Before Backyard Taco came to fruition, the owners enjoyed being a part of their communities and doing what they could to help in any way possible. Let’s not forget that is indeed how they met – when Tyler Robison hired the Alvarez family to cater a non-profit event so many years ago.
Each family still does its own personal philanthropic efforts but makes sure to incorporate those into the values of Backyard Taco. There are so many ways that we use the love of tacos and burritos al carbon to help those in need.
A New Leaf and Backyard Taco
Backyard Taco discusses the milestone of 10,000 meals donated, featured by local news.
Backyard Taco has been rolling up burritos for its community as a partner with A New Leaf foundation for many years.
A New Leaf is a local foundation that has been around since 1971, helping those in need; from those facing homelessness to those escaping domestic violence and more, they have opened shelters across the Phoenix Valley. On top of A New Leaf providing a safe place to sleep and food to eat, A New Leaf takes its services a step further by providing a variety of services to help get these people back on their own two feet.
Knowing all the good A New Leaf does, it was a no-brainer for Backyard Taco to step in and help where they could. Twice a month, two different Backyard Taco locations make over a hundred burritos, chips and salsa and personally deliver them to two different shelters in the city of Mesa.
A closer look at Backyard Taco owners bringing smiles and meals to the men at A New Leaf’s East Valley Men’s Center.
Backyard Taco and A New Leaf recently celebrated a milestone of providing over 10,000 meals to those in need. The Alvarez, Robison, and Beck families participated in feeding and speaking with the community at the Mesa Men’s shelter.
Beyond that amazing milestone of meal donations, Backyard Taco wanted to take it a step further and call on the community to take part in helping those in need. Over this last holiday season, Backyard Taco partnered with Swire Coca-Cola to ask the community to donate non-perishable food items when dining in, and in return, they would receive a free fountain drink as well as an entry into a raffle to win one of many Coca-Cola branded prizes. The donation raffle lasted about three weeks in December and ended with Backyard Taco being able to deliver hundreds of non-perishable food items to the men’s and women’s shelters of A New Leaf in Mesa, AZ.
This donation raffle was the first of many that Backyard Taco has done and wants to do for its community. The owners and the employees themselves have loved being able to help those in need, simply by rolling one burrito at a time and delivering them with a smile on their faces.
Dining to Donate at Backyard Taco
Giving back to the community does not end for Backyard Taco with its partnership with A New Leaf Foundation. BYT takes it a step further by offering its dine to donate program for all non-profit organizations in the community. Whether you want to call it “Tacos para Dineros” or knowing that Backyard Taco likes to “Chip In” wherever it can in the community – we love giving back.
Whenever a non-profit reaches out for some help in fundraising, we coordinate a date, which can be across one or multiple of our East Valley Backyard Taco locations, and then we create their flyer for them to share in person and across all social media platforms. The fliers mention the date, location or locations, and times of the fundraiser and the very simple and easy-to-follow instructions; dine in during a certain time, mention the fundraiser you’re in for, and that’s it – we’ll do the rest.
We even try to make it simple for those who want to order ahead of time by allowing them to call in their orders or mention the event in the comments section of their online order, and we will make sure it gets accounted for. Then, at the end of every event, we add up the total sales from said event and donate 20% to the non-profit, no catches, no gimmicks, just simply some dineros (monies) donated to a good cause.
Whether it’s for a local school sports team, band or even an animal rescue, we want to do anything and everything we can to help everyone who reaches out to us. We’ve even had the privilege of hosting animal adoption events for local rescues on our patios.
It has been amazing to do these various events that often take place on a weekly basis. Not only is it awesome to give back while filling bellies full of tacos, burritos and quesadillas, but it’s even more rewarding being able to see all the various smiling faces that come in to support a great cause – some who already know and love Backyard Taco and others who this may be their first time experiencing the best tacos al carbon of the valley.
Pro Tip: If you really want to support your cause, order catering on the same day of your event and we will count that order towards your total for the event as well. All of these catering orders must be placed by emailing catering@backyardtaco.com and the dine to donation must be mentioned when inquiring.
And Something New: Backyard Taco Partners With GiftAMeal
You might have not heard about GiftAMeal just yet as it is newer to the Phoenix-Metro area but when GiftAMeal founder, Andrew Glantz reached out to Backyard Taco about being one of the first to bring GiftAMeal to Arizonans, we at Backyard Taco jumped at the opportunity to say yes!
GIftAMeal is a program designed to help end food insecurities in the United States, and even better – it costs consumers absolutely nothing! Yes, you heard that right, anyone dining at a restaurant partnered with GiftAMeal does not have to pay a penny more to donate to those in need. Not a penny per meal, not a monthly fixed membership – absolutely nothing!
A scenario like this is absolutely a dream in today’s economy: you get to keep your money in your pocket where it is needed most, and when you treat yourself with tacos al carbon, whether it’s monthly, weekly, or even daily, you get to be a philanthropist at the same time. All a diner has to do is download the GiftAMeal app, choose the location you are at, and upload a picture into the app; it is that simple.
GiftAMeal will do the rest, donating 1.2 lbs of healthy food to local food banks for every single photo uploaded.
Think about it – if everyone were to join the app and snap a picture of their food while dining at Backyard Taco – there would be the potential to donate THOUSANDS of pounds of food EVERY, SINGLE, DAY! No catch, no gimmicks, just food being donated to help others. Inside of the app you’ll also be able to see others partnered in the same efforts to battle food insecurities so that you may have the option to dine for a good cause every time you choose to dine out.
Even better, GiftAMeal tracks all this info, from the amounts of photos taken, to how much food has been donated and where and shares it with us here at Backyard Taco. This means we get the opportunity to see how many amazing customers we have taking a little extra effort to help others in need just as we wish to do.
There will be signs up across all of the stores to show you where to download the app and all of our staff members will be more than happy to walk you through the simple steps as well.
We genuinely look forward to seeing all the pictures of your Backyard Taco meals and being able to let you all know how much your photos are helping fill up the shelves of local non-profits throughout the Phoenix Valley.
Frequently Asked Questions About Giving Back with Backyard Taco
We Love Being Able To Help The Community, One Taco Al Carbon At A Time
In life, neither tacos nor monetary funds are limitless – though we wish they were, but we here at Backyard Taco love doing each and every thing we can to help. We love to give back, and more so, we love the opportunity to partner with great causes and people in the community to do good. We have absolutely enjoyed being a pillar of giving back in the East Valley of Phoenix and look forward to doing much more as we open locations in the West and Northern parts of the valley as well.
Whether you love tacos, burritos, quesadillas or even our Papa Loca or house-made gorditas, you can enjoy any of these and have a profound impact on your community. Whether you come in on behalf of a dine to donate event or just remember to snap a picture in the GiftAMeal App, you can be a part of helping Backyard Taco make a difference in the communities we all know and love.
For more information on dine to donate events please email us at d2d@backyardtaco.com or shoot us a message via the contact form on our website.
Dr. Tyler loves tacos! He is one of the owners of Backyard Taco, and can sometimes be found moonlighting there at night or on the weekends.
Dr. Tyler Robison is an alum of Mesa’s Mountain View High School. He graduted from Brigham Young University before being accepted to the “Top Ten-nationally ranked” University of Louisville in Kentucky, where he earned his Doctorate in Dental Medicine and a Master’s Degree in Oral Biology. He graduated with honors in the top ten percent of his class. Dr. Robison continued at the University of the Pacific in San Francisco, where he received a second master’s degree in dental science and his orthodontic certification.
Dr. Tyler enjoys serving in his community. He is a provider for the Smile Back Foundation, which offers scholarships for free dental treatment to underprivileged East Valley students. He is also a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve and served during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2008.
Dr. Tyler Robison’s favorite pastimes include spending time with his family on the lake, at the beach, or on the slopes. He is an avid and crazy snowboarder! He has three incredible sons and one sweet daughter: Caden, Jace, Crew, and Bliss.
