The accolades have piled up over the last few years for Nixta Taqueria. Chef Edgar Rico won a James Beard Award. Food & Wine named Nixta one of America’s top 20 restaurants. Michelin honored the Austin, Texas, taqueria with its Bib Gourmand award for exceptional food at moderate prices and PBS featured Rico and his wife and business partner, Sara Mardanbigi, in the show Taco Mafia.
But the path has been anything but easy.
After signing a lease in early 2019, Mardanbigi and Rico poured their life savings into the restaurant. To avoid debt, the couple handled almost all the renovations themselves. “We thought it would be a turnkey project,” Mardanbigi said. “It ended up taking almost nine months before we opened.” They learned how to tile and install grease traps by watching YouTube videos.
When Nixta finally opened, lines wrapped around the block. But only five months in, the pandemic forced a shutdown. Then, in 2023, the city made the restaurant close again — this time to bring the building up to code, even though Nixta had passed previous inspections. “We thought that was a death sentence for the restaurant,” Mardanbigi said.
Less than a year later, though, Nixta was named one of the country’s top 20 restaurants. Mardanbigi and Rico have learned to survive and thrive through chaos.
The challenge: Building an agile business amidst setbacks
Mardanbigi and Rico felt prepared to start Nixta. Rico had trained as a chef in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, and Austin, while Mardanbigi brought operations experience from corporate catering and recruiting talent for a national chain restaurant.
But like many other first-time entrepreneurs, they discovered that building a business presents all kinds of new challenges. “Every day was a learning experience for us,” Mardanbigi said. “We thought, Okay, it’s a 600-square-foot space; this is going to be a neighborhood spot. Then on opening day, we saw someone show up with a lawn chair three hours early, wanting to be the first one to eat there, and we thought, Wow, okay. And then it didn’t stop.”
The crowds flocking to Nixta were a good problem to have, but for new business owners, trying to keep up “got a little scary,” Mardanbigi remembered. Nixta’s operations had to be as simple and efficient as possible. That meant having a point-of-sale system to make checkout quick and easy for customers. It also meant having robust tools to handle all the business’s needs, including scheduling, payroll, and inventory.
Soon Nixta ran into bigger challenges. Just as the restaurant was gaining momentum — with even bigger crowds coming after Texas Monthly magazine raved, “Nixta takes tacos to the next level” — the COVID shutdowns hit.
Then there was the summer of 2023, one of the hottest Texas summers on record, that knocked out their power and revealed some previously unknown code violations. Whether it was a way to offer online solutions or reach out to their customers with updates, Nixta needed solutions to survive, and they needed them right away.
The solution: Adapting to challenges by using flexible, efficient systems
Before Nixta opened, Mardanbigi and Rico chose Square tools to keep the restaurant’s operations simple. “Edgar had worked with just about every POS and operating system,” Mardanbigi said. “He knew Square was super easy to use. And Edgar is the first to say he’s not the most tech-savvy guy.”
That simplicity has paid off. “Square helps us manage team scheduling and run payroll,” said Mardanbigi. “It tracks inventory, so chefs know what’s in stock and what to order. And it puts all our sales data in one place, which is huge.” The system has made employee training easier, too. “Our team can see the schedule, clock in and out, and view their pay — all in one app.”
Nixta also found an efficient way to collect, track, and distribute tips. That was a priority for Mardanbigi and Rico because they split tips evenly between the front-of-house and back-of-house teams. “When we run payroll through Square, it automatically puts tips in based on hours worked.” This experience comes as a huge relief to Mardanbigi. “I ran payroll in a previous job, and we didn’t have those tools. So I’d be going crazy, wanting to pull my hair out. Now processing payroll takes me maybe 25 minutes, even with the complexity that comes with tip sharing.”
One of the most important skills for restaurant owners, Mardanbigi and Rico have learned, is the ability to adapt quickly whenever challenges arise. One issue popped up as soon as Nixta opened: lines stretched out the door.
We figured we’d be fine with one POS stand at the counter. We were really wrong. We needed mobile card readers and a lot of them. Square made that happen for us”
Sara Mardanbigi → co-owner of Nixta Taqueria
Similarly, when the pandemic arrived, the restaurant was able to offer online ordering in an instant using Square Online. “Square got everything activated for us. Online orders helped keep our business alive,” Mardanbigi said.
The biggest test of Nixta’s ability to adapt came during the 2023 heat wave when the city shut the restaurant down until the building could be brought up to code. The fixes ended up taking seven months.
Mardanbigi and Rico got creative by borrowing a friend’s food truck. The experience allowed them to keep the business going in the short term. It also prepared them to run pop-ups and other offsite events, which have become a major part of their business. “When you’re serving offsite, the process needs to be seamless,” Mardanbigi said. “Square’s POS terminal does that. We have one person outside with the terminal and one person inside.”
The impact: Growth through data-driven decision making
In only five years, Nixta has weathered challenges that might have brought down other businesses. And it has kept thriving.
As costs rise, the restaurant relies more than ever on data. Mardanbigi, who has a background in finance, knows the importance of data-driven decision-making. “We use Square quite a bit to know who are our returning guests, who are our new guests,” Mardanbigi said. “What’s the average spend? How long are guests staying? What marketing efforts work best to capture new customers? How are labor costs trending month over month, year over year? Should we be doing more events or offsite catering?”
Leveraging data has allowed Nixta to increase profits and then reinvest in the business. One recent example: “We saw demand going up and invested in a more efficient tortilla machine. That cut down on labor and allowed us to produce more without sacrificing quality.”
Pop-ups now play a big role in visibility, revenue, and market testing. Rico and Mardanbigi started running Persian-themed pop-ups — a nod to Mardanbigi’s heritage — as a test for a possible brick-and-mortar location. Nixta’s POS system makes it easy to take payments offsite and have the money go right into the business’s account. “One time we were doing a pop-up hours away and forgot our Square reader,” Mardanbigi remembered. “We panicked until we realized that Square lets us take payments right on our phone.”
Flexible payment options have been a game changer in the restaurant. “We can provide more hospitable service by letting guests go to a table after ordering at the counter,” Mardanbigi said. “With the mobile reader, our server takes payment at the table.”
An added bonus? “We’ve found that this service leads to extra sales. When a server asks, ‘What else can we get you guys?’ someone might be jonesing for an extra duck carnitas or something.”
Reflecting on Nixta’s journey, Mardanbigi expressed gratitude for the tools that have helped the restaurant come through crises even stronger than before. “Square has definitely grown with us. And we love that everything is bundled in one place, and that we can pull reports and data with a simple tap. Square makes things easy for everyone. We’d be pretty lost without it.”
