Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
Slave Lake’s latest fast food place opened with a bang during Riverboat Daze. Nacho Nation, the brainchild of former Kinuso Hotel owner Scott Astle, wasn’t completely ready, but the opportunity was too good to pass up, so it started slinging tacos and such on the same night of the Gord Bamford free concert. Since then it’s been all systems go.
“Gangbusters!” is how Astle described his first five days in business. “It comes in waves. The evening game is very strong.”
Two customers were eating in the small dining area during the interview on July 10.
“Really good!” was their response to a question about how it tasted.
Astle says a local Mexican family showed up “right off the bat,” and one told him it’s the first time she’s felt at home since coming to Slave Lake.
Freshness is a big thing with him, Astle says. That, and flavours that will surprise and please. He’s apparently done his research. It started a long time ago, when he ran a taco joint in the West Edmonton Mall, he says. More recently, he’s been consulting with “three taquerias,” in Texas and Mexico, running his recipe ideas past them. It’s been very helpful, he says.
Why Mexican food?
It’s an idea Astle came up with, following the failure of his previous business. The Kinsuo Hotel – which he ran for 30 years or so – did not survive the pandemic.
“COVID did me in,” he says.
He came up with the idea for Nacho Nation, having observed that rural Alberta is “under-served” when it comes to Mexican food. Turned down by a local bank, he turned to Community Futures and got a loan. That was just this spring.
“I went from concept to funding to doors open in seven weeks.”
Astle calls his success so far “proof of concept” (He used the term three times during the interview), and the concept is ambitious.
He sees Nacho Nation turning into a franchise operation. Mexican, he says, is the fifth most-popular ethnic food in Canada, but is the second choice of Albertans. He sees room for growth – in the number of outlets and into other types of Latin American cuisine.
For now, though, it’s Astle and his “overworked and underpaid” team of four, not even a week in operation at the time of the interview.
Nacho Nation is located in the strip mall on 6th Ave. SE in Slave Lake, next door to Burgers Plus.
