Drive thru margarita shop has customers rolling up for frozen drinks

Drive thru margarita shop has customers rolling up for frozen drinks Main Photo

1 Nov 2020


news, Small Business

Joe Martin The Seguin Gazette

 

Seguin residents Corey Riley and Chris Mossbarger drove up to a former tire shop on Kingsbury Street and ordered a frozen beverage of their choice. Instead of having to drive to another town to get a margarita, Riley said he appreciates the accessibility the new business, Milly’s Ritas To Go, offers.

“It’s convenient; it’s right in town. Before, you’d have to go all the way to New Braunfels for something like this,” Riley said. “So now you don’t have to drive to another city just to get a drink.”

For about a week, Milly’s has served frozen margaritas right to customers’ vehicles and, so far, patrons are excited.

Although the business model presents an opportunity for some irresponsible patrons to drink and drive, it is the way of the future, Mossbarger said.

“It’s definitely a good idea, but at the same time, the amount of people that already drink and drive, do you want to do something where they can grab it and go,” he asked. “Everything else will move towards this. Now they’ve got all those pickups, to-goes at the stores.”

Its location at 102 W. Kingsbury St. will provide a way for some parents to kick their legs up while their children enjoy a day at the neighboring theme park, Mossbarger said.

“If you get a bunch of moms and dads that want to go to ZDT’s with their kids, ‘oh there’s a margarita place across the street, go play some games, I’ll be back in an hour,’” Mossbarger said.

Mario Gomez and Nydia Villanueva said they decided to stop by the Ritas To Go spot after stumbling across a Facebook post.

The pair also has visited Roc-n-Ritas, a similar business in New Braunfels, Villanueva said.

“I like margaritas, and the drive-thru just makes it so easy to go and pick them up,” she said.

Tomas Hernandez Jr., the owner of Milly’s, said that he has noticed a great reception online since he opened up shop.

“If you look on Facebook, all our customers are excited. Everybody likes the flavor of the product, and it doesn’t have an alcohol content that is weak,” he said. “So people are excited and some people are shocked that we can make it even stronger. But people are happy about [it], and I’m happy about that.”

Milly’s offers a variety of different flavor combos and drinks from watermelon, strawberry and peach margaritas to green apple, orange cream and grape piña coladas.

“The hottest [drink] is the margarita,” Hernandez said. “It actually sells like 4 to 1 with the next slow seller being piña colada.”

Milly’s started out slowly with a soft opening on Saturday, Oct. 24, and saw cars lined up around the building with customers, Hernandez said.

“Seguin has really supported us with this,” he said. “We had a long line, and we did have a few hiccups. It was a learning experience, but we ordered quite a bit of product, and we won’t be in that dilemma anymore.”

Hernandez, who owns the business with his wife Alma Hernandez, said now is the perfect time to open an operation like Milly’s.

“[COVID] was one of the reasons I wanted to open up the daiquiri shop,” he said. “Talking to other people that own them, they never even slowed down with COVID; in fact, they picked up with COVID-19.”

The business boasts a blue and lime green color palette accompanied by retro graphic designs that are easily seen from the street. The mastermind behind the design choice is none other than Hernandez’s son, Tomas Hernandez III.

“It just popped in my head, and I wanted to do an 80s theme,” Hernandez III said. “A friend of mine that’s an artist…came up with 10 different designs, and we collaborated some of them together, and that’s how we came up with the logo.”

The menu at Milly’s also is 80s-themed and displays names for the drinks such as Hacky Sack — a watermelon flavored margarita — and the Pacman — a mango-flavored piña colada — all of which he named himself, Hernandez III said.

In the future, Hernandez III hopes to expand upon the business’ extra floor space and build out a small seating area, he said.

“I don’t want it to be a bar-type deal, but if someone wants to come in and order a margarita, they can come in here and chill out,” Hernandez III said. “We might put in a couple [television’s], but nothing crazy. We just want to focus on this one and see how it goes first and then branch out if we can.”

Milly’s Ritas To Go is open 2 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, call 830-433-4708 or visit Milly’s Ritas To Go on Facebook.

Joe Martin is a staff writer for the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail him at joe.martin@seguingazette.com

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