TULSA, Okla — A “World Cup” taco contest has garnered a lot of attention on the Tulsa Vlogs social media account, with thousands of people nominating and voting for their favorite taco spots in the city.
This is just part of a much bigger story.
A study published in 2017 shows immigrants contributed $3.8 billion to the city's metro area GDP between 2010 and 2015.
At that point, the population went from having 59,649 Latinos in 2010 to 72,657 Latinos in 2015.
Currently, the group makes up about 20 percent of Tulsa’s population according to Census data taken from 2020-2024.
According to Newswise, Oklahoma is one of the top 10 states with the highest growth in Hispanic buying power since 2000.
Business owners in the Tulsa area are excited to keep growing together.
“In the last 10 years, the Hispanic population has increased a lot, and it’s important because we do contribute to Oklahoma," said Griselda Moreno, the owner of Taqueria Azteca. "Each day, we have more businesses, so I think we are important to the community."
Alejandro Guajardo is the owner of Taqueria Nelly and echoed the sentiment.
“I hope we all keep moving forward together, better our community, hire more people," he said. "So that we can all have our own piece.”
Jessica Reyes helping to represent Taqueria Rey del Pollo said everyone helps build each other up.
"We are one of the most hard working communities out there, and not only the most hard working, but we spend a lot of our money," she said. "It's very important that our community is seen, because we do contribute a lot to the community management financially, but we're out there volunteering as well and bringing businesses and bringing more economy to the state."
Abel Murrieta is a team leader with Tamale Boyz and said he's honored to bring a bit of his culture to the city.
"I think that's the big thing," he said. "Hispanic people have been getting more resources to be able to open up businesses."
One of the organizations helping to connect the Latino and Hispanic entrepreneur community is the Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Rodrigo Rojas is the Board Chair, and said he's been honored to help his community.
“We serve over 300 businesses as members, but we have over 3200 Hispanic employer owned businesses just in Tulsa County itself," he said. "So it's really, really great to again just be that anchor that can, that can support our community.”
The four finalists of the Taco Contest are:
- Taqueria Nelly
- Tamale Boyz
- Taqueria Azteca
- Taqueria Rey del Pollo
For more info on how to vote, you can visit Tulsa Vlogs' social media.
Isabel Flores is your North & East Tulsa reporter.
Is there something you think she should know about or look into?
You can email her at Isabel.Flores@kjrh.com.
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