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For entrepreneur Omar Kasim, one business idea led to another. “Plomo started in the back of my juice bar. I was in a late night area, and we would close at seven o’clock and then all the college students would come out to play,” said Kasim, founder of Plomo Quesadillas. While running a taco restaurant prior to his juice bar, he noticed something unexpected. Despite offering a range of creative options, one of the top sellers was always a plain cheese quesadilla. This observation sparked an idea: why not test the market at his juice bar?
The only signage was a sticker on the back door, but word spread quickly. What started as an experiment has since grown into three locations across Dallas and Fayetteville, where Kasim went to college. Plomo Quesadillas has become known for creative quesadillas served until 4 a.m. From the El Padrino, a cheesy skirt steak quesadilla filled with Doritos, to the Vaquez, which features Caribbean jerk chicken and mango topped with house-made hot sauce, these aren’t your typical late-night offerings. The menu keeps evolving through monthly drops, limited edition items like their fried chicken tikka masala quesadilla or BLT, sometimes incorporating unexpected ingredients like Fruity Pebbles. Through careful attention to data and customer preferences, what began as late-night comfort food has evolved into a growing business that maintains its edge while expanding its reach.
The college friend who says “what everyone’s thinking”
Most restaurants play it safe with their brand. Plomo does the opposite. “Plomo is a more audacious brand. It’s that college friend who’s not afraid to say what’s on their mind, and you just appreciate them,” Kasim explains. This authenticity drives the business’ success, “My whole shtick is I would rather be loved by a small group of people, and have them absolutely love us than to try to be liked by everyone.”
This voice carries through everything from their menu names to their social media. They once posted a secret menu item in Korean, asking followers to translate it in order to reveal it. Their monthly drops push creative boundaries, turning traditional ideas about quesadillas upside down. The result is a brand that resonates deeply with their target audience, particularly during late-night hours when customers are looking for both good food and good vibes.
Knowing your customer at every hour
Plomo knows their ideal customer. In fact, they call her “Becky.” Becky is a 25-to-35 year old professional who takes care of herself during the week, but on weekends Kasim imagines she’s ready to go out and live life loudly.
How did they come up with Becky? Data. Kasim closely tracks how his customers’ behaviors change through the day in Square Dashboard. He estimates about 25% of orders come through delivery platforms, and the average ticket price varies depending on time of day. When it comes to setting goals for his team, he breaks down big numbers into actionable steps. “If you look at your sales numbers and say, we’re trying to go up 15% year over year,” said Kasim, “If your average ticket price is $22, all you have to do to make this happen is go from $22 to $22.75.” By translating ambitious growth targets into small, achievable increases per ticket, he helps his staff understand how small actions add up to significant growth.
Understanding this customer helps shape the business model. During lunch, people tend to make more rational decisions about where to eat like the distance it would take to drive or price. Plomo aims to be an emotional choice, especially late at night or when they think of fond memories. “When you’re going to a concert, when you’re coming back from the bars, when you’re seeing someone that you haven’t seen in a really long time, when you’re on a wonderful date and you don’t want that night to end, we want that night to end at Plomo,” said Kasim. “We say all great nights end at Plomo.”
Growing without losing their edge
“The hardest part about the way that I think of business is it’s almost like a video game where once you pass a level, what worked in the previous level doesn’t work in the next level,” explained Kasim. With three locations and a fourth planned for Fort Worth, each expansion brings new challenges that require new solutions. What works in one location may not in another, but Kasim strives to make the restaurant’s core flavors and distinctive brand feel consistent to the customer while adapting to each market.
To maintain that, Kasim has developed clear systems for training staff and maintaining quality across locations. Managers learn not just the operations side of the business but how to embody and instill Plomo’s culture. “Our managers get tired of me, hearing it over and over again, about ‘we are only going to be as good as the standard that we hold ourselves to,'” said Kasim. As they expand to Fort Worth and beyond, Plomo continues to prove that authentic business is good business.
