & Giving Back

• Navigating Disaster & Building Loyalty
  • During Hurricane Ike, Pete gave away free food to the devastated neighborhood, earning long-term loyalty:
    "That night we got like two, three crew members to come in... we cooked fajita, started bagging them... line out the door, gave away free food to like 80 families..." (45:34, Pete)
    • Years later, during Harvey: "Pete was there for us during Ike, let’s be there for him during Harvey." (46:46)
  • Focus on hyperlocal connections:
    "Teachers, preachers, and coaches. That’s how you... within a mile to three miles, people can know you." (80:22, Pete)

7. Tech & Data-Driven Operations

• Reverse-Engineering for Convenience and Scalability

  • Invested in custom web ordering/user experience tech via Savory—reduced clicks, AI-assisted baskets for catering orders.
    "With three clicks is what we want... AI component where, 'I have an event for 25 people,' and it fills up the cart for you..." (103:32, Pete)
  • Monthly innovation council reviews data to optimize performance.

• Stack and Analysis Tools:

  • Ovation: For guest feedback (goal: 4.6+ rating, >75% highly satisfied; 84:22–84:47)
  • Savory: Custom site and catering platform.
  • Calibrate: Customer demographic/site selection.
  • Hunger Rush: POS; Olo: Online ordering; Thanks: App and rewards.
  • A/B testing and tracking granular guest behavior to refine conversion.

8. Evolving and Preparing for the Future

• AI, Demographics, and Automation

  • Recognizes Moore’s Law/AI will reshape how purchases and recommendations happen; focuses brand on being “agent-ready.” "Your website has to talk to agents because our communication... is the most inefficient form of communication..." (127:29, Pete)
    • The future is about creating systems flexible enough to adapt quickly and maximizing convenience for busy, affluent consumers.

• Owning the Real Estate & Financial Stability

  • Acquired properties to stabilize the business and family future.
  • "Own [the real estate], then... your restaurant is real estate for the tech people... You have to figure out how to cap the power." (120:04, Pete)

• Advice for Scaling:

  • Grow strategically, not recklessly—ensure each step is a “small risk,” not a risk-all.
  • "Where do you want to end up? And work backwards." (81:11, Pete)
  • Be ready to pivot, invest in data tracking, and embrace technology driven by operational needs, not just sales pitches.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hiring and Culture:
  "If people don’t give a damn, they don’t need to read past the second sentence... nothing else is going to matter." (04:45, Pete)

• On Humility and Team:
  "There’s no, there’s nothing that I’ve done that’s because of me. It would be impossible." (28:19, Pete)

• On Systematizing Growth:
  "I had to understand that I want to suck a little less at that, so then get somebody that’s slightly more organized to help me with that." (56:40, Pete)

• On the Longevity of Relationships:
  "People will show up for those who show up for them." (46:10, Eric)

• On Data-Driven Improvement:
  "Marketing is such a weird world to an operator... There’s only the I, the investment. That’s all you know... So we brought marketing in house because we wanted to be able to track where it’s all going." (99:15, Pete)

• On Tech Solutions:
  "There are very few things created by operators." (118:14, Pete)

  • The need for more operator-driven innovation in restaurant technology.

• Perspective on Leadership:
  "Your first guest is your employee. I think that's where it starts when you start with the ripple..." (140:05, Pete)

• On Vision & Scaling:
  "If I can't do it for 20 years, I don't want to do it for one." (69:53, Pete)

• Big Picture Advice:
  "There’s 10,000 ways to do the right thing. There’s 10,000 goals. Figure out where you want to end up—and do the math, work backwards." (81:11, Pete)

Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Topic / Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:35 | Fajita Pete’s Mantras: Give a Damn & Suck Less | | 06:40 | Atomic Habits & Incremental Improvement | | 08:03 | Current Business Model & Unit Economics | | 13:51 | Early Real Estate Lessons & Family Influence | | 16:46 | Family’s Ordeal Fleeing Colombia, Roots of Hustle | | 35:02 | Menu Focus: Only What Travels Well | | 41:53 | Guerrilla Marketing Strategies for B2B Catering | | 45:34 | Community Engagement During Hurricane Ike | | 54:15 | Partnerships & Systems: Scaling Beyond Founder’s Capacity | | 69:53 | Franchising for 100 Stores: The Importance of Systems | | 84:22 | Key KPIs: Ovation, Guest Feedback, Sales Growth | | 97:36 | Organization and Key Hires Post-Investment | |103:32 | AI-Driven Online & Catering Ordering at Fajita Pete’s | |110:07 | Site Selection: Using Calibrate & Demographic Data | |120:04 | Restaurant as Real Estate for Both Restaurants and Tech | |127:29 | Preparing for the Age of Agents and AI | |140:05 | Employees as First Guest; Ripple Effect in Leadership |

Lessons & Advice for Restaurateurs

• Hire for attitude; train for skill.
• Start small, improve daily, and grow when ready—don’t chase growth solely for its own sake.
• Build an organization around your own weaknesses—bring in partners and team members who do things you don’t.
• Value community: consistent, local relationships are the foundation of enduring success.
• Measure what matters: implement tools to analyze customer behavior, track KPIs relentlessly, and adjust accordingly.
• Own your dirt: Turn restaurant profits into long-term wealth through real estate ownership.
• Prepare for a tech-driven future: Engineer your systems for both current convenience and next-generation customer interaction.
• Give a damn—about your staff, about your customers, and about your neighborhood.
• Define success for yourself, set the end goal, and reverse engineer the path to get there.

Final Three Pieces of Wisdom from Pete Mora (140:49+)

1. Give a damn.
2. Invest in people, regardless if you get something back.
3. Try to leave something—through your children or your community—that makes the world suck a little less.

Resources & Tech Stack Mentioned

• Books: Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Tech/Software: Ovation, Savory, Calibrate, OLO, Thanx, Hunger Rush, Google Maps (for site selection)
• Other tools: Innovation Council (internal data review group)

Tone & Style

The conversation is candid, personal, and practical—blending humor, humility, immigrant grit, and data-driven discipline. Pete's approach is deeply rooted in community, teamwork, and self-improvement. The episode is part inspiration, part MBA crash course, and part real talk for anyone serious about restaurant entrepreneurship.

This summary is designed for those who want the full story and actionable takeaways without listening to the episode.