Business finds long-lasting success in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — For a little while, Fred L. Gonzales was feeling like a celebrity.

While Gonzales' business, the Taco Shop, located at 319 W. Fourth Ave., was closed for remodeling, people kept coming up to him and asking him what was going on — when he would reopen or if he would retire.

"Finally, after so long, the people come in and say,' Hey man, we're glad you're back,'" Gonzales said. "It makes me feel great."

The business had to close due to smoke damage sustained because of a microwave short-out , he explained. The Taco Shop closed its doors Nov. 20, 2004, and reopened April 13.

"We went to Service Master, and they came in and started cleaning up everything," Gonzales said. "All the walls had to come down and everything, so we made the eating area into a new place."

Renovations also included cement floor, a new roof, new windows.

"I think it looks a lot better now than what it used to before," Gonzales said. "It really has improved the business, about 100 percent, I'd say."

Gonzales moved into the area about 50 years ago, and has owned the Taco Shop for 27 years. He got the idea to purchase the Taco Shop, then called Harry's Taco Shop, after working for and watching his brother operate a couple fried chicken restaurants in Texas.

"We've been here ever since," Gonzales said, attributing his business' success to a lot of hard work. "You have to get up early in the morning. You have to be dedicated to it, or else you won't make it."

Gonzales' son Pete helps out, and his wife does the bookkeeping. The Taco Shop has four employees, a number that changed in the re-opening because things are busier than they used to be before.

"We're going to keep one or two extra employees," he said.

Things are so busy, he's hearing from some of those same people wondering when the business would reopen.

"Some of them say, 'I went over there the other day but I couldn't go in because there was so many people,'" Gonzales said with a grin and gentle chuckle. "OK, well, sorry."