When Kaeli Robinsong co-founded Tacofino with her business partner Jason Sussman in 2009, she was no stranger to cramped cooking. Having sharpened her culinary skills as a young chef at a rural retreat before transitioning to film catering in Vancouver, she eventually found herself cooking in remote camps throughout the province for tree-planting crews.
“Our kitchens would get slung in by helicopters and we’d have to set them up. The food would get slung in by helicopter, and you’d be watching as the onions fell out. And we’d be like, ‘OK, I guess we won’t be using onions tonight,’” she recalls with a laugh. “So, it was quite wild, adventure cooking.”
That wilderness experience made cooking out of a food truck seem downright luxurious. “We both loved to cook. And surf. So, a food truck in Tofino is all of that combined,” she says.
From Passion Project to Expansion
What started as a passion project in the back of the Live to Surf parking lot 17 years ago has since expanded to include 12 brick-and-mortar locations in B.C. “At the time, we were spending a lot of time in the off-season in California and in Baja, Mexico, surfing. And eating,” Robinsong explains of the initial menu inspiration. “Tacos and surf, tacos and the beach, it all goes together very well. It’s a beautiful combo.”
Before embarking on their journey, they asked Tofino locals what they wanted to eat, and Robinsong recalls them getting a pretty “loud-and-clear” answer. “They wanted tacos,” she says. “So, we delivered.”
West Coast Twist on Mexican Food
Leaning into “non-traditional Mexican food with a West Coast twist,” the popular restaurant brand serves up fish tacos, crispy chicken burritos, nachos and more. The selection of dishes has seemed to strike a chord with locals and visitors alike, with Robinsong pointing to their Baja fish tacos as a particularly popular pick.
“It’s crispy golden-battered line caught ling cod, with chipotle mayonnaise, fresh shredded cabbage and our salsa Fresca. Topped with a lime and with our grilled flour tortilla,” Robinsong explains of the bestseller.
While they’ve played around with the menus over the years at various locations, even venturing down a more elevated path through their Hastings commissary kitchen at one point in time, Robinsong says they’ve never strayed too far from their original mission of dishing out just really good “beach food.”
“When guests come to Tacofino, we hope they get a little taste of Tofino,” she says. “It’s where it all started. And it’s such a special, magical place. We wanted to share a little bit of that magic.”
