Community Highlights: Meet Joshua Carrera of Carreras Tacos

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Carrera.

Hi Joshua, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My brother Ryan and I grew up in Chula Vista, San Diego, in a biracial Japanese–Mexican household. Food was always at the center of our upbringing. We made fresh flour tortillas with our Mexican grandmother, Margaret Carrera, and spent early mornings at our Japanese grandmother Dorothy Otsuka’s house washing rice and making katsu sauce from scratch. Cooking wasn’t something we learned later — it was part of who we were from the beginning.

After high school, we both attempted college, but it wasn’t the right path for us. What stuck was kitchens. We worked across San Diego in a variety of restaurants — pizza shops, sushi bars, Thai kitchens, and chef-driven concepts — learning technique, systems, and what it really takes to operate at a high level. Eventually, we moved to Colorado and continued sharpening our skills in some of Denver’s most respected restaurants.

The turning point came while I was working a catering job early one morning on my birthday. I realized I was pouring everything into someone else’s business and had hit a ceiling. Not long after I left that job, Ryan was laid off just before Christmas. We were in a new city without family or a safety net, so instead of looking for another job, we decided to bet on ourselves.

In 2019, we launched Carrera’s as a small catering company. We were sharing a car, splitting bills, and cooking in our apartment while building our brand on social media. We plated food like we were already established, documented everything, and kept pushing. After months of preparation, we secured our license and invested in a food trailer. Around Cinco de Mayo that year, things took off. Social media traction, strong visuals, and word of mouth helped us grow quickly.

Since then, Carrera’s has expanded into food trucks, full-service catering, and a brick-and-mortar restaurant known for West Coast Mexican flavors. What started as two brothers trying to create opportunity for ourselves has grown into a business with a bigger vision: building a restaurant group that reflects our upbringing, our work ethic, and our commitment to quality.

We’re still young, still hungry, and still building — but everything we’ve done has been rooted in culture, discipline, and the belief that if you’re willing to adapt and outwork the room, you can create your own path.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road.

When we decided to start Carrera’s, we didn’t come from money or have a big safety net. We did have one investor who believed in us early and contributed $30,000 to help us purchase our first food trailer. That belief meant everything — but beyond that, it was on us to make it work. There was no large backing, no team of advisors, no cushion if we failed.

At the time, we were sharing a car, splitting finances, and navigating permits and licensing in a new city without family support. I was still working full-time in another restaurant while trying to build Carrera’s on the side — answering calls between shifts, stepping outside for service, handling business whenever I could. That season required sacrifice and serious discipline.

One of the biggest challenges people don’t see is how consuming ownership is. If you truly care about building something great, it doesn’t shut off. You’re thinking about food costs, systems, branding, staffing, guest experience — constantly. It’s mental endurance as much as physical work.

Working with family adds another layer. My brother and I are together every day. We’ve had tough disagreements and stressful moments. But those arguments come from caring deeply about what we’re building. Over time, that pressure strengthened our trust rather than breaking it.

There were also the uncontrollable factors — seasonality, unpredictable weather, and the pandemic. As an owner, you don’t get to say, “This ruined us.” You adapt. We adjusted our model, leaned into mobile service and catering, invested in marketing, and kept moving forward.

The road hasn’t been easy, but every challenge forced us to sharpen our mindset and our systems. We didn’t have unlimited resources — we had belief, work ethic, and the willingness to figure it out. And that foundation is what allowed us to grow.

We’ve been impressed with Carreras Tacos , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Carrera’s Tacos is a West Coast–inspired Mexican restaurant and catering company rooted in our upbringing in South San Diego. While we operate in Centennial and Greenwood Village today, at heart we’re still just two boys from Southern California cooking the food we grew up on.

When we moved to Colorado, we immediately noticed something was missing. There were no true California burritos. Fries weren’t going inside burritos. Birria wasn’t everywhere yet. Baja-style tacos weren’t common. The flavors and style that felt normal to us just weren’t being represented.

We grew up three minutes from Ed Fernandez Restaurant in San Diego — one of the highest-rated taco shops in the country. That was our standard. That was baseline.

So when we launched Carrera’s in 2019, we weren’t trying to be trendy — we were simply bringing our version of home to Denver. Since then, you can now find California burritos at over ten spots across the city. They may not all be made the way we would make them, but the fact that fries are even in the burrito now shows how the market has shifted.

What sets us apart is authenticity. We’re not copying a concept — we are the concept. Our upbringing in a Japanese–Mexican household shaped our discipline, technique, and respect for food. Even though tacos and burritos are considered casual, we approach them with intention and standards.

When you walk into Carrera’s, you step into our world. You’ll hear West Coast rap, Chicano oldies, classic corridos. You’ll be greeted with “Hola, bienvenidos.” The vibe is intentional. The energy is intentional. Every bite and sip is meant to embody what it feels like to be in Southern California.

We specialize in California-style Mexican food — vibrant salsas, properly seasoned carne asada, burritos that feel like something you’d grab after the beach. Beyond the restaurant, we’ve built a strong catering and mobile food presence, serving everything from private events to large-scale weddings and corporate functions.

Brand-wise, what we’re most proud of is that we’ve stayed ourselves. We didn’t water down our identity to fit a market. We brought our culture with us and built something from the ground up — from apartment photoshoots to food trucks to a full restaurant.

Carrera’s isn’t just about tacos. It’s about representation. It’s about culture. And it’s about building a restaurant group that continues to reflect where we’re from while pushing forward.

We’re still hungry. Still evolving. And still cooking like we have something to prove.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If you want to build something real, understand that it will consume you. Ownership isn’t part-time. If you truly care about quality and growth, your business will live in your head 24/7. That’s just the reality.

Early on, I thought passion and hard work were enough. Over time, I learned that systems are what actually keep you alive.

We have a regular customer named Tom who used to own Argus Security. One day I sat down with him for almost an hour. He talked about structure, strict job codes, clear accountability, and how growth doesn’t break businesses — lack of systems does. That conversation stuck with me. It reminded me that you don’t only learn from people in your lane. Don’t feel too big to get help. You never know who’s capable of sharpening your thinking.

But alongside systems, there’s something just as important: unwavering belief.

You have to know — not hope — that you’re going to succeed. Obstacles don’t matter. Bad weather doesn’t matter. Slow days don’t matter. You still have to do the job because it’s going to work out. You have to be the ultimate believer in what you’re building.

And if you’re not? Maybe the product isn’t there yet.

We knew our food was good. We went and tried everyone else’s. We knew exactly where we stood. We weren’t guessing. We just needed people to try it once. We believed if someone tasted it one time, we’d have them.

When you mix confidence in your product with exceptional hospitality — being genuinely nice, building rapport, remembering names — you create loyalty. People don’t just come back for food. They come back for how you made them feel.

Know your numbers. Build systems. Stay humble enough to learn. But also be the strongest believer in your own vision.

If you combine discipline with belief, and you refuse to quit, you give yourself a real shot at building something that lasts.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://carrerastacos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carrerastacos/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carrerastacos/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/carreras-tacos-greenwood-village-2?osq=Mexican

Image Credits
Xb_photography
Xavier Beso Photography