By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – The small Key lime fruit that Rob Stumm held in his hand might have been the biggest example of why he and his family operation at Felipe’s Mexican Taqueria in Slidell believes they offer the best Mexican meal in town.
“Even the limes for our margaritas are fresh squeezed daily,” he said. “And we picked the Key lime since it’s the best lime flavor for the drink.
“Everything we have in Felipe’s is from scratch—starting in the morning when we cut all the meat and make all the sauces—everything is the freshest food from scratch. We believe we have food here that is better than Mexico,” he said with a smile.
Rob Stumm and his daughters—Courtney, Celie and Sibyl–have worked together in business for years and have certainly found a way to have great success in a variety of businesses, overcoming the old adage of family not working well together.
Rob, originally from Aurora, Ill., found his way south in 1970 when he attended Tulane University for an architecture degree. But the thing that really convinced him to move to Louisiana was something that had gotten many more before him.
“I came for a visit and walked into a place called the Home Plate Inn. I ordered a roast beef po-boy and loved it so much I bought two more and took them to my room,” he said.
Even though he comes from three generations of insurance agents, Rob had other ideas about what career to enter and found great success in the commercial roofing and sheet metal business.
Carriere-Stumm, LLC continues to do well today, but Rob added to his business focus in early 2006 when a longtime friend, Elio Todaro, wanted to build a deli next to his wine warehouse in New Orleans. Rob had been introduced to the Mexican Taqueria by his cousin Tom Brush, who opened the first one in Massachusetts with Felipe Herrera, who ran a restaurant in Boston with his brothers. A taqueria offers tacos with any number of fillings, a food line inspired by food carts in Mexico.
The two flew north to look at the operation where the friendships turned into a partnership for Rob, Tom and Elio, who opened their first Felipe’s Taqueria on South Miro Street in New Orleans.
The format was doing well so it led to a second location on North Peters, a third on North Carrollton, then the Slidell location that opened in the Fremaux Town Center in July, 2014.
With his daughters working in the company as well, and gaining great business operations knowledge from opening five Pinkberry yogurt stores in a six year period, they found the formula to ramp up the success for Felipe’s.
“It’s all about the people we have working with us, and the customers that walk through the door,” Sibyl said. “We treat everyone with the most respect and know that the success we are having is not done by ourselves—it’s a team effort.”
Rob said the other key to building a successful repeat customer base is about providing the freshest food possible, all at a reasonable price.
“We start from scratch with everything, every day,” he said. “Every sauce we make is from scratch.
“We are not trying to be just OK,” he said. “We guarantee the greatest quality, authenticity and freshness in our food.”
Even the look of the restaurants is so authentic since Rob has purchased all of the décor, including flooring materials and furniture straight from Tlaquepaque, Mexico to put in the Felipe’s locations.
“We want you to give us a try to see that the quality, service and value for your dollar is second to none,” he said.
“We learned in the early going that there are no shortcuts to quality and that is what we promise you will find when you try us,” Rob added.
Felipe’s is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 to 10, and Friday and Saturday from 11 to 11. They also cater events for special parties or business functions. For more information, call 985-288-1210.