The Rreal Tacos brand has exploded across metro Atlanta in the 10 years since it first opened near the corner of Sixth and Juniper streets in Midtown.
The original chef-owner, Adrian Villarreal, sold the restaurant in 2021 to Miguel Hernandez and Damian Otero. Since the pair took over, they’ve added nine locations with two more on the way, Otero said. Every other month, it feels like a Rreal Tacos pops up somewhere around the metropolitan area.
The restaurant itself may feel ubiquitous, but that’s nothing compared to its online presence, made even more so by its latest stunt — wiring hyperlocal celebrity Beltline Kevin $50,000 to be the restaurant’s first sponsored athlete, with another $50,000 to be paid out in biweekly installments for the next year.
Hiring Beltline Kevin (the nickname for longtime Atlanta resident Kevin Randolph) is Rreal Taco’s way of throwing the “mentality of marketing” on its head, Otero told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Because Otero and Hernandez own the restaurant chain outright, with no investors or private equity groups looking over their shoulder, they can simply do whatever they want, even if it doesn’t make sense on paper, he said.
“We have nobody to answer to, so we do whatever we want, and we just want to have fun,” Otero said.
This time, it meant spending half their available marketing budget on hiring Randolph as Rreal Taco’s skating, singing, strutting mascot.
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Local impact
While spending time along the Beltline preparing for Rreal Tacos’ latest opening, Otero ran across Randolph frequently.
He noticed that everyone Randolph interacted with left smiling. When he’s skating, he enthusiastically says hello to each person strolling along the well-trafficked corridor. “I’ve never seen something like that,” Otero said.
Beltline Kevin is a constant presence for those who frequent the Beltline. The 61-year-old Chicago native skates for hours in his retirement. He proudly sings “Milkshake” or “Party in the USA” to anyone who will listen (and it’s hard not to tune in). He’s there for anyone who needs him, greeting people and doling out hugs — a little like the Beltline’s fairy godmother.
“I thought the influence he had on people and how happy people got when they saw him skating, just the whole thing made sense,” he said.
Otero brought up the idea of partnering with Randolph to Hernandez, who immediately agreed.
After witnessing the impact Randolph has on so many people and his hyperlocal celebrity status, they wanted to make sure Randolph’s first paid partnership was sizable.
“It made sense nowhere on paper,” Otero said. “But it made sense in real life.”
Otero said they realized a marketing play like this would resonate more with their Atlanta audience because anyone who has stepped foot on the Beltline has probably met Beltline Kevin.
Randolph was happy to participate, even before he knew they would pay him. When Otero presented him with the simple contract, he misread the number at first, thinking it said $1,000. Otero had to make sure Randolph reread it a few times before the real number sank in — $100,000, to be paid over the course of a year.
The contract doesn’t stipulate specific requirements, and all they expect of Randolph is to represent Rreal Tacos — that means filming some collaboration videos, skating around the restaurant, maybe wearing Rreal Tacos merch, but mostly, they want him to “make people happy,” Otero said.
At first, they were going to wire him money every two weeks, as if he were on payroll, but after seeing how the initial videos took off for Rreal Tacos on social media, Otero decided the right thing to do was immediately pay him half the yearly salary, in part so Randolph could start on renovations to his historic 1920s home in the Old Fourth Ward.
“He’s a one-of-one human,” Otero said.
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Otero and Hernandez had decided they could either spend that money on traditional ads or they could spend it on Randolph.
“As we’re growing and we’re becoming a bigger company, and our marketing budgets continue to increase, we want to go out there and say, ‘Hey, you don’t only have to do Google ads and Facebook ads and just the basics, you can actually do some marketing where the community is involved,’” Otero said. “It has a greater effect and a greater good than just spending money on commercials.”
After the partnership announcement, Randolph’s follower count shot up to more than 13,000, and just one of Rreal Taco’s videos amassed almost half a million views on Instagram.
“After this, I think other brands will start thinking differently,” Otero said.
And he was right. Since becoming Rreal Tacos’ sponsored athlete, Randolph said he’s helped promote other small businesses in the area, usually for free, and he’s received gifted merchandise from big companies like Lululemon, Patagonia and Rollerblade.
“I just thought it was so sweet,” Randolph said. “‘Cause I don’t do this for (the money). It’s nice, but I mean, that’s not why I started it.”
Who is Beltline Kevin?
Beltline Kevin is a performer. He straps on his skates and becomes the Atlanta fixture whose mission is to make people happy.
Randolph is also a 61-year-old retiree who grew up as a shy, nerdy kid in Chicago. He was a runner for many years, thin as can be, like “Urkel,” he said.
As a young adult, he joined the Navy and spent 90 days underwater every six months working as an advanced electronics technician on submarines. In 1997, he moved to Atlanta and took a job teaching computer science at the Art Institute of Atlanta.
Randolph relocated to the suburbs briefly to work as a middle school teacher in Gwinnett County, but the suburban life didn’t suit him.
He retired from teaching and moved back to Old Fourth Ward just before COVID-19. He had picked up rollerblading after arthritis made running too difficult, and by the end of the pandemic lockdown, he had picked up skating on the Beltline.
But it was an eerie world he skated into. Nobody spoke to each other. Everyone’s heads were absorbed in their phones, he said.
“That’s when I started saying hello to people and singing at them to bring them out of their shells,” he said.
Randolph used to sing in choirs for years as a first tenor, hence the impressive performances.
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
The more he connected with people and made them smile and even acted as a therapist for some, the more he found himself on the Beltline, skating for hours a day. Even on his bad days, it isn’t a challenge to get out there because he knows people need it more than ever, he said.
“I know that I’m really reaching people,” he said. “It’s kind of a ministry to me.”
Randolph has had many roles and careers throughout his life, from teaching to earning a real estate license to performing (a side effect of his ADHD, which keeps him always on the move), and though he’s retired, he has plenty left to do.
Randolph hopes to find a partner he can share his life with someday, and he’s always dreamed of being a Mr. Rogers type, combining his love for singing with teaching.
Until then, he’ll be on the Beltline, serenading people on skates and occasionally pausing to find a place to charge his phone.
“People that have known me for years know that I’m not after fame and glory,” he said. “I’m out there for them.”
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