- Chris Flores is possibly the world's first chief taco officer.
- Texas delivery company Favor is paying him $10,000 to visit 9 regions and sample their taco offerings.
- The goal? To post food online, yes, but also to embrace part of what makes Texas, Texas: tacos.
Chris Flores knows tacos.
The San Antonio, Texas, native is deeply entrenched in the taco world in his hometown, documenting his culinary outings on his social media, Eatmigos, for the last five years.
That's why he was the perfect candidate for the role of chief taco officer, a position that Texas delivery app Favor posted in April. Favor, which was acquired by the state's beloved, goliath grocery chain H-E-B in 2018, is paying him a one-time, $10,000 salary to traverse the gigantic Lone Star State using his taco compass as his guide.
The end goal is to feature the tortilla-wrapped items and their creators on Favor's social media and on its website, likely boosting the restaurants' followings.
He's not limited only to restaurants on the app, although Favor said it has delivered 11 million tacos to Texans over the years. He has free rein to visit, sample, and highlight whichever taco joint his heart desires.
"Tacos tell the story of Texas in my opinion, and you can tell a lot about a region by their tacos," Flores told Insider.
With his food and transportation covered, Flores already has hit Dallas-Fort Worth (where he visited 20 different taco joints,) Corpus Christi (where he sampled excellent local staple Chacho's,) and is now in the Rio Grande Valley near the Texas-Mexico border, where "there are thousands of good taquerias."
"It's equivalent to going to Disney World and picking your favorite Mickey ears," he said.
Up next is El Paso, Houston, Lubbock, Waco, Austin, and finally San Antonio.
When it comes to deciding on a restaurant, he has a meticulous vetting process, he told Insider.
"If their pictures just talk to me and I can taste that food through the picture, and I want to take a bite out of my phone because I love that picture, I'll put it on a list," Flores told Insider.
He'll vet those even further, making sure that he also features places with a rich history and spirit.
"That's just as important as the taco because it talks about where they came from," he said.
He has about two months to hit each Texas city on his docket and said he's averaging about two taco places a day to make it in time.
"I would say the goal is to hit anywhere between six to ten in every region, which I know is just like breezing over it because there are hundreds of good ones," Flores said. "But what I'm hoping is I'll have the opportunity to go back and revisit these places."
Indeed, Favor, which is available only in Texas, said the goal is to expand on its future relationship with Flores, but for now, it's up to him to fulfill his taco journey.
"Texas was one of the states that's credited in history to bring tacos to America, and I think that that's amazing," Flores said.