The Taco That Walks

by Eric Gill Ryan Kelly A J Makielski and Josh Willoughby ΚΚΨ/Gamma Nu Chapter FloridaState University

Here at the Florida State University College of Music, the Gamma Nu Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi is continuously searching for new fund-raising ideas. The College of Music allows its student organizations to sell lunch and/or breakfast foods in the breezeway between two of the connecting music buildings, and each organization is given a day of the week to market their products. In past years, Gamma Nu has sold barbecue sandwiches, pizza, and sometimes participated in joint fundraisers with the Alpha Omega Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma. However, after a basketball pep band trip to Ames, Iowa, for the 2000-2001 Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, a new idea for breezeway sales emerged: the “Walking Taco,” an item sold by a local vendor at one of the tournament games. Its overwhelming popularity in Iowa inspired us to try selling it on our day of breezeway sales. We first tested it with the brothers of our chapter, and found it to be a hit.

Naturally, the obvious question is, “What is a Walking Taco?” Basically, it’s an individual sized bag of crushed Doritos®, with shredded lettuce and cheese, a scoop of taco meat, and your choice of sour cream and/or taco sauce. We’ve found that $2.00 is a reasonable price for a taco, and $4.00 gets you two tacos and a drink. We sell drinks separately for $0.50. We’ll “Kappa Psize” the meal for an extra $0.50, which gives the customer double the taco meat.

If you’re looking for a cheap and convenient way to acquire all of the ingredients, try Taco Bell. They can give organizations a discount on a substantial amount of meat. We get a fifteen-pound bag of meat (Yes, it comes in bags.). They can also sell you cheese, lettuce, and sauce. Our chapter gets two bags of meat, a bag of lettuce, and a bag of cheese for $49. The sour cream is purchased elsewhere. Doritos® are available in bulk from Sam’s Club for around $8.00. A good way to keep the meat warm is to use a Crock-Pot™; we refer to it as the Psi-pot. Our current pot is Psi-pot, Jr. Its predecessor met its demise at the hands of brother Tony Geronimos, who mercilessly threw it to its death on the cold hard cement (Okay, so he dropped it, but that isn’t as dramatic.)

Considering that we have only done this once (fall 2001), we are not sure of the long-term prospects, but thus far the results are very encouraging: a profit of over $2,000 last semester. We have also won the enthusiastic support of the students and faculty at the College of Music, including our chapter sponsor, Dr. James Croft.

The success of a fundraiser is greatly dependent on (1) publicity and (2) help. We publicize “Walking Tacos” through fliers hung in the College of Music and through word of mouth. The fliers feature a picture of a walking cartoon taco with the days and times of the fundraiser. However, nothing beats word of mouth advertising from the breezeway while selling. Staffing the table is done on a volunteer basis. We pass around a sign-up sheet for times during our weekly meetings.

Many of the professors at FSU take the fifteen minutes between classes to grab a bite to eat, thereby helping to support organizations such as Kappa Kappa Psi, which serve the College of Music. With the hungry enthusiasm that has been demonstrated this past semester, the brothers of Gamma Nu are confident that Walking Tacos will continue to be a successful endeavor in fund raising for Kappa Kappa Psi at Florida State University for years to come. }

Gamma Nu brother Josh Willoughby demonstrates the proper technique for emptying a bag of taco meat. L to R: Brothers Micha Faw, Candis Castorani, Tyson Farmer, and J.D. Sivert prepare to walk some tacos.