2019-05-01 Money Australia

INTERVIEW

I

t seems an oxymorontoclaim

that fast food is goodforyou.Yet

that is the core pitchbehindthe

success of Mexicanfoodchain

Mad Mex. It is alsobehindits

current push into Asia, andoneofthe

main attributes that could standin

its favour as a US-owned rivalfast

food giant, Taco Bell, returnstoour

shores later this year in a bigway.

Even though it has always promoted

its healthy ingredients, MadMexis

doubling down on what it viewsas

a major point of difference.

The chain’s tag is “Your Bodyis Your

Temple”. It claims that its customers

should never have to choosebetweena

quick meal and quality, healthyfood.Its

website features a nutritionalcalendar

so people can check levels ofcalories,

carbs, fats, sugars and more in all of its

dishes. It even publishes recipes so they

can be cooked at home. Now it also caters

for vegans and people with allergies and

gluten intolerance, and was the first quick

service restaurant to sell RSPCA chicken.

Mad Mex founder Clovis Young says he

became hooked on Mexican food when

growing up in California. Surfing or boo-

gie boarding while holidaying with his

grandparents in San Diego would work

up quite an appetite. “After four hours in

the water, you buy a burrito with rice and

beans and guacamole, and the juice drips

down your chin. It was the best thing in

the whole world. I really fell in love with

Mexican food.”

But his family moved to Massachusetts,

and there was no Mexican food to be found

anywhere. For 20 years, the notion of mak-

ing burritos stayed with him but it didn’t

materialise until he moved to Australia.

“Here there was a big Mexican eating

culture in the ’80s, with sit-down restau-

rants, hen’s nights and tequila shots. They

were places you would go once a year and

have a bender. It was very much Tex-Mex,

very unhealthy food. Yet, inherently, Mex-

ican is very simple. It is peasant food. It is

rice cooked with vegetables and garlic, and

beans, and simple meats with chilli mari-

nades. There is no processing. It’s cooked

at home. It’s that simple. What we put on

the table is everything that you can make

at home.”

Mad Mex has 60 stores in Australia and

more than 10 in New Zealand. It owns 20 of

the stores locally, the rest being franchised.

“When I started the business, we had three

restaurants in Sydney. We had great prod-

ucts, but I didn’t know the first thing about

franchising. I didn’t know how to do a lease

deal. Phillip Blanco, who had been with

Just mad

about

Mexico

STORY ALAN DEANS

Favourite pastime is enduro dirt-bike riding because

it burns a lot of nervous energy. He invests in shares,

describing his philosophy as stockpiling cash to have

the firepower for cheap opportunities when they

arise, then buying and holding. Applies the

same thinking to property, buying his first

Sydney apartment last year when

prices fell.

Clovis Young

The former Wall Street equities trader

migrated to Australia with a yearn to make

Mexican food. Age 45; lives in Sydney’s

Rushcutters Bay.

Fact file