Mindy Hargesheimer (00:00):
Hey guys. Welcome back to the podcast. I have Eric Knott, the CEO of Tiki Taco here with me today, and we are gonna talk about this beloved local foodie experience. If you love street tacos, burritos a good margarita. Um, maybe some ice cream to go with that. We are gonna dive into the menu of this local eatery that has been booming. They have grown from a walk up to having, um, five locations today, plus their food truck. And whether you are a patron who just loves good food, which in this case is Mexican flavors combined with kind of a Southern California twist, we're gonna dive into why this should be one of your favorite eateries around the metro. And maybe you're a local brand that's looking for some inspiration on how to grow your own business the way that they have. Um, you're gonna find a lot of great information from Eric on how they have built their brand here. Um, and what's to come in 2026 as well, because there's a lot of growth happening around the city in a neighborhood near you. So I hope you enjoy the chat that we had, and be sure to visit your local tiki taco as soon as you can after this episode. Thanks.
(01:12):
All right, well, Eric, welcome to the podcast. Thanks
Eric Knott (01:15):
For having me.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:16):
I wanted to mirror you.
Eric Knott (01:17):
I love it here
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:17):
Today.
Eric Knott (01:18):
I love it. I actually, funny enough, I don't have that hat.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:20):
Really?
Eric Knott (01:21):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:21):
Well, I couldn't decide. You guys have I like yours. I, um, I like the neon look that you guys have. That's like a throwback. Yep. Um, I think you guys have that in a shirt and everything too. But the tiki taco, we're gonna have to get into the whole vibe of where that was created. 100% because it's so contagious and so fun to get into it. Um, but Eric Knott with Tiki Taco, CEO.
Eric Knott (01:40):
Yes. So
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Mindy Hargesheimer (01:41):
Excited to chat with you today.
Eric Knott (01:42):
I am as well. And, uh, you know, Tiki has been a vibe for me the last year and a half. Yeah. Since you started there. Um, you were just talking before we got jumped on about, you know, corporate America.
Mindy Hargesheimer (01:54):
Yes.
Eric Knott (01:55):
And so I had to dress up a certain way for a long time, <laugh>. So I am taking full advantage of the vibe of people.
Mindy Hargesheimer (02:01):
Oh my gosh, I hear you. I'm literally just like, you know, wake up and go a little bit. Right. That's right. Um, okay, so you, so the quick backstory is that you relocated to the Midwest from the east coast. That's
Eric Knott (02:11):
Correct, yes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (02:12):
A little bit of a different experience here than where you're from.
Eric Knott (02:14):
Yeah. In a good way. Yeah. And I don't want this to get out to too many people that would listen to this <laugh>, because I don't want people to start influxing into the Midwest. But it's been a very good change,
Mindy Hargesheimer (02:23):
Good
Eric Knott (02:23):
Change of pace. Uh, the people are much nicer, traffic's better
Mindy Hargesheimer (02:28):
Midwest. Nice. I'm sure you've heard that term.
Eric Knott (02:30):
Yes. <laugh>. Yes. But very inviting.
Mindy Hargesheimer (02:32):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (02:33):
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You know, and, and, and genuine I would say. Yeah. Authentic.
Mindy Hargesheimer (02:36):
I love that. Okay, so you're the CEO of Tiki Taco. Um, and we'll kind of talk about like, more about what you do and how you got into this, but I wanna dive right in because Tiki Taco is so loved in the city and people are devouring it so much that you guys are growing like crazy. I don't, I don't know, I can't speak to this, but I feel like you're almost defying the odds with the growth of Tiki Taco. And so I wanna talk about, like, from your perspective coming into this, what makes Tiki Taco so amazing?
Eric Knott (03:03):
So I think you have to first start with just the basics, right? People I think inherently want good food.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (03:10):
With laid back, authentic people serving it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
And
Eric Knott (03:14):
They want to be in an environment that is fun to be in. Yeah. So you think about Tiki, we're a made from scratch kitchen. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So any, everything from salsas to proteins are all made in the restaurant by our team members. Mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (03:26):
<affirmative>. Love it.
Eric Knott (03:26):
You think about the relaxed environment, you know, we have team members that have been with us 5, 6, 7, 8 years because we try and take care of them, treat 'em like a family, compensate them. Well give them growth if the opportunity, if that's what they want.
Mindy Hargesheimer (03:40):
Yeah. And I wanna talk more about that because I do feel like the culture both outside, like as a, a patron, but inside as well, like, it seems very different, different from other places that I
Eric Knott (03:50):
Learned.
Mindy Hargesheimer (03:51):
I would love to be there
Eric Knott (03:51):
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A long time ago. It's really a basic, um, mantra. And that is if you take care of your people, your people will take care of you.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (03:58):
And so whatever that means to individual concepts, right? Sure. Um, and then the third, the, the ambiance we have super bright environment neons. Yeah. Kind of like a, our parent company is actually named Island Time. 'cause the whole theory behind it is like, you walk in, you feel like you're at an island kind of deal. That's,
Mindy Hargesheimer (04:15):
I didn't come across that. I love that
Eric Knott (04:16):
Comes from.
Mindy Hargesheimer (04:16):
So, yeah.
Eric Knott (04:17):
But I think the, those three things at, at its core is what's been able to give us the opportunity to serve more guests and more communities.
Mindy Hargesheimer (04:24):
Yeah. So back to the, the island time. So the history of Tiki Taco, because you came in, what, about a year and a half ago?
Eric Knott (04:31):
Yep.
Mindy Hargesheimer (04:32):
Um, to it. So it started as a walk up on 39th Street.
Eric Knott (04:35):
That's correct.
Mindy Hargesheimer (04:36):
What was the origin of Tiki Taco? Like, how did the concept come to be with like, the vibe and the aesthetic and, and all that? Because it's so fun.
Eric Knott (04:43):
So I'll give you the whole story. Yeah. So in 2017, um, two gentlemen started Tiki Taco.
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Mindy Hargesheimer (04:49):
Okay.
Eric Knott (04:50):
And it was just a walk up window and it was more of like a late night spot Yeah. Where they're open until three, four in the morning. 'cause you've got a bunch of bars on Midtown.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yep.
Eric Knott (04:58):
Um, one week before COVID, three of my now partners in Tiki bought the restaurant from those two. Okay. Kind of a bad juju, right? You buy a restaurant company or restaurant actually at the time, single restaurant. And COVID happens a week later.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:13):
Gosh. Yeah.
Eric Knott (05:13):
But, um, you know, trying to make the most out of everything, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. We had a walk up window, so they stayed open.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:18):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (05:19):
The small dining room had to be closed. So it gave 'em a chance to rebrand and do all of that. So, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
They
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:25):
Kind
Eric Knott (05:25):
Of flipped the original tiki into what it is now. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. From a brand, um, standpoint, also along the way started changing food items, more quality, higher quality, more what the guest wanted.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Okay.
Eric Knott (05:37):
Um, so there was the three original, uh, group that has two brothers and a mother here local in Kansas City actually. Got
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Mindy Hargesheimer (05:44):
It. Um,
Eric Knott (05:45):
So then they built their second location in, at Truss. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. At 54th and Trus
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:50):
Yep.
Eric Knott (05:50):
Did extremely well. And that community loved us, just like the one in Midtown. Yeah. And then they built Overland Park.
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:57):
Okay.
Eric Knott (05:57):
Um, so they got
Mindy Hargesheimer (05:58):
That's downtown Overland Park,
Eric Knott (05:59):
Correct. Downtown. Yeah. So they had the three restaurants they brought on, uh, two more, uh, owners as well. So brought on mm-hmm <affirmative>. With different backgrounds. So, uh, so the original three was Judy Rush, uh, Lindsey and Lyndon Wade. So two brothers and a mother. Okay. And then Rich Wiles was brought on. He has a, a kind of an interesting background. He, he has a culinary degree also open Westport Cafe back in the day. Oh. Uh, before he sold it to the two guys that have it now.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Okay.
Eric Knott (06:26):
And then he got into general contracting and real estate. So that's kind of his primary focus, but he still had a love for the restaurant business. And then we also brought on Jason Koslow, who's our director of ops Okay. As well. So he, he's run a, a bunch of restaurants here, local in Kansas City. Yeah. So they got to that three restaurants. And I think the skillset of, of being able to scale that
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (06:46):
Is what they're interested in. And kind of found me through that process and Yeah. Speaker 3 (06:50):
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Uh,
Eric Knott (06:51):
Funny quick story, because I, I tell this a lot, is I actually got introduced to Tiki because I needed a phone charger at a restaurant conference.
Mindy Hargesheimer (06:59):
Oh,
Eric Knott (06:59):
Wow.
Mindy Hargesheimer (07:00):
That's fake.
Eric Knott (07:00):
So Rich, rich was at a conference, we bumped into each other. I needed a phone charger. He had one, which that, at that point we had to have more conversations and mm-hmm <affirmative>. I had been looking for something, they were looking for someone, and it kind of was like this destined situation that was going,
Mindy Hargesheimer (07:15):
You're like, I've been dying to move to a landlocked city. It
Eric Knott (07:19):
Is great. <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, that, that's not how, that forget the beach. That's not how that went <laugh>. But, uh, so I, uh, came out a couple times, met all the people involved, had the food, um, met with our executive chef now, um, and just fell in love with the culture that they had established already. Yeah. And the kind of the general direction that they were going with the food and kind of what they wanted to do. So came on board in July and we really just focused on just standardizing things, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Getting all recipe management. Right. Getting all the, the systems in place within the four walls of the restaurant. Then we brought on a, I'm a huge tech guy. I, I think that, you know, the world has changed so much over the last few years
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Mm-hmm
Eric Knott (07:58):
<affirmative>. And it's going even faster now. And so why, you know, spend so much time trying to find potential problems when you can use technology to tell you exactly what's wrong, and you can spend all of your time fixing or adjusting to that problem.
Mindy Hargesheimer (08:13):
That's funny. I saw you when I was doing my research on you. I think I saw you talking, maybe it was LinkedIn, but talking a bit about ai and it was one of the questions I almost wanted to ask you. Like, how
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are you using ai? I don't know if anybody else cares about that, but I do. I'm like wanting to learn how to incorporate it into my business world. So,
Eric Knott (08:28):
Yeah. And I think that, um, you know, first and foremost be, before we go down that rabbit hole, <laugh>, it's a rabbit hole, uh, eyes not replacing people. No. Like, I think that that's the fear. And I'm sure each generation had a fear of something that was gonna replace them. Right. And some jobs, I mean, if we're being quite honest, like, I think about robotics, I know that's completely different from the subject to ai, but in our environment, I would love to have a robot that would peel and cut avocados.
Mindy Hargesheimer (08:54):
I think they, I think they've done that with some other
Eric Knott (08:56):
Restaurants. Chipotle. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (08:56):
Chipotle.
Eric Knott (08:57):
Yeah. Yeah. Like, no one likes decor
Mindy Hargesheimer (09:00):
Rights,
Eric Knott (09:01):
<laugh>, and it's like the one thing that is so dangerous to cut yourself with to get that core up. But anyway, I could talk about that for a days, but
Mindy Hargesheimer (09:07):
Yeah. But that is fascinating. Yeah. So
Eric Knott (09:08):
We brought on a bunch of technology kind of gets you up to, to today and then we signed two big partnership deals, uh, one with our food and one with our beverage. So we signed with Cisco, we signed with Pepsi as our beverage provider.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Okay.
Eric Knott (09:19):
And then we started growing. Yeah. And so I think we had a good baseline, good foundation. We built in 2025, we built two brick and mortar stores, one in Olathe, one in Shawnee mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (09:30):
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<affirmative>. And
Eric Knott (09:31):
Then we also opened up 15 off-premise locations as well. So
Mindy Hargesheimer (09:35):
15.
Eric Knott (09:36):
Yeah, 15. Wow.
Mindy Hargesheimer (09:37):
I knew about KI wanted you to talk a little bit about KU athletics
Eric Knott (09:40):
And partnerships there. Yeah. That was one. So we have six Total Rock for me. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Um, I'm a Carolina fan because of my background, but I still now am a KU fan because we have businesses there. Yeah. So it's kind of a weird situation. But, uh, we open, we have three locations in the Allen Field house. We have three locations in the brand new football stadium there. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. We're in about every hospital in Kansas City. So from Wow. KU to, uh, St. Luke's to Menorah, uh, children's, I mean, you name it, we're probably in there at some point. Mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (10:11):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (10:11):
And we also have a couple corporate office locations too. So we're in Garmin's home office down in Olathe. We're in Lockton on the plaza.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:17):
Okay.
Eric Knott (10:18):
Um, we just went into the, uh, the nuclear facility down south and at some point in the near future we'll go into the Fed Reserve building too downtown. So.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:27):
Very interesting. So is that like, is it an actual, like walkup fast casual within,
Eric Knott (10:32):
Think about like a popup one day a week.
Mindy Hargesheimer (10:34):
Okay.
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Eric Knott (10:35):
So, yeah. You know, and, and it was a test. So long story short is ku we've got a really good relationship with, 'cause we're right there on 39th Street. Yeah. And I wanted to get involved with the hospital 'cause it was only two blocks away, and figure out how we could help them and they could help us
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (10:49):
And event, it got to the point where we were able to open this cafe once a week and, you know, I was like, ah, it's probably not gonna be like something that we make a ton of money off of. Sure. But it's gonna be great for branding, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. You've got doctors and nurses and they need to eat and, and all of that. We went down the first couple weeks and it was just crazy busy mm-hmm <affirmative>. Line, I mean, a hundred people in line waiting to get tacos. And it dawned on me that you have doctors, you have nurses, you have patients, you have people visiting the patients. Then you have the IT staff and the admin staff all at these hospitals. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:20):
So
Eric Knott (11:20):
Now it's gotten to the point where I think they look forward to us being there on Tuesdays, taco Tuesday,
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:25):
Uhhuh <affirmative>
Eric Knott (11:25):
Because it breaks up the monotony of what the, the, uh, cafeteria is already serving them.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:31):
Yeah. I was gonna say, what are the other options? Obviously outside the property or whatever
Eric Knott (11:35):
They have, they have a, they have a cafe too, so they'll do some stuff, you know, like some burgers one day or something like that, and then they have the grab and go stuff. Yeah. But it's, it's a great mix. And for me, I, I wasn't going after it in the beginning thinking that it was gonna be a good revenue driver for me. I just thought it was Right.
Mindy Hargesheimer (11:51):
It's the good intentions of
Eric Knott (11:52):
That's right. Yeah. You're feeding people that are helping people that are injured or, or whatever the case may be. And we're getting our brand out there, right? Yeah. Which we're all about brand exposure. Mm hmm <affirmative>. So if you see any of us at any point, we better have something <laugh>, a hat, a shirt, something on. Because you know, when you're, I mean, here in Kansas City it's kind of easy, but like as I
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go to these conferences and things like that, you know, it, it's building a brand that people didn't probably know existed. Right. And then we've won some national stuff, which has been nice to try and get the brand out there. We won top 40 in 2024, and then last year we watched, uh, we won top 25 brands to watch for in 2025. And I'm, I'm
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:31):
Congratulations. That's huge.
Eric Knott (12:32):
Preemptively hope that we rent, uh, top a hundred fast casuals in America this year too. Okay. So,
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:38):
Well, so, okay. So to date you have, is it five locations plus a food truck?
Eric Knott (12:42):
Correct. Is
Mindy Hargesheimer (12:42):
That correct? Yes. And then what I've read a little bit about the growth that you're anticipating, but talk a little bit about that, of like, in terms of where else around the metro is the plan to grow and are you looking regionally? What do you guys wanna do?
Eric Knott (12:54):
Yeah, so I think what's important to, to talk about first is smart and healthy growth.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (13:00):
And so our, basically our, our whole idea here is we need to get the right people in place to open these restaurants. Now it's a little bit of give and take because you don't know what you don't know. Sure. So in 2026, we'll open four, definitely four locations in KC Metro.
Mindy Hargesheimer (13:18):
Okay.
Eric Knott (13:19):
So we're gonna open, uh, one in Liberty. Mm-hmm
Mindy Hargesheimer (13:21):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (13:21):
One at Metro North, where the old mall used to be at Metro North Mall, one in Lee Summit. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And then one in the Crossroads.
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Mindy Hargesheimer (13:27):
Perfect.
Eric Knott (13:28):
So those four are for sure. Okay. And we're, we're still looking, I think we're gonna try and top out at a fifth. So I think we're gonna try and open five more next year total. And we have our site set really in two specific locations on a hundred 19th Street, like South Op, between, call it Row and Mission, somewhere in that.
Mindy Hargesheimer (13:44):
Oh, perfect. Yeah.
Eric Knott (13:45):
Stretch
Mindy Hargesheimer (13:45):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (13:47):
Or out in Lawrence.
Mindy Hargesheimer (13:48):
Okay.
Eric Knott (13:49):
And because we have the, the, uh, locations in the arenas already, and I mean, we don't necessarily have a college town yet
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (13:56):
We are close to college. We're right across from Rockhurst at Truce and Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Behind,
Eric Knott (14:00):
Uh, UMKC. So we do have a a D one school there Right. At UMKC. But, um, so yeah. So that's, that's kind of what we're gonna target for 2026. And then we'll kind of, I wouldn't say we run outta room in KC Sure. But we're run out of like, large markets. So all
Mindy Hargesheimer (14:17):
The different like essential neighborhoods that really have like
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Eric Knott (14:21):
Enough people to Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (14:22):
Enough people to warrant it. Okay. So I, um, I read that this is Startland News, but you said our whole business plan starts with each restaurant owning its own community. And I thought that was really brilliant. And I was watching, um, some of your content online, Shawnee as an example, and you guys moved into Shawnee, but then you go into the Aztec theater and you are getting to know them and you're getting to hear their story, and then you go into Hanks and everything. Like, talk about that because, you know, with the new locations coming up, I, I love the way that you guys make that really known that you're looking to be like engrossing yourselves within that pocket.
Eric Knott (14:57):
Yeah. So I think it's important to start with the fact of being part of your local community.
Mindy Hargesheimer (15:02):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (15:03):
And I've had extreme success with it in my past with the last two concepts that I was with. But more importantly, I think that if you're top of mind in your community mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (15:14):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (15:14):
Then your community will then support you. Right. Yeah. So we, I guess maybe about a year ago, probably November-ish, uh, of 20, uh, 5 24, sorry. Um, we started this campaign where we wanted every general manager in each location to own a three to five mile radius around that specific location. Mm hmm <affirmative>. So think about, you know, youth sports, think about churches, think about local nonprofits, anyone that needs assistance Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
And
Eric Knott (15:44):
How we can get involved. So, I mean, we're very inclusive. We, we, we basically will help anyone. Yeah. So I'm talking from, we've done stuff with KC PET Project Yeah. For the pets. We've done stuff with, um, high schools, middle schools.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (15:59):
Uh, churches. We've done some, even some things I wouldn't even think that we've done, but the whole point is Sure. We just want to try and help. Everybody has a need for something. So, we'll either we could
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do, uh, give back days where people come in and we write 'em a check back for how many people come in that day. We've done food like sponsorships and donations. We're a corporate sponsor with Big Brothers, big Sisters. Awesome.
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:21):
So
Eric Knott (16:21):
Yeah, the whole mindset is that GM owning it. But then to your point, what we do when we go into a new market is we try and really take the spotlight off of us mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (16:31):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (16:31):
And Spotlight the people that have been doing great things Yeah. Around that. So you mentioned Shawnee, you know, Eric from Hanks has done a great job with Hanks Jay at Friction, or I'm sorry, Jay at, um, at, uh, wild Child.
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:44):
Yep. Jurassic Measures and
Eric Knott (16:45):
Jurassic Measures. Yeah. And then Brent over at, uh, friction, I mean, will over
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:50):
Got the claims over there,
Eric Knott (16:51):
Molly at mcla. I mean, so it's just a great group
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:53):
Of people. Such an incredible community. Yeah.
Eric Knott (16:55):
Yes. And so I think that if everybody put forth a little bit more effort mm-hmm
Mindy Hargesheimer (16:59):
<affirmative>. That our
Eric Knott (16:59):
Communities could be so much better.
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:01):
Yeah.
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Eric Knott (17:02):
And so it's just a part of who we are. And honestly, I think that the, you know, gen alphas that are coming into our workplace now, they value that so much more than just going and getting a paycheck. They want to work for somebody or with somebody mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (17:19):
<affirmative>. That
Eric Knott (17:19):
Is doing good in the community and know that they're part of that. So it's really, it's all encompassing. Right. So we do right by our community mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (17:28):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (17:29):
They then come and support the restaurants. Our team members feel good about doing it. I mean, it's, so, it's, there's no real loss.
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:37):
So in your, no one loses 'cause you come from the restaurant industry. Do you feel like this is something that Kansas City's kind of like, not pioneering but doing a better job of in terms of like what Tiki Taco was doing with this? Or have you seen this happen in your past experience where there's been someone who was able to like really successfully get into the neighborhood? Kind of.
Eric Knott (17:57):
I think that, I think there's a lot of people that do it well.
Mindy Hargesheimer (17:59):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (18:00):
But I think where, where it's different here is that the communities are much open and inviting.
Mindy Hargesheimer (18:09):
Okay.
Eric Knott (18:09):
So I, I've done this a lot with a lot of restaurants. Right. And you know, sometimes it can be a lot of work to just get in front of someone Yeah. Or have a conversation, you know, where here it feels as if, I'm not saying I can cold call or cold email someone Yeah. And get, but I mean, I'm very fortunate. So five, there's six people total that own tiki taco. Okay. And so the other five beyond myself have lived and grown up in Kansas City. Yeah. So anytime that I'm like, Hey, we should need to get involved with hospitals and I'd bring it up to the group. Next thing you know, I've got 15 contacts at Right.
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All
Eric Knott (18:44):
These different hospitals that they either went to school with or they did a project. So, you know, two of the guys, uh, they did a lot of production here in Kansas City
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So
Eric Knott (18:53):
They've done shot commercials and movies and stuff for Burg, diamonds and this and that. Yeah. So there's all these networking opportunities that now I'm able to, uh, take advantage of.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:04):
Yeah. You see that being a little bit of a different landscape here.
Eric Knott (19:07):
Correct. From
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:08):
Where you
Eric Knott (19:08):
Come from. 100%.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:08):
Yeah. I love that.
Eric Knott (19:09):
You'd have to fight a lot more and, and it is just a little bit more contentious to try and Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:13):
You
Eric Knott (19:14):
Know, get in versus be Kansas City's been great.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:16):
Good, good, good. Yeah. Okay. So I kind of wanna like get immersed in the menu. Okay. The flavors, the dishes, everything. So whether someone has been to Tiki Taco or goes there every week or for somebody who hasn't been there, um, I wanna kind of dive into like what makes it kind of Mexican style, California, this fusion of, what do you guys create? What do you guys known for?
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So, uh, this is my like spiel, right? Yeah. So like if somebody comes in, I've never been here before. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:41):
And
Eric Knott (19:41):
I say, okay, so let's start out with, we have your traditional Mexican flavors mm-hmm <affirmative>. So if you're looking for a street taco, a soft taco or a crunchy taco with your choice of protein, which could be el pastor off the spit, it could be caritas, it cooks for five hours. Or it could be the ground beef for the chicken that we make in house.
Mindy Hargesheimer (19:58):
Yep.
Eric Knott (19:59):
That's like your traditional mm-hmm <affirmative>. Let's start there.
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:02):
I know a few people who would be great with that baseline too.
Eric Knott (20:04):
A hundred percent <laugh>. And honestly, I probably eat 50% of my time. I eat street tacos. Yeah. It's just as corn tortillas, they're fantastic. They're not, you know, too heavy. You get it through your day. And then I graduate to like our specialty tacos. So I'm like, okay. So now you're a little more adventurous.
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:19):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (20:19):
My favorite four. 'cause we have eight total.
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:21):
I brought the menu with me just in case I wanted to look at it <laugh>, because I've tried a few myself. But anyway, go ahead.
Eric Knott (20:26):
So my favorite four are, are on the right hand side of the menu, uh, when you come in the restaurant. So it's a sweet, uh, chili shrimp taco. Okay. A Thai fried chicken taco. Mm-hmm
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:37):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (20:37):
Our dripping bia
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Mindy Hargesheimer (20:39):
Oh my gosh.
Eric Knott (20:39):
Gosh. And our Korean beef. So you got a, a really guess if you're a seafood person, you can go sweet chili, which is our sweet chili sauce, lettuce, tomato, queso fresco. Uh, the dripping beer is, is in my opinion, like something you have to
Mindy Hargesheimer (20:53):
Try. Yeah.
Eric Knott (20:53):
Yeah. So we take our, you know, five hour long caritas and then mix it with our beria salsa, and then we cook the, the tortilla in the salsa on the, on the grill with cheese cilantro.
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:05):
I mean, it sounds kind of gross, but I'm like, you had me at dripping, you know, like, oh, so good mouth watering,
Eric Knott (21:09):
So good.
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:09):
The texture thing. Yeah.
Eric Knott (21:11):
And then so, and, and then the Thai fried is kind of like your Asian, you know, infused taco there. Yeah. So it's tempo chicken and it's tossed in, um, sriracha soy with this cabbage jalapeno crema slaw on top of it. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So it's another fantastic. And then, then I start gradual. Okay. So now if I don't have you hooked on tacos, I'm like, well, our burritos are fantastic. Yeah. This is where the southern California comes in
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (21:33):
So all of our burritos, you can get, uh, curly fries inside of the burritos,
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:38):
The Casey Burrito. Yeah, I know. We've definitely experienced that. <laugh> brilliant.
Eric Knott (21:42):
At first though, when I first brought,
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I also grew up on Arby's curly fries. Okay. So like anytime I see a curly fry, I'm like, oh, it's try nostalgia and I love it.
Eric Knott (21:49):
So yeah, my first time out I was like, wait a minute, you're putting curly fries in the burrito. Yeah. And then I had it and I was like, oh my God.
Mindy Hargesheimer (21:54):
That seems kind of Midwest of us to do too.
Eric Knott (21:56):
Yeah. It's so good. It's so good. And, but I do tell people my favorite burrito that we have on the menu is called a Thai chili pork burrito.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:03):
Okay.
Eric Knott (22:03):
So it's, uh, peppers, onions, ground pork ar bowl, chili flakes, rice, and two medium fried eggs inside of the burrito.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:10):
I like Thai anything to be honest with you. So Yeah.
Eric Knott (22:12):
So good.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:12):
I'm all in on that.
Eric Knott (22:13):
And then if I don't have you hooked
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:14):
And a mean bean,
Eric Knott (22:15):
If I don't have you hooked, then I'll say Okay, we also have nachos and tiki fries, which are basically nachos on top of the curly fries.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:23):
Oh my gosh.
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Or quesadillas. Like all of these items. Yeah. Like some of it sounds probably boring, but it's still so good.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:30):
Well, it sounds like kind of this like culmination of flavors coming together, which really make it a different offering than you could find anywhere else, which I love. So,
Eric Knott (22:38):
And there's a couple of, uh, there's a couple of vegetarian options.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:41):
I was just gonna say, so I wanted to talk about dietary Yeah. Because people are like, like I, I try to be no dairy, unfortunately, I love cheese, but I have my own issues with that. Um, but then gluten-free, all that stuff you have to talk about that. So
Eric Knott (22:52):
Beautiful thing is, like I said earlier, we're a made from scratch kitchen. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (22:55):
So
Eric Knott (22:55):
You can literally, your optionality is if we have it, we can do it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:00):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (23:01):
So you wanna put stuff on something, you wanna take stuff off of things. We can do all of that. So, and, and by the way, we've had some random requests and we have no
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:10):
Like what,
Eric Knott (23:10):
Like pineapple in a burrito. Like to me that is random. I don't know. Do
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:14):
You even have pineapple? Yeah, I guess you would. There Yeah.
Eric Knott (23:16):
<laugh>. So we actually have pineapple to cook on the spit with the el pastor as it's cooking. And then a traditional el pastor taco comes with, um, grilled pineapple on top of it.
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That's kind of interesting. People coming in and sort of creating a new menu item
Eric Knott (23:28):
Yeah. For
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:28):
Themselves, which great. That you accommodate it
Eric Knott (23:30):
A hundred percent. Yeah. And um, so I think that like gluten-free, we have a whole gluten-free menu mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (23:36):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (23:36):
Um, we have markings on the menu if it's spicy or if it's vegetarian. And then, like, like I said, the beautiful thing is if if you're allergic to whatever it is, cilantro or mushrooms or
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:48):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (23:49):
Cheese or we, we can remove all of that
Mindy Hargesheimer (23:52):
Super easy. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about your, um, margarita and cocktail menu for those of us that are still drinking. Yeah.
Eric Knott (24:00):
It's not doing dried January. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (24:02):
No, it's called Damp January.
Eric Knott (24:03):
My, I've never, I've never even done that. I don't even know that term.
Mindy Hargesheimer (24:06):
Don't No need to start <laugh>.
Eric Knott (24:08):
So we've actually, this is part of the menu that we've kind of tinkered with a lot over the last year or so. And the whole premise is, is trying to get to something that people want. Yeah.
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Speaker 3 (24:16):
So
Eric Knott (24:16):
We had a pretty large liquor, uh, menu when I first started. We were selling anything from like Kase Azo to, you know, et cetera mm-hmm <affirmative>. But it was just too big. Okay. And so we just started running basically a product mix on a monthly basis to see what people were actually buying. And come to find out, 95% of our liquor and beer sales came from two things. Either a margarita or a beer.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Okay. So
Eric Knott (24:38):
We, we shrunk it down. So right now what you have is you have mostly Mexican beers. So we'll have, um, you know, DOIs, Corona, Modelo
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (24:48):
And then on the Margarita side of course we have a house margarita. And then we have an island time margarita, which is just better booze in the margarita
Mindy Hargesheimer (24:55):
Elevated. And
Eric Knott (24:55):
Then we did keep some of the original, uh, cocktails on the menu as well. So we have a party time, uh, we have a pineapple fuego, so we ma Thai, we give you a little optionality if you're wanting a rum drink or a vodka drink.
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:10):
Perfect little escape in Kansas, Missouri. Yeah.
Eric Knott (25:13):
We even put a little umbrella on top. Love. So you feel like you're at the beach, you know? Well,
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:17):
Yeah. It's the whole aesthetics. It's the whole vibe. That's right. Um, speaking of that, okay, so you guys have a motto, which is it's always a good day to have a good day.
Eric Knott (25:24):
That's right.
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Where did this come from? How does this play out?
Eric Knott (25:27):
So that actually was there when I
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:29):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (25:29):
Joined Uhhuh <affirmative>. And I think it's all about just positivity in the world. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:33):
Right.
Eric Knott (25:34):
And so like if you start every,
Mindy Hargesheimer (25:35):
You can use a little bit of that.
Eric Knott (25:37):
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we don't actually, uh, we don't keep people that don't follow that motto
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (25:45):
So I believe that if we have an environment that creates an option for someone to have a good day Yeah. Then they should choose to have a good day. And so I'm not saying everybody has to be great every day, but
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Sure.
Eric Knott (25:59):
You know, I think at the end of the day, we, we try and make sure that our team, our guests, our the environment is set up for success for it to be a happy day. Right.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
So
Eric Knott (26:11):
What, whatever that means to you Right. For our team members, it could be just a organized, uh, environment that I know exactly what I'm supposed to do. I can be myself mm-hmm <affirmative>. I can have fun with the guests if I want. If it's for guests and I wanna watch TV games on, I can do that. If I
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wanna interact with the bartender or the server or if I want Airbus in, I'm on a call and I just want to eat my top. Like, we just try and make it as comfortable mm-hmm
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:37):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (26:37):
And give as many options as possible to, to everyone.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:40):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (26:41):
That's at the restaurant.
Mindy Hargesheimer (26:42):
Love it. Um, I wanted to go back to, um, real quickly, so your inclusivity mm-hmm <affirmative>. Which is super, um, important to your brand. And you can see a lot of that coming through if you're just an everyday person looking at what you guys do. Um, but also in the, the menu, I think you guys have partnerships or you have had 'em the golden scoop and High Hopes ice cream.
Eric Knott (27:01):
We still do.
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:02):
And talk a little bit about that, about like how you guys work with them and you mentioned, um, uh, one of the pet ones, but you did possibilities as well
Eric Knott (27:09):
Working
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:10):
With them. Yeah.
Eric Knott (27:10):
We've, we've, honestly, you probably could look up more than I'd remember. Yeah,
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:13):
That's
Eric Knott (27:14):
True. We just had so many, honestly. But, um, the couple that, so the high hopes, there's a story behind that. We, we wanted it to have a Choco taco and uh, if you remember back in the day, you used to get 'em from like the freezer section in gas stations
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Mindy Hargesheimer (27:28):
Yeah. And at the pool every summer. Yeah.
Eric Knott (27:30):
Uhhuh. And so we couldn't find them. And so instead of going and try and beat that drum, we found High Hopes, which is a local ice cream shop off of Truce. Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
And
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:37):
They
Eric Knott (27:37):
Actually make that for us. So it's cinnamon flavored ice cream and a waffle cone dipped in chocolate.
Mindy Hargesheimer (27:41):
Love it.
Eric Knott (27:42):
And also back to the community, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. It's trying to do as much as we can locally here. Golden Scoop. Um, that is a fantastic organization. And, you know, there was a relationship there, uh, with one of the team members knew somebody and got us connected there. And so we started by selling their ice cream mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right. It was like the, the easiest thing we can do is we can put some ice cream in our shops and if people, well, we actually add a little, couple churro bites on top of it just to make it Yes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (28:10):
I've had it.
Eric Knott (28:11):
Yeah. So Pearls
Mindy Hargesheimer (28:12):
Love it. But
Eric Knott (28:12):
That's, it's a great organization. We've done, uh, we've done their golf tournaments, you know, anything we can do to help them out. But I worked with best Buddies in my past life and mm-hmm <affirmative>. When we opened, you mentioned Plausibility. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So when we opened Olathe, uh,
someone came in from possibilities and we can't sell dog treats at the restaurant, you know, it probably doesn't fit us, but, uh, what we did do, uh, we're an active sponsor of theirs, so we helped them throughout the year, but we also, uh, employ one of their people at our Olathe location and we're getting ready to hire a second awesome person from, from there. And I think that it's the transformation and getting them in that specific environment, getting someone exposure mm-hmm
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Speaker 3 (28:55):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (28:55):
And we start 'em off, you know, with just a couple tasks and then
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (28:59):
I mean, we did that five months ago. Emma is her name that works for us at in Olathe. And, and now she's moved on to interacting with people and she's almost to the point where she's ready to take orders, you know, from the guests. So,
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:11):
So you're giving her job training,
Eric Knott (29:12):
Correct. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:13):
On site and you'll bring another one on. I love that.
Eric Knott (29:15):
And so now great
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:16):
Partnership.
Eric Knott (29:17):
We're trying to figure out how to expand that, right? Yeah. So, um, Meredith, who you've been talking to a lot Yeah. Is trying to figure out, I think there's a Best Buddies organization here in Kansas City. Okay. So I think that's the route we're gonna go with, but um, more of the story is we're just trying to be involved mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (29:31):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (29:31):
Right? So, uh, you talk, we talked about high hopes, uh, we've talked, we do golden scoop possibilities, um, big brothers, big sisters. Yeah. Yeah. And, and there's probably a ton that I'm
Mindy Hargesheimer (29:44):
Many more
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Eric Knott (29:44):
Yeah. Forgetting at this point, but we're always looking for more. Yeah. And so that's been kind of our challenge, especially we do this and I think it's fantastic, but I might be biased, but every restaurant we open, we try and partner with three to five organizations mm-hmm <affirmative>. And what we'll do is we'll give them for free these $10 tiki cards mm-hmm
Speaker 3 (30:06):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (30:06):
And then they can go out and sell them within their network for five bucks.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (30:11):
So they're, they're getting, let say we give 'em 500 cards, they sell 'em for five bucks each, they're making $2,500 for the organization, the people buying them. Like, well, I'm getting 10 bucks for five bucks. Yeah. It sounds like a good deal. Yeah. And then for us, we're just getting people to come try us.
Mindy Hargesheimer (30:25):
Right.
Eric Knott (30:25):
And so everybody wins.
Mindy Hargesheimer (30:27):
Yes.
Eric Knott (30:27):
Uh, but I think we have to work on our sales pitch because I don't think people believe us. It's like, you know, is that's really what,
Mindy Hargesheimer (30:34):
It seems too good to be true.
Eric Knott (30:35):
Yeah. It's too good to be true. So we've had a couple,
Mindy Hargesheimer (30:37):
What are your intentions?
Eric Knott (30:38):
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Yeah, we've had a couple people take us up on it. It's been, um, it's been really great for us. So we're, we're, we're just about to do one with the bike club in Olathe, which is another fantastic organization. Okay. I don't know if you're aware of that one, but
Mindy Hargesheimer (30:50):
I'm not. What do they do?
Eric Knott (30:52):
So they, uh, work with teens in Olathe that have a troubled past and the organization teaches them how to build a bike. And it's one of those low rider bikes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:07):
Okay.
Eric Knott (31:07):
Um, I've only seen pictures. I've never actually seen like, been on one, but Yep.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:11):
Can't say I have either. So
Eric Knott (31:12):
What they do is essentially is they create a space and they get donations to pay for all the parts to the bike and they build it over their career at, in that high school environment. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And if they graduate when they graduate, yeah. They get to keep the bike.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:25):
Oh, okay. So
Eric Knott (31:26):
They have a hundred percent success rate. That's
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:27):
Good incentive. Yeah.
Eric Knott (31:28):
So, uh, they just took us up on that offer recently. So that was top of mind, but Awesome. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:34):
Okay. Cool. Alright. So looking ahead 2026, um, we talked about like the expansion. What about, um, other things going on? Do you have any plans for fifa? Do you have events that you guys do? Do you have other future collaborations, um, that you're focused on? Like how do you guys go about kind of strategizing
Eric Knott (31:52):
Stuff
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Mindy Hargesheimer (31:53):
Like that?
Eric Knott (31:53):
I think that, you know, there there's buckets of things. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:55):
Right.
Eric Knott (31:56):
So you have the new store openings that we talked about.
Mindy Hargesheimer (31:58):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (31:59):
We want to further our catering business.
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:01):
Okay.
Eric Knott (32:02):
Uh, as a top priority for us. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. We started that in October of 24 and it has just been booming this year. Great.
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:10):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (32:11):
And, uh, it's just, so I think our food travels so well. 'cause we send it out, you know, it's bulk proteins and
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:18):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (32:18):
Tortillas and
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:19):
Whatever. Shout out to the protein movement, so That's right. Yeah. Lining with that too.
Eric Knott (32:22):
And we sell that too. We sell proteins by the pound if you're interested. There you go. Okay. So, but catering's definitely, uh, one, one bucket, even though you said that we did a good job on social. Uh, we've actually hired on a consultant, uh, local consultant here at Kansas City, uh, last July.
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Mindy Hargesheimer (32:40):
Okay.
Eric Knott (32:40):
Who's done a great job of getting us a lot, um, more content and more followership on social
Mindy Hargesheimer (32:45):
Media. It's a beast. Social media. Yeah. All
Eric Knott (32:47):
That. So that's a bucket that I think we can still do a, a much better job with. And then we're still looking for opportunities with sports. Okay. So last year we kind of, uh, made our way into discussions with the royals and the current, um, and, uh, the sporting.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:06):
Yep.
Eric Knott (33:06):
Uh, we
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:07):
To get in the, the stadium.
Eric Knott (33:09):
Correct.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:09):
Okay.
Eric Knott (33:09):
Yeah. So that's, I want to get that done at least one more this year. It, it's a long process. Sure.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:15):
You
Eric Knott (33:16):
Know, doing that. So we got,
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:17):
And you know, we have a new team coming here, right?
Eric Knott (33:19):
No. What new team?
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Mindy Hargesheimer (33:20):
The women's softball team?
Eric Knott (33:21):
No, I didn't.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:22):
The Casey Diamonds. We have a new team, so Wow. Maybe you could look into that. That's a little shout out. 'cause I'm, I'm, I'd love to have them on too. Yeah. We're, um, we are, they're launching a new women's professional softball team and they're playing where the Monarchs play, so I
Eric Knott (33:33):
Did not know that could
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:34):
Be an
Eric Knott (33:34):
Opportunity either, so Yeah. We'll put that on the list.
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:36):
Casey Diamonds. Yeah.
Eric Knott (33:37):
It's funny. Um, you know, the sports are great, uh, for us because it's a captive audience. Yeah. Right. And we can get our product in front of it. So I'd like to expand that in 26. I know it's probably a lofty goal to say, oh, we can get in all of them in one year. It's probably gonna be one at a time. You
Mindy Hargesheimer (33:53):
Never know.
Eric Knott (33:53):
Right? Yeah. Um, but I think really it, it's just the deeper rooted community side Yeah. Is just continue to really get, I mean, I think last year we did about just shy of a hundred give back days for the year. Um, now that we're getting bigger, like I think that we can do a much better job. We have five open and five more coming. So if each restaurant did 30 or 40 a year, we could be, uh, we could do a lot more there. But I think the growth of the team this year is gonna be one of our main, um, efforts. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Because doubling in size and going from three to five, technically kind of doubling isn't a big number. It's
Mindy Hargesheimer (34:32):
The same, it's not the same as going from five to 10.
Eric Knott (34:34):
Sure. Yeah. So I think there's gonna be a lot of investment. Um, we're bringing on, uh, new general managers for these locations. We've already hired one, we've got another one
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Speaker 3 (34:42):
Going
Eric Knott (34:43):
Through the process. So investing a lot of time and effort and their training and getting them up to speed, getting the culture embraced on their side and understanding mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we can really get off, get out to the races quickly once we get these, these new stores open.
Mindy Hargesheimer (34:55):
What about the food truck? What, how does that operate?
Eric Knott (34:58):
So, uh, right now it is, uh, you have to book it. Okay. So we're not out there trying to hustle. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:04):
Uh,
Eric Knott (35:04):
With that. And, and it's been a great, uh, year for us with the food truck. I think it was, it was booked close to a hundred times
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:13):
Okay.
Eric Knott (35:13):
Last year mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and we do both public and private. Do
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:16):
You do, I was gonna say, do you do residential? Like for example, where I live, we have food trucks that will come during the summer for people.
Eric Knott (35:21):
Yeah. And, and so we will, um, it has a guarantee on it. Yeah. Meaning like, if you don't reach a minimum, a certain, you know, 'cause it costs us money to activate the truck Sure. And get people on it and gas and all that kind of stuff. It's not a big, big number. But Yeah. I see. From 24 to 25 it basically doubled
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (35:41):
In sales. So I'm thinking, I don't know if we can double it again in 26, but I do think there's a short time by the end of 26 we'll have to get another one.
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:49):
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Yeah. Okay.
Eric Knott (35:50):
Just because the demand for it will be there.
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:53):
Yeah. But
Eric Knott (35:54):
That, that is a cool truck. I dunno if you've ever seen it, but it's,
Mindy Hargesheimer (35:57):
I'm trying to remember if I, I don't think I've seen it actually.
Eric Knott (35:59):
26 feet, bright yellow,
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:02):
Um, oh, you know what I have. I've seen it in the west bottoms.
Eric Knott (36:04):
Yeah. You you can't miss it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:05):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (36:06):
Like you can't miss it. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:07):
Even
Eric Knott (36:07):
Driving down the hall, I think one of the, my proudest moments, uh, in the last year and a half since I moved here is I was headed to the airport to catch a flight to go somewhere and the truck passed me and I didn't know that it was out that day or whatever. They, I'm like, oh my god,
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:24):
There. And it got your attention there. It is. Like,
Eric Knott (36:26):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:26):
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It's like
Eric Knott (36:26):
We made it
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:27):
Almost like seeing the Wiener mobile just a little bit different.
Eric Knott (36:31):
I've stopped and, and took a picture with that too. In Kansas
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:34):
City. We've actually, we've been in the Wiener mobile.
Eric Knott (36:36):
Oh really? This
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:36):
Is the most random thing. It was actually during COVID, somebody reached out to me on, um, Instagram and they were like, is writing in the wiener mobile on your bucket list? And I was like, yeah. So we ended up going, it was in Lawrence and it was really fun. I have pictures of our kids, like in masks in the Wiener mobile, but it was truly, it was really fun.
Eric Knott (36:50):
That's awesome.
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:51):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (36:51):
No, we, there was nobody in it at the time, but we did run into it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:54):
We took funny pictures of, it's, so, um, okay. And so then you guys also have an app?
Eric Knott (36:58):
We do.
Mindy Hargesheimer (36:59):
Um, what do you get with the app? I saw there are like a couple deals or you Yeah.
Eric Knott (37:02):
So
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:02):
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Earn points with it.
Eric Knott (37:03):
Your, um, you know, your activation deal. Like why, why do you want me to download, what am I gonna get for downloading? This app is a free chips and queso.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:10):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (37:10):
So literally just for downloading the app, you get a free chips and queso that
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:14):
He doesn't love chips and queso.
Eric Knott (37:14):
That's right. And we,
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:15):
Except, except the dairy free people.
Eric Knott (37:16):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:17):
<laugh>. Well,
Eric Knott (37:18):
Uh, I guess you could probably make out a chips and guac if you wanted
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:21):
Instead. Okay.
Eric Knott (37:22):
But really the, the app for us, and it's really more on a loyalty side of things, is we wanna be able to reward people that are coming in. So it's a pretty strict, you're, you earn points that are equal to dollars mm-hmm
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:34):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (37:34):
So the more you spend, the more points you get, the more rewards you get.
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:37):
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Yeah.
Eric Knott (37:37):
Anything from $5 off, $10 off, free tacos, free burritos. Listen,
Mindy Hargesheimer (37:42):
I am frugal. I will take $5 off any day of the week. So
Eric Knott (37:46):
My favorite benefit of being part of our loyalty is we do a monthly special every month. We do either a
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Okay. Mostly,
Eric Knott (37:53):
Mostly a food at least. And then either a drink or a dessert. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we'll do two every single month. So right now we have a twice baked potato burrito as our special what? And a, um, a banana, um, cheesecake, chimney, dessert.
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:09):
Oh my gosh. But the, and these are 30 day?
Eric Knott (38:11):
Yeah. Okay. So basically January and then
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:13):
So don't miss out.
Eric Knott (38:13):
We'll flip to February. Yeah. Yeah. So the, um, the benefit of being in loyalty is three days before it goes live. You get to come in and try one for free.
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:23):
Well, there you go.
Eric Knott (38:24):
Every single month.
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:24):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (38:25):
So we're gonna do Lovery. Yeah. February, uh, we're doing a chili Achilles burrito, which is fantastic. Mindy Hargesheimer (38:31):
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Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Like the brunch entree of chicho beans in
Eric Knott (38:34):
A burrito.
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:34):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So good.
Eric Knott (38:36):
And then we're doing a, uh, strawberry cheesecake shimmy. So,
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:40):
Okay. So that then begs the question, do, do you have like a test kitchen? We do. Who's coming up with these ideas? And how frequently are you doing that? How often are you adding things to the menu? Every 30 days, I guess.
Eric Knott (38:51):
Yeah. So we've um, we've scaled our actual menu back to what I think is our core menu.
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:56):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (38:56):
Right. Like, we know that those items sell
Mindy Hargesheimer (38:58):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (38:59):
That, that won't probably change much. We like to have fun mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we have a monthly special. Um, and we have a chef, we have an executive chef. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:08):
Uh,
Eric Knott (39:08):
Chef Carlos. Yeah. Um, fantastic. Fantastic. Um, and he actually, before I get into that,
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:14):
He's definitely on social too.
Eric Knott (39:15):
A hundred percent.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:16):
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I love it.
Eric Knott (39:17):
And he does, uh, first Friday's drop. So what he'll do is the first Friday of the month, he'll go to one of our locations.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Okay.
Eric Knott (39:24):
And he will personally cook a menu item for that day if you show up. So we just did it really, um, last Friday at our Overland Park store and we did a enchilada swissa. So it's an enchilada with Swiss cheese melted over the top of
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:39):
It. He does this for people coming in
Eric Knott (39:40):
Uhhuh <affirmative>, just for that day. How fun. Just for that day. Just for that location.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:44):
Not even just for the staff. I love it. Just
Eric Knott (39:45):
Right. Well we've we've had plenty of it too. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:48):
<laugh>.
Eric Knott (39:48):
But, so it's fun for him, you know, it gives us some social content as well. Yeah. Um, and he's just, he's got a very wide breadth of creativity, so it gives him another avenue to go down.
Mindy Hargesheimer (39:58):
Is he a KC native?
Eric Knott (40:00):
Uh, he's been here most of his life.
Mindy Hargesheimer (40:01):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (40:02):
Yeah. Uh, family from Mexico. Uh, but he's been in Kansas City most of his life. Yeah. And then, so we actually have an office down on 39th Street. Um, and we have a commercial kitchen inside the office.
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Okay. So that's where he plays, we call it, with these. But actually we're more organized than you would think. We, um, today, ironically Right this second while we're here sitting here talking, uh, Carlos and Meredith are both with one of our partners, Lyden. 'cause we also have a, um, studio, photography studio as well, so,
Mindy Hargesheimer (40:32):
Oh, great.
Eric Knott (40:33):
They're shooting the specialists.
Mindy Hargesheimer (40:34):
Oh yeah. Some of your photos are, I don't know if you can say who you work with, but
Eric Knott (40:37):
That's all them. So two of our business partners in Tiki, that's what they do for a living. Okay. So they, they have shot anything from like
Mindy Hargesheimer (40:44):
They're under to, they're so perfect for what you guys have. Yeah.
Eric Knott (40:47):
So they're shooting specials right now.
Mindy Hargesheimer (40:49):
Okay.
Eric Knott (40:49):
Through June. So we get ahead of it so we know what specials are gonna be the next six months, and then they'll do all that stuff today. So that way it's done, ready and done. Ready, rock and roll. Done. The only thing that creativity wise will have to be done is the social part and how to Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:01):
Mix
Eric Knott (41:02):
That stuff in there.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:03):
Love it. Okay. Great. Um, do you guys ever have any, like, I always wonder if restaurants have like, off menu items or like hidden menus and stuff like that? I don't know where I came up with that. It was probably something as a kid, but is that a thing that you can ask
Eric Knott (41:15):
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For? No, it is a thing. I think that, um, you know, the one that comes to mind, not tiki, but the one out there comes to mind is like, you're in and out Burger.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:22):
Okay. Yeah.
Eric Knott (41:22):
I dunno if you've been to that out
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:23):
West have before. Yeah.
Eric Knott (41:24):
But they have like animal style where you can get everything on top of the fries.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:28):
Okay. So we, so some people do it.
Eric Knott (41:30):
We, um, we've tinkered with it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:33):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (41:33):
And we probably, like, internally we have like off menu items, but they're, they're really just a variation of what we do. Right, right. So like, uh, Jason, one of our guys, uh, one of our partners put me on the KC Burrito. Mm-hmm
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:47):
<affirmative>.
Eric Knott (41:47):
Add queso.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:48):
Okay.
Eric Knott (41:49):
And that thing is like, like that's so simple.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:52):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (41:52):
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But it's, it makes that burrito so much better.
Mindy Hargesheimer (41:54):
Can't beat it.
Eric Knott (41:55):
Um, and like I'll do a Thai chili pork burrito as a bowl. Okay. So a lot of people don't realize too, that you can take any of our burritos and make 'em into a rice bowl if you want.
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:04):
I would love that. That's good to know. And
Eric Knott (42:06):
They're very good. Um, and some days it's just, you know, just your normal, basic street tacos. Yep. But, uh, Carlos keeps it interesting because he'll whip stuff up on a basic, on a whi a daily basis, you know, and it's like, well that's really good. We should maybe put that on. But then we get ourselves in trouble menu be way too big.
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:24):
<laugh>. Yeah. Well, it sounds like a lot of fun. Um, okay, we're gonna get into some rapid fire questions.
Eric Knott (42:30):
I love it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:30):
Um, anything else you wanna add about Tiki Taco that we have not covered?
Eric Knott (42:34):
No, I think, I think we've covered a lot of it, you know, and I think that it's a, it our local KC taco joint. Yeah. Right. And obviously someday it'll be local northwest Arkansas, taco Joiner. True.
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:48):
And we cannot forget to mention the merch.
Eric Knott (42:50):
Oh. So yeah, we
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:51):
Tons of merch.
Eric Knott (42:52):
Yes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (42:52):
Yeah.
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Eric Knott (42:52):
And we try our best now. You know, sometimes it's, it takes a little bit of time to, from a creativity standpoint to come up with the designs, but we try our best to have a few merch drops every year.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:04):
Every year. Okay. So,
Eric Knott (43:05):
You know, we just got, we just did one, uh, two months ago, so if you come in, you'll see all new shirts, all new hats.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:12):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (43:12):
Um, and then, you know, probably late spring, 'cause we had to do sweatshirts and long sleeves right before winter. Sure. And then we'll probably have a spring drop as well, but we just try and keep it fun and cool and
Speaker 3 (43:24):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (43:25):
I don't, I probably can't wear some of it. It's just not my style. Right. Yeah. But we try and have something for everybody. So you've got the corduroy one on. I've got a flat top on. Yep.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:33):
We
Eric Knott (43:34):
Have trucker hats. We have mm-hmm. The checkered hats that people love.
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:37):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (43:37):
Um, and then we try just all our designs, you know, are, are fantastic, which Lindsay and Lennon mostly do the design on. I think we, last year we dropped one of Miami Vice kind of stuff, so
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:48):
Yeah, that's exactly what I was, I was thinking of before.
Eric Knott (43:50):
Yeah.
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Mindy Hargesheimer (43:50):
And I saw somebody had some, like, I don't remember what the shoes are called, slide on shoes. I was like, oh, vans do you sell? Oh, vans, was it Vans?
Eric Knott (43:57):
Yeah. Yeah. Like,
Mindy Hargesheimer (43:57):
Do you sell those?
Eric Knott (43:58):
No. So, um, privilege
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:00):
Of working there. That's
Eric Knott (44:01):
Right. We have, we have a few of them have the tiki taco vans. I have a pair of Tiki taco, uh, dunks, Nike dunks.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:08):
Nice. That's fun.
Eric Knott (44:09):
So yeah,
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:09):
So
Eric Knott (44:10):
Fun. Just try to have fun with it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:11):
Yeah. Okay. So you are not a, uh, KC NA native. I almost said Chicago, which is where I'm from. Um, but we're gonna get into rapid fire, so, awesome. What is currently on your Kansas City bucket list?
Eric Knott (44:22):
So it's, to me, it's all food.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:24):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (44:24):
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Right. So I've, I've been, um, accumulating this list. When, when I meet someone I'm like, Hey, what's your favorite rapid fire? Back to you? What's your favorite restaurant in Kansas City?
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:33):
I could never pick a favorite.
Eric Knott (44:35):
Not one.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:35):
No.
Eric Knott (44:36):
Ah, I mine, I have one.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:37):
Okay. What is it?
Eric Knott (44:38):
La Ffr.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:39):
Oh, incredible.
Eric Knott (44:40):
Yes.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:41):
Yes. It, it took us way longer to get there than it should have, and Oh my gosh. It is. I mean, everybody raved about it. It's such a good experience. Yeah.
Eric Knott (44:48):
So, uh, bucket is,
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:49):
I have a hard time picking a favorite because I go to so many that it's like,
Eric Knott (44:52):
Yeah, I'm, I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble.
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:55):
No, I know.
Eric Knott (44:55):
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Yeah. Im just saying like, uh, so
Mindy Hargesheimer (44:58):
I can give you a few though. Bucket like the antler room. I'll give you the antler room
Eric Knott (45:00):
That's already then done. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:02):
<laugh>,
Eric Knott (45:02):
That's done and that's been done. So yeah, I, I have this food affinity and so we love to go and try different places, but the problem is that we've found so many good places that we just keep going back to those places.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:16):
So you have the opposite problem. We're constantly going somewhere new that it's like hard for me to get back to the one place. Ah, so
Eric Knott (45:21):
They're opposite. Yeah,
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:22):
We are. So,
Eric Knott (45:23):
Yeah. I mean, okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:24):
So can you name what those are the
Eric Knott (45:26):
Ones that I really
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:26):
Go back to?
Eric Knott (45:27):
Yeah. We, well, Fu Frog is my favorite.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:29):
What do you get there, by the way?
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I get the brand Zino.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:32):
Okay.
Eric Knott (45:33):
Yeah. So they bring out the fish, or I'm sorry, not the brand Zino. The Dover Sole.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:36):
Okay. They
Eric Knott (45:37):
Bring it out, they de-bone it at the table. Nice.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:39):
Maya
Eric Knott (45:39):
Order there is the exact same every single time, every
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:41):
Time. French
Eric Knott (45:42):
Onion soup, the, um, the, uh, snails and, uh, Dover Cell.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:47):
The snails are,
Eric Knott (45:48):
That it? Unbelievable. That's it.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:50):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (45:50):
So I'd say if I, if I really, I'll just give some, uh, few. So we go to Farino a lot instead of the bar.
Mindy Hargesheimer (45:57):
Amazing.
Eric Knott (45:57):
Um, and then I love 1900. Yep. Um, and then probably like if I was gonna give a non, you know, that's kind of on the upper side,
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Mindy Hargesheimer (46:07):
Elevated,
Eric Knott (46:07):
Elevated side. I think on a, every day we love Cosmo Burger.
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:11):
Okay.
Eric Knott (46:12):
Over in Waldo. Yeah. Like inside Dotson's
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:14):
Uhhuh.
Eric Knott (46:15):
Um, so those are probably like the four or five, and I could keep antler rooms. Fantastic. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:21):
Um,
Eric Knott (46:22):
And then there's always new ones that keep popping up too. That's the, that's the cool part. Yeah. Um, Earl's premier. I mean, I could keep going, right? Yeah. I mean, there's,
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:29):
There's a bit of a cult following up
Eric Knott (46:30):
Bacaro. We went to Bella Napoli last night.
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:33):
Uhhuh <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (46:33):
So there's, there's a lot of great food, but that was supposed to be rapid fire. That was way, no,
Mindy Hargesheimer (46:38):
I am all for extending rapid fire to be slow fire. Fire. All for the slow fire. Okay. Um, who would you love to hear on this podcast? Or what would you like to hear about regarding Kansas City? Kansas City, people, business,
Eric Knott (46:51):
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Anything? I think for me, uh, I am pretty shocked at the large companies that are based here in kc, like to be
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:00):
Like the Garmin of the world.
Eric Knott (47:01):
Garmin, Lockton. Yeah. Um, you know, uh, creative, uh, planning. Planning.
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:08):
Mm-hmm
Eric Knott (47:09):
<affirmative>. You know, so.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
Okay.
Eric Knott (47:10):
I would like to hear from them. That might be a little bit taller of a stretch to get them on. No,
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:15):
They're on my list. Trust me.
Eric Knott (47:17):
Yeah. To see.
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:17):
We, we wanna do any, we wanna do everybody on this podcast that is representative of
Eric Knott (47:21):
Pac. I'd like to know why.
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:23):
Why here?
Eric Knott (47:23):
Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:24):
Okay.
Eric Knott (47:24):
Yeah. Why
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Mindy Hargesheimer (47:25):
I like that
Eric Knott (47:26):
Or, um, haven't
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:27):
Heard that yet.
Eric Knott (47:28):
I, I think that, uh, it, that was kind of more of a business mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, person to have on. I would probably go, I'm, I'm a little, uh, it's probably a big stretch, but the Casey current
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:41):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Eric Knott (47:42):
You know, that's just, we love that. You
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:44):
Gotta get every sports team on here for sure.
Eric Knott (47:46):
Yeah. That one in particular, because in all the cities that I've lived in, I've never seen a, a, a woman professional Yeah. Team
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:54):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (47:55):
In soccer. So I think it's amazing that they're doing that. Yep. And, uh, we've went to games and it's
Mindy Hargesheimer (47:59):
So much fun and the first stadium in the world dedicated to women. Yeah.
Eric Knott (48:02):
So I think
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:02):
It's so fun. It is such a, oh, that whole area. I wanna get people in talking about the whole area expanding down there.
Eric Knott (48:08):
Yeah. So that, that'd probably be my two.
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Mindy Hargesheimer (48:10):
Okay.
Eric Knott (48:10):
I don't know who there would be the person to talk to, but we'll figure it out. Sure. There's somebody there.
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:15):
Um, do you have a favorite hidden gym that you guys have stumbled upon that you love? A little, uh, tucked away under the radar?
Eric Knott (48:23):
I would say recently, I mean, I can give you a couple, but the, the one that was, and it's, it's actually even cooler now that it's winter time is, um, uh, the champagne bar on 31st in Maine, or I think it's 31st in Maine. I think it's Blanc Blanc that's, I was trying to think of the name
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:40):
Jordan
Eric Knott (48:41):
Over there. Yeah. So we did, uh, she's awesome. Yeah. And we did, we did a, we had a friends in town, we went up there. It was beautiful because it was like,
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:47):
To the rooftop.
Eric Knott (48:48):
Yeah. It was in the fall.
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:49):
Yeah.
Eric Knott (48:49):
So it was, it was, and by the way, I'm, I'm still getting used to the cold weather
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:53):
Uhhuh.
Eric Knott (48:54):
So she went and got me a blanket. It was awesome. And then now they have igloos up there.
Mindy Hargesheimer (48:59):
Oh, right. Yeah. So
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They're
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:01):
Seasonal igloos. I haven't done it.
Eric Knott (49:02):
Yeah. So I think that that's
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:03):
A great spot.
Eric Knott (49:04):
That's a cool little spot.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:05):
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good. Um, especially being a transplant here. Um, what do you think makes Kansas City so unique and so great?
Eric Knott (49:13):
The people? 100%. I mean, it's the nicest people in the world that I've come across. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. You know, and I've lived in 15 different cities.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:24):
Right.
Eric Knott (49:24):
Mostly on the East Coast. In fairness.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:26):
Yeah. God, those east coasters, I tell you,
Eric Knott (49:27):
I gotta imagine West Coast the same thing.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:29):
Probably,
Eric Knott (49:30):
I think because we're stuck in the middle. This is, we have the nicest people here.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:33):
But I do wonder, I mean, I've, I've had people go to Chicago and say, everybody was so nice, you know, I'm like, but is it, is it just Kansas City or is it also like,
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I think it's Midwest,
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:41):
Minneapolis, Chicago, Des Moines.
Eric Knott (49:43):
Yeah. I think it's the whole, the whole stretch until you get to Texas. Probably Oklahoma. Yeah.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:48):
Yeah. No, I'm just kidding. <laugh>.
Eric Knott (49:49):
But I, I say people for sure. 100%. That's been at least, uh, my favorite part. Okay.
Mindy Hargesheimer (49:54):
Um, where would your last meal on Earth be? At a Kansas City restaurant? And you cannot say Tiki taco.
Eric Knott (50:01):
Oh, I mean, that would've been probably the Frog. Anything we covered.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:04):
Okay. I was gonna say, I think you already said it. Yeah.
Eric Knott (50:06):
I would, I would probably say, you know, there is a place on my list though that I'm excited about that I have not been to that I, I am very hopeful.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:13):
Okay. That
Eric Knott (50:14):
Is all what It's what people are telling me about. It's called Zero Zero.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:18):
Yeah. We just went there.
Eric Knott (50:20):
Is it?
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:20):
It's a must.
Eric Knott (50:21):
Okay, good.
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Mindy Hargesheimer (50:21):
And they literally have 12 seats. That's
Eric Knott (50:24):
What I heard.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:24):
That is it.
Eric Knott (50:24):
That's what I heard.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:25):
It is so charming. It is so authentic. It is so fantastic.
Eric Knott (50:28):
Yeah. So The Frog would be the one that I would tell you that I've been to.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:32):
Yep.
Eric Knott (50:32):
And I'm hoping that, 'cause I'm a sucker for Italian food. I really am.
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:36):
Oh, you are? Okay. Yeah. Um, I was gonna say, going to the Frog, have you had the server sing Uhhuh? We didn't get that. I gotta go back.
Eric Knott (50:44):
Really? Yeah. I, all you do is ask him. He's there
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:46):
All time. I know. Apparently that was the thing. Just ask
Eric Knott (50:47):
Him and they'll dance and sing. It's, it's great. The On Dance is
Mindy Hargesheimer (50:50):
That is on my bucket list there. Go to go back and have that. Um, okay, perfect. So where can people find and follow you? Tiki Taco or you individually as well?
Eric Knott (50:57):
Yeah. So, uh, all of your social platforms. Right. Tiki taco kc, um, tiki taco.com.
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Mindy Hargesheimer (51:03):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
If
Eric Knott (51:04):
You're looking on for a URL. And then same here, Eric dot, uh, LinkedIn. I don't really get on, uh, personally, I don't get on, um, social. Yeah. Facebook and,
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:12):
Yeah. You're a LinkedIn guy though.
Eric Knott (51:13):
LinkedIn, yeah. Yeah. I, I like
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:15):
Lot good stuff to learn from you on LinkedIn.
Eric Knott (51:17):
And there's, and that's why I like that. Yeah. That program, that platform. Yeah. Is because there's a lot of sharing that goes on. Yeah. That's great. And there's always some bad with the good, but for
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:25):
The most part Yeah. But it's own entity. It's great. So. Awesome. Well, thank you for coming on.
Eric Knott (51:28):
Well, thanks for having me. This has been fun.
Mindy Hargesheimer (51:29):
So good to, fun to meet you. Fun. You too. Yeah. And I'm excited to get this out for everyone. And, and for the new locations coming in 2026, like I'll be hitting all of 'em up. Yeah, that's gonna be great. Checking 'em off my list. Thank you so much for tuning in and finding inspiration in these incredible stories. If you love what you hear, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Leave a rating and share the show to help these Kansas City voices reach even more listeners.