ROGERS, Ark. — Acambaro, a Mexican restaurant in Rogers, has continued to serve the community while representing its family's culture and values.
The restaurant chain spans throughout Northwest Arkansas and into Missouri. Jairo Reyes' family owns the Rogers and Springdale locations of the Tex-Mex family-owned chain. Jairo, who manages the Rogers location, explains his uncles own the other locations of Acambaro.
Acambaro started as a restaurant and store called Tienda Acambaro, opened by Jairo's father, Arturo Reyes, and Jairo's uncles.
"During that time, there wasn't a lot of demand for Mexican products, but the tacos in the back, for the taqueria that we had in the back, was very popular. So they decided to make the store into a full restaurant," Jairo explained.
Jairo and his family grew up in Rogers and said it was special when they could open up a restaurant in their hometown. Yet in May, that put them right in the path of a storm that formed destructive tornadoes across Northwest Arkansas.
"It's very, very terrifying, very sad to see all the people that lost their homes, lost some businesses here that still haven't been able to reopen. So it's been sad to see that as well," Jairo said.
Jairo said he had woken up that night to watch the storms on the news yet figured it had passed when he heard it went by Centerton. His wife, however, kept the news on and eventually said it was around Pleasant Grove. Their restaurant on 8th and Poplar is in the downtown area of Rogers that was hit by the storm and tornadoes. They lost their sign, gas, and air conditioning.
Despite the odds against them, la Familia Reyes put together what they could to serve their community. They hosted multiple free meal events in Rogers and Decatur.
"We want to be able to give back to the community, even though, like, we don't know their stories and just giving back to them is making sure that they're okay as well, because, you know, at the end of the day, they're the ones that support us. And because of them, we've been in business for this long," Jairo said.
It was again Jairo's dad that came up with the idea to help his community. It's one of many lessons Jairo wants to instill in his family as Acambaro continues in the Reyes name.
"All to my dad, at that point, I felt like we can't do anything. I felt like 'we just have to wait.' And my dad's like, 'No, we can still do something,'" Jairo said. "My dad's easily the guy that will improvise, who would find a way if there's always a problem in the restaurant, like, hey, let's figure out a creative solution. That's what I admire about him."
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