Meet John and Tracy Graciano of Mister G’s Salsa

Today we’d like to introduce you to John and Tracy Graciano.

Thanks for sharing your story with us John and Tracy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When John was in high school he was in an economics class and had to do a group project requiring them to plan, build and run a small business. His group decided to make chicken tacos with a Graciano family recipe. They sold out every time.

Fast forward to us being married and I was pregnant with our twins. We were having my parents over for dinner so I asked John to make his famous tacos. As he is making them, I couldn’t help myself and kept dipping things into the marinade… carrots, celery and tortilla chips. He begged me to stop so he would have enough marinade for the chicken, promising to use the recipe to make a salsa for me, which he did.

I couldn’t stop eating the salsa and would have him make it anytime we had a party or family dinner. Finally, friends started asking for it and he would make it for them to take their functions as well.

After a few years of friends and family coming to him and begging him to sell it, we had a friend that connected us with his cousin who was a caterer and she said we should try a Farmer’s Market. So with the help and support of family and friends on October 19th, 2013 we started selling our salsas at the Scripps Ranch Farmers Market.

About a year later, a small grocery store picked us up and we were having trouble getting enough kitchen time in the kitchen we rent to keep up with all of it so we looked at each other and decided it was time to get our own place.

In April of 2016, we started looking for a place and we found an awesome location in what is now being called the Miralani Makers District. We are surrounded by a wonderful group of people who are all like a small community with a family feeling to it. There are four breweries, two wineries, a sake room, cider and mead with a small restaurant with more to come. It’s a little village of craft foods and drinks and just fun to hang out.

We will be carrying 16 salsas per day (we have 35 flavors to date) reds, greens, and fruits. We will be an actual tasting room where you can come in and get a flight of salsa to taste with some chips. Then we will have containers if you would like to take a larger quantity home or to a party. We will also have shrimp ceviche, guacamole, and salsa dogs among other items on a weekly rotation.

We just love trying new things and hanging out with people. Our customers have actually helped create some of our flavors by suggesting things to John and being the taste tester for them. He just loves trying new flavors and thinking out of the box with food.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, we have had some days where we look at each other and just say are we over our heads? When you take on something you have never done before it’s hard because you second guess yourself a lot.

John and I worked for an elementary school district. Actually, he still does. I resigned in November of 2016 to do this business full time. I take care of all the office side of the business, the permits, licensing etc. So I quit my job to take on the tasks of getting this kitchen done.

We had many struggles especially at the beginning we had a contractor that wasn’t working out and then the architect wasn’t doing what he needed to do. It was getting to where I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. We were wasting time and money working through these challenges.

Luckily we ran into a friend of ours, he and John had been friends since they were three and five years old. Our friend Justin LaFrantz is a contractor who designs and builds restaurants in San Diego and he came in and turned things around. He worked with us and we came up with a beautiful tasting room and kitchen. It’s way nicer than our first drawings, way more comfortable for our guests.

We still struggled here and there with permits etc you see the Health Department and the City didn’t know what to do with us as far as permits go because no one has ever done a Salsa Tasting Room.

Everyone we talk to always says “A what???” haha. Once we explain it to them, their eyes light up and they get excited and ask when we will be open because they really want to come try it. That’s when I have to just say, keep checking our facebook page, you will know when we know because permits are having to be figured out for us as we go because we are so unique.

Please tell us about Mister G’s Salsa.
We are a Salsa Tasting Room. We make salsas for anyone and everyone from our Mild which has no heat to our Red Hot that is very Hot and then we have our Verdes and our fruits.

We have holiday flavors such as Pumpkin for the fall, Cranberry for the holidays and things like Pineapple or Peach-Mango. We also have Shrimp Ceviche and then he twists things by making things like Pineapple Shrimp Ceviche.

We are proud of being natives of San Diego. Both our families are here in San Diego. We love this city and we are so happy that we were able to show our kids (who are all now adults) that if you work hard and put your mind to it you can still take a dream and make it come true.

We started with an idea and a family recipe and are turning it into a business for our family to run together. Plus we get to make great friends when we have customers come to buy our products.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Anytime we could all get together for a meal or a party. We both have large families. When we get together for birthday’s, Easter, Christmas etc it’s just so much fun.

There’s always lots of different foods and drinks, great music and dancing and lots of games. It’s just those times when we all get together and you can feel the love in the room.

Which, I think, is why we are both so excited to have our own place. We can have people come, hang out and enjoy food and company. It’s our motto… Good Salsa, Good Times.

Contact Info:

• Address: 8680 Miralani Dr. #133
  San Diego, CA 92126
• Website: mistergssalsa.com
• Phone: 8582433602
• Email: mistergssalsa@gmail.com
• Instagram: mrgssalsa
• Facebook: Mister G’s Salsa
• Twitter: Mister G’s
• Yelp: Mister G’s Salsa

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