The Guillen family-owned business, Taqueria Las Lagunas, opened again for the season on April 5, bringing back classic Mexican favorites like tacos, chimichangas, and more to loyal customers in the Suttons Bay area.
The food truck has been operating in the county since the summer of 2018, drawing in familiar and new customers year after year. The turnout during opening this year was another awesome one, said JC (Junior) Guillen, son of Juan Carlos Guillen, who often works at the window of the food truck.
“Opening day is one of our biggest days outside of peak season in the summer, so it was a great turnout. Most of our repeat customers are people from the county, they all came out…” Guillen said. “Its customers like the same businesses that buy for their employees, we get a lot of that.”
The food truck has been conveniently located next to the Barrels & Barrels store in Suttons Bay since it first opened six years ago. Being stationed in a place right where people drive into downtown has been both a convenient and prime location for the Guillen family business to thrive, making it hard to miss when traveling along M-22.
“It’s the bottleneck of the whole county, you have to pass through there to get to Lake Leelanau, Northport, Leland, Suttons Bay. Especially in the summer, we get people coming in just for the summer at their summer homes and they’re picking up dinner and they’re picking up lunch for driving up north,” he said. “We just found it to be a perfect place for traffic, but also more importantly, it’s the gateway into the county.”
Not only does the business allow for the family to work together again after the cold winter months, but it also means that those working on the truck, like JC or his sister, Lesli, can see friends from around the county that they grew up or went to school with.
“You see your friends you went to school with, their parents and their grandparents,” he said. “I have 10 siblings that graduated through Suttons Bay as well, so we know a big chunk of Suttons Bay because we played sports there and all that. It’s fun to see everyone in that setting while serving… It’s definitely a time where our family kind of gets together again, too.”
On any of the three days they’re open, customers can expect to see anyone from JC to Lesli, to their father, Juan Carlos, working at the truck. The menu has stayed the same since 2018, but Guillen said customers continuously come back every season to indulge in the food the family has been able to perfect and hone in on. Customer favorites include the white fish and carne asada (steak) tacos, and plates like the enchiladas and chimichangas.
“It’s kind of one of those things where in a small space like a food truck, we‘ve zero in on what we can and can’t do (working with the space) based on the volume that we do,” he said. “They’re (the food) made fresh… we even have tripe, which a lot of Mexicans love because it’s a really huge Mexican street favorite as well, so we carry that in our menu — that and the barbacoa.”
The Taqueria Las Lagunas food truck is open Friday through Sunday from 11:30 to 8 p.m. For more information, call 231-944-3974 or follow the business Facebook page for updates.
