COVER STORY
Faces of Peachtree Corners
Outstanding individuals who help keep our city interesting and thriving
F
aces are generally how we recognize people we know. In Peachtree Corners, the diversity of people who inspire and make the community a great place to live are perhaps our greatest asset. So, for this edition, Peachtree Corners Magazine is highlighting a few faces who make us shine.
When I see your face There’s not a thing that I would change ‘Cause you’re amazing Just the way you are — “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars
Kiko and Olga Kiko and his wife Olga were high school sweethearts in Monterey, Mexico before getting married and coming to the U.S.in the mid-1980s. By that time, the now owners of Kiko’s Tacos & More, 3435 Medlock Bridge Road, were seeking additional degrees in English to support their careers as elementary school teachers back in Mexico. “Bilingual teachers in Mexico were making a lot of money,” said Kiko. But life took a turn. The opportunity to become U.S. citizens presented itself and they began working with Kiko’s sister at her Mexican street food restaurant in Norcross, El Grille. In 1986, the couple opened Los Arcos on Jimmy Carter Boulevard, which relocated in 1995 to Peachtree Parkway, long before Peachtree Corners was a city. In April 2012, the couple allowed their lease to expire. They closed Los Arcos and reopened around the corner as Kiko’s Tacos & More. Their customers moved with them. On any busy Friday night, one or more of the couple’s four grown children may be found greeting customers or waiting tables. This family business caters to the families in and around Peachtree Corners. “We belong to the community,” said Olga. The couple takes great joy in watching kids who first came to the restaurant with their parents now returning with their own families for their first taco. “I love walking out of the kitchen and hearing laughter,” said Kiko. Olga agreed, “When the restaurant is full, seeing people enjoying each other, making friends with each other makes me happy.” Like all small business owners, the couple’s biggest challenge has always been juggling the demands of a growing family with the business. Often one would be at a football game while the other covered the restaurant. Olga shared that one thing people probably don’t know about them is their real names. Olga, known to most as “Kiko’s wife,” is Olga Cazares-Alanis. Kiko is in fact a nickname for the restaurant’s namesake. But Higinio Alanis Delgado is delighted to be Kiko to everyone seeking a family-friendly night of Mexican food in Peachtree Corners. ■
Written and compiled by Arlinda Smith Broady and Karen Huppertz
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Peachtree Corners Magazine ■ April/May 2022 ■ LivingInPeachtreeCorners.com
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Photos by George Hunter peachtreecornerslife
