![]() ![]() Their video garnered 9 million views on YouTube. Nearly all of the videos document attempts of people eating the Fresno-based burrito.īuzzfeed’s duo of Andrew Ilnyckyj and Steven Lim of the series “Worth it” took the three-foot challenge, eating it end-to-end. Now, when you do a search for “Anaconda Burrito” on YouTube, the results show multiple pages of videos with thousands of views each. So while people in Chicago were sharing his video, it eventually found its way to Fresno. “When people start seeing that you have followers, they start following you too,” he said. His name grew as people throughout the country saw the food he posted and followed his page. He established his presence there, starting with only a thousand followers. He started by joining Facebook groups throughout the country, going as far as Paraguay and Chile, even. “I’m going to tell you my secret,” said Espinoza about his strategy to turn the food into viral success. But while the little walk-up stand quietly offered the behemoth of a meal, people were clamoring for it in places like Chicago, Colorado and Ohio before they were in Fresno. That 2016 video has now garnered 36 million views, according to Facebook. A film crew from BuzzFeed captures a segment on the Anaconda Burrito for the show “Worth It.” Photo by Edwin Espinoza The video showcased cooks combining three pounds of meat, one pound of rice and a pound of beans with veggies, cheese and salsa into five tortillas. It took two years for the family to find their recipe for success with a Facebook video. They were selling $30 worth of food a day - not enough to even pay the rent. ![]() So they gathered what money they had to open their first location.Įven then, they had tapped into the little savings they had to survive. We honestly thought we were going to be selling tacos all of our life,” Espinoza said.įinally, authorities said if they caught him again, they’d put him in jail. “He didn’t know this was going to happen. He had multiple run-ins with the City of Fresno for operating without a license. Before they moved into the original location at Fresno and Belmont avenues five years ago, his father, Juan, kept the family fed by selling tacos from a cart. “We were not having too much success with business.”Įven though it was the swap meet sales keeping them afloat, they didn’t want to abandon the restaurant. “It was looking hard for us at the first location,” Espinoza said. In fact, when they debuted the burrito they were relying on selling fresh fruit and returned goods from big box stores at the Sunnyside Swap Meet just to keep the lights on at their restaurant. “We wanted to invent something different, so it was idea after idea until we hit the jackpot with the Anaconda Burrito,” Espinoza said.īut it wasn’t the burrito alone that brought Espinoza’s family restaurant nationwide acclaim from celebrities such as Jimmy Fallon and websites such as BuzzFeed. The three-foot burrito Espinoza and his father Juan created in 2016 turned the restaurant into a phenomenon after four years of trying to secure a place for the family business in a crowded Mexican food market. The Mexican restaurant celebrated the opening of its second store Tuesday at 6929 N. ![]() “I wanted followers, not customers,” said Edwin Espinoza, co-owner of Taqueria Yarelis, about the social media storm surrounding the now-famous Anaconda Burrito. ![]()
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