Over the years, taco stands proliferated in
San Felipe. Ralph figured that fish tacos
would be as popular in San Diego as they
were in the Baja. He solicited one of the vet-
eran beach vendors, “Carlos,” to move to San
Diego and open a restaurant that featured
these tacos. Although Carlos declined, he
provided Ralph with his “secret family
recipe” for fish tacos. Ralph carried this
recipe with him for five years after his 1978
graduation from San Diego State University.
Armed with his liberal arts degree, eight
years’ experience in the restaurant industry,
and $30,000 from his father, Ralph opened
the first Rubio’s on January 25, 1983. It was
located on East Mission Bay Drive in the
Pacific Beach area of San Diego, California,
on the site of a previously failed hamburger
restaurant. Despite Ralph’s lack of a menu
just two days before the restaurant’s sched-
uled opening, the first week’s sales averaged
$250 a day and the restaurant was packed.
Within three years, sales at the restaurant
grew to $2,000 a day. Based on the success of
the first restaurant, in March 1986 a second
location was opened on College Avenue near
San Diego State University. Shortly there-
after, in August 1987, Rubio’s opened its
third location near Pacific Beach. Rubio’s
expansion has continued at a rapid rate.
Rubio’s now has 12 locations from as far
south as Chula Vista to as far north as Irvine.THE FAST-FOOD INDUSTRY (1991)The United States food service industry es-
timated its 1991 sales at $248.1 billion. The
second-largest category of restaurants in the
food service industry is the limited-menu
outlets, which consist largely of fast-food
restaurants such as Rubio’s. Sales in this cat-
egory of food providers are estimated for
1991 at $74.1 billion. According to the Na-FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS
Rubio’s Restaurants Inc., formerly known as
Rubio’s Deli-Mex, was founded as a family-
owned and operated Mexican restaurant
located in southern California. Rubio’s spe-
cializes in authentic, fresh-tasting Mexican
food using authentic Mexican recipes.
Rubio’s is best known, however, for its fish
tacos, which were relatively unknown in San
Diego prior to Rubio’s entry in 1983.
Although Rubio’s is known as the “Home of
the Fish Taco,” the menu also offers a variety
of other, more traditional Mexican favorites
such as burritos and carnitas. Designed as a
fast-food restaurant, Rubio’s gives its cus-
tomers the options of ordering the food for
consumption on the premises or ordering it
for carryout. Rubio’s offers an alternative to
the full-service Mexican restaurant without
sacrificing quality. The success of this concept
has been phenomenal. After opening in 1983
with one location near Mission Bay, Rubio’s
grew in just 9 years (1992), to 12 restaurants
extending from San Diego to Orange
County.HISTORYThe concept for Rubio’s restaurants was first
developed in the late 1970s during one of
Ralph Rubio’s camping adventures in San
Felipe on the Baja peninsula, Mexico. Ac-
cording to the legend, it was on one of these
excursions that Ralph observed numerous
American tourists lined up to purchase fish
tacos from the San Felipe beach vendors.442 ENTREPRENEURSHIP CASE
CASE 2
Rubio’s: Home of the Fish Taco (A)
Source: This case was prepared in 1992 by Professor
Kenneth E. Marino of San Diego State University with the
assistance of graduate student Linda Kelleher Carter. It is
intended as a basis for class discussion rather than to illus-
trate effective or ineffective handling of an administrative sit-
uation.