Meet Araujo’s Mexican Grill
Long before Araujo’s Mexican Grill became a Silicon Valley staple, it began with something simple: a craving for authentic Mexican food.
After moving to U.S. from Mexico as a teenager and building a successful career as a network engineer in San Jose, Frank Araujo decided to retire early to engineer something new — tacos that tasted like home.
In 2005, he launched a 28-foot glass-front taco trailer in San Jose, serving authentic street-style tacos cooked over charcoal. Lines formed quickly, and one trailer became four.
By 2008, Araujo’s opened its first brick-and-mortar location in East San Jose, followed by a second soon after. As the business grew, the foundation stayed the same: scratch-made food, bold traditional flavors, and taco truck prices.
In 2017, Nathan Casper, Araujo's son-in-law followed in Araujo's footsteps, leaving behind his job in tech to help expand and modernize the business, overseeing its three locations in San Jose. What started as a personal craving has grown into a local favorite, built on craft, family, and authentic Mexican flavors.
From limited online reach to record growth
Although the business was thriving, in 2019 Casper decided to experiment with third-party delivery services like DoorDash Marketplace to see if he could reach new customers. Casper saw an immediate lift — a 15% sales increase over the holiday period, driven by new Marketplace customers (based on Araujo's data).
"DoorDash has more data about decision making and food than I will ever have. So, when Doordash says, we think this product or feature is going to work for you, we try it."
Once the COVID-19 crisis began, the foot traffic and cash transactions that had once sustained Araujo's plummeted, making DoorDash critical to their survival during uncertain times. DoorDash not only helped Araujo's continue to serve their community during the COVID shutdown, but also allowed them to hit record sales by exposing their business to customers far beyond local regulars.
"During the COVID shutdown we didn't have to lay off a single employee — we saw record sales thanks almost exclusively to DoorDash. During that time DoorDash was bringing in 95% of our sales."
Araujo's secret sauce for Marketplace growth: DashPass and Promotions
In light of their record growth, Araujo's began leaning into DoorDash programs and features that would allow them to double down on their Marketplace success. Araujo's is part of DashPass, a customer membership program that incentivizes more frequent orders with member-only offers and items, free delivery fees, and lower service fees on eligible orders. For Araujo's, 67% of their Marketplace sales come from DashPass customers, making the program integral to their growth (based on DoorDash data from Jan'26-Feb'26). More than that, they've found that DashPass users are some of their most loyal customers, some of whom order from Araujo's three to four times a week.
"DoorDash Marketplace makes mom‑and‑pop shops like us viable online. The audience we reach now were people who would never have walked through our door.”
Serving Up Loyalty Sales
Araujo's focus on driving loyalty doesn't stop at DashPass. The business also leverages Cross-Channel Loyalty, available with DoorDash Commerce Platform to allow their customers to earn rewards no matter where they order — in-store, on their website, on DoorDash, and soon on Araujo's forthcoming branded mobile app.
"Our mobile app was designed and built by the DoorDash team in about 10 days."
While Araujo's uses many of the features included with Commerce Platform, a suite of simple marketing tools designed to help restaurants grow direct, commission-free orders — Cross-Channel Loyalty has been the key to driving repeat business with the platform.
Araujo's customers that sign up for loyalty on web spend 74% more than non-loyalty customers (based on DoorDash data from Feb'25-Feb'26) illustrating just how lucrative these repeat customers are for Araujo's.
Carne asada, commission-free
In addition to Cross-Channel Loyalty, Araujo's also uses Online Ordering, so customers can place direct, commission-free orders directly through Araujo's site. While Marketplace drives discovery of their business, their online ordering site offers a high-margin path for customers to purchase Araujo's tacos, carne asada fries, and more.
Best of all, the DoorDash team built Online Ordering into Araujo's existing website, ensuring that Casper and the rest of the team didn't lose precious hours updating their complicated site.
In addition to getting Online Ordering up-and-running, DoorDash engineers also helped add a Smart "Order Now" button and pop-up to Araujo's site. With this feature customers are greeted with a pop-up that directs them to order online as soon as they hit Araujo's site.
Full flavor, full speed ahead
Araujo's future is bright, with Casper setting his sights on future expansion. Casper uses DoorDash data to identify where they should open new locations. With DoorDash each Araujo's store can serve about an 8-10 mile radius, making it crucial to open new locations that don't cannibalize their own sales.
As Araujo's keeps growing, Casper will continue to use DoorDash data to understand where he'll open new stores.
"DoorDash has shown us that we serve a much, much larger demographic than we ever expected. And so what's next for us is to kind of keep testing that and understanding where else we can be successful. To have a partner that has the data to back that up has been really, really cool."
Casper’s expansion plans also include continuing to use Marketplace and Commerce Platform in tandem — Marketplace to reach new customers and Commerce Platform to turn them into loyal brand champions. That partnership has grown even stronger with Araujo’s decision to become exclusive with DoorDash for third-party delivery, making DoorDash the brand’s only third-party delivery partner across its locations.
For Araujo’s, DoorDash isn’t just a delivery partner — it’s a growth partner helping fuel expansion, deepen customer loyalty, and power the brand’s next chapter.
