Taco Taco Café was a part of Trinity University’s dining experience for years. However, with the switch to Chartwells in 2023, the locally acclaimed San Antonio restaurant was removed from the school’s repertoire of food options.

Helen Velesiotis is the founder and owner of San Antonio’s Taco Taco Café. The restaurant has been featured in a local San Antonio news source, MySA, and on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Founded in 1998, Velesiotis’ café found its way onto Trinity’s campus in fall 2013.

Velesiotis shared a bit about her story, speaking on her experience as an immigrant from Greece. She said that she arrived in the United States with $7 in her pocket and worked hard to be the acclaimed restaurant owner that she is. Running a local small business, Velesiotis said that she has to work hard to keep doing what she loves, but she said that nothing is more important than doing what’s right — a big part of why she continues to serve the Trinity community.

Trinity’s deision to switch food providers in 2023 brought many changes to dining on campus. One of those changes was an overhaul of the food options, including the removal of Taco Taco Café. Velesiotis said she lobbied hard to stay on campus, and Chartwells reached out at the beginning of the process. However, negotiations fell through.

“Taco Taco is a tradition for Trinity students, and I want to come back,” Velesiotis said.

Velesiotis said that she loved Trinity. In her time here on campus, she oversaw her on-campus Taco Taco location, located in the space in Coates Student Center now occupied by Legends Burger Company. While the restaurant offered multiple options from quesadillas to fajitas, Velesiotis also lended her help wherever she could on campus, such as making sopapillas for Nacho Hour. She said it was vital to have that presence on campus because she saw many Trinity students visiting her original location in Olmos Park.

“I would have students from the school here all the time,” Velesiotis said. “Whether it be sporting events or big weekends, there was always somebody asking for Taco Taco.”

She said that she is often visited by previous students looking for a taste of home as well, with alumni coming in from as far as Boston to round out their campus visit with lunch at Taco Taco. Velesiotis said that she loved being a part of the community and would love to come back to it.

“Trinity students loved and continue to love Taco Taco,” Velesiotis said.