When an Aroostook County couple sold 3,000 “walking tacos” during the 2024 total solar eclipse, they knew they’d hit upon something good. Two years later, they’re in business.
Angelina and Chuck Jackman, owners of Amity-based Jack’s Walkin’ Tacos, just won a Greater East Grand Economic Council $25,000 business innovation grant to help propel their new venture forward.
The Jackmans purchased a commercial food trailer in Scarborough 12 days ago, which they will use this week for their first official event in Presque Isle for Living Innovations, a nonprofit that supports people with disabilities, they said.
The couple plans to have everything set up for an Oct. 1 soft opening.
Jack’s Walkin’ Tacos started when the Jackmans were working as Gateway Ambassador volunteers, helping Houlton during the eclipse.
“We started tracking the numbers and Houlton doesn’t really have the capacity to feed 20,000 people,” they said. “We said, ‘Let’s give this a try,’ and thought, ‘Let’s make walking tacos.’”
“You cut the top of the Doritos bag, put the meat and whatever they want in there, give them a fork and they eat right out of the bag and it’s very fast,” Chuck Jackman said.
Walking taco origin stories abound, but some say they were invented in the 1960s by Teresa Hernandez at a Woolworth’s counter. Today, the Sante Fe, New Mexico, Five and Dime in the original Woolworth building claims they are the home of the Frito Pie — a walking taco — selling more than 30,000 a year.
“We wanted something that we could feed a lot of people very quickly. It went so well, we sold about 3,000 tacos,” Angelina said. “We said, ‘OK, this works,’ and it’s been in the process for a couple years.”
They built a menu, a business plan and started saving for a food trailer. But then a business opportunity came up for one of their five children, and they used the money they saved to help her new business get off the ground. They had started saving again when Greater East Grand Economic Council Executive Director Christopher Hinshaw suggested they apply for the grant, she said.
They had one week before the deadline.
“I took everything I had been working on for a couple years and pushed really hard to put together a full business proposal,” Angelina said. “I sat with Chuck and worked out the details.”
They found out they got the grant on her birthday.
“I cried. Chuck was like, ‘you’re going to make me cry,’” Angelina said. “The whole family celebrated and then we hit the ground running.”
But finding a food trailer — a hot commodity all over the country — for $25,000 was hard, Chuck said.
They intend to park a couple of days a week in Danforth, a few days a week in Houlton and at various events. They also plan to hire a food porter, who can transport lunches to a neighboring community.
Their flexible menu can accommodate people who eat vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free.
In addition to the walking tacos, they will offer street corn, Spanish rice with beans, tres leche cake and a dessert her mother made with deep fried tortillas topped with cinnamon sugar and dipped in a caramel sauce.
Two of their children have special needs and their 15-year-old, with autism, has always wanted to cook.
“The line of work that I am in and seeing people with intellectual developmental disabilities struggle to get jobs and get their foot in the door, it was important to us to make sure that he had some path to employment early on,” Angelina said.
She has worked for years as a community relations manager with Living Innovations. Part of her job involves working with employers to help them hire clients.
An important part of the Jackmans’ business plan was to make sure it allowed for entry-level jobs to come in, so people who couldn’t find a spot to work could come in and train on the job.
“We want to hire people who are often overlooked,” Angelina said. “The other part is to give back to the community.”
