JULY 2023 16 with Aaron Pool, owner of Gadzooks Enchiladas & Soup W ith a business plan in hand and a little help from his college roommate, Aaron Pool took his love for Mexican cuisine and a few family recipes and turned it into Gadzooks Enchiladas & Soup, a popular lunch and dinner spot where guests can build their own dishes. Read on to learn more about the restaurant and the family that started it all. Give us a brief history behind Gadzooks. I started Gadzooks in 2013. I had no idea what I was doing [ laughs ]. I was an Arizona State grad and came up with the idea of the business in college. I graduated in 2009, and the first location opened at 7 th St. and Osborn in March 2013. That was a crash course in running a business. I’d never worked in a restaurant, and many people told me to do other things, but I wore all the hats and learned as I went. I’d get there at 4:30 in the morning and leave at 9 p.m. I was losing my mind – I purchased an office building next door to the first location and lived there while opening it. The Camelback store opened in January 2017, Tempe in 2019, Chandler in 2020, and Gilbert just opened two months ago. What’s the story behind the name? At ASU, I lived in a house with five other guys. One roommate, Eric, asked me about the business plan, and I told him, ‘I want to do an enchilada concept and sell my mom’s tortilla soup, but I don’t have a name.’ I didn’t know where to start. Eric said he had always wanted to name a business Gadzooks Coffee and Juice, because of the ‘oohs’ of Gadzooks and juice – he was good at vocabulary, but I just thought, ‘what a dumb name, what does that even mean [ laughs ].’ Gadzooks is an exclamation of surprise in German – you used to see it in comic books – but Eric goes, ‘What about Gadzooks Enchiladas & Soup?’ And it stuck. What is your title and responsibilities? I’m a co-owner. My oldest brother, Jared, used to be a dentist in San Francisco. We used to meet in Vegas and talk about future goals, and he said he wanted to move back to Phoenix. Jared oversees all the staffing and stuff. I learned early on that I don’t like HR. I’m not good at it, so I’m the creative guy. I do the food and new ideas. Did you always know you wanted to own a restaurant? I graduated with a degree in business management, but the restaurant idea came later. I thought I wanted to be a dentist – our dad’s a dentist, that’s why Jared was a dentist – but at school, I had an epiphany. Before I went to ASU, I was going to go to Oregon State and study biology, and I’m like, ‘um, I don’t like this’ [ laughs ]. I was so naïve; I didn’t know you could study business. None of my family members come from that kind of background, so I decided to do that. I guess I should have known I had an entrepreneurial spirit because, as a kid, I wanted to own an airline! Where did your entrepreneurial spirit come from? Jared had his own dental practice. Drew, the middle brother, owns Wren House Brewery. I did the restaurant. I think Drew got the courage for the brewery once I’d opened the restaurant. But it all stems from our dad having his dental practice. Our mom was a stay-at-home mom, so she gave us the courage to do things she couldn’t do. Explain how Gadzooks works. You start by ordering enchiladas, tacos, nachos, soup or salad. People say it works like a Subway. What makes us unique are the recipes. When I was developing recipes, I wanted everything to be the best in its class, you know? So, for example, a flour tortilla. It has to be as good as what I think is a good tortilla, so I learned how to make them. Ours is a 50/50 – half flour, half corn, and we hand press them here. Then you can add fillings – proteins, veggies, sauce. Our cult favorite is the cornbread. You’d have never thought it works in an enchilada or taco, but it works like a tamale. Sauce, cheese, and then it goes into our oven – you build your own layers. What’s your favorite combo? Corn tortillas with a short rib and chicken enchilada. I get green and red sauce, cheese, pico de gallo, lava sauce (habanero sauce), honey vinaigrette slaw, cotija cheese, and jalapeno ranch. It’s so good. What was the inspiration behind starting an enchilada company? Growing up in Phoenix, we’d go to Macayo’s and places where it was just Sonoran-style dishes. I love Mexican food, so I wanted to do something I loved but needed to differentiate from everyone else. When I was building the business plan, the big craze was burger places. There was the froyo craze, the burrito craze. So, I thought, ‘What if we flip the narrative?’ Enchiladas were what I ordered as a kid. I would see different ways of cooking them in my travels, like Tex-Mex, the southern California way, and Mexico City-style. After college, I used my parent’s kitchen as my test kitchen and learned how to make sauces. I would do ten different recipes, and they all sucked [ laughs ], but then you find the one that works. All the proteins are my recipes, and my mom came up with smashed potatoes, her cornbread and hash recipes, and the soups and salad dressings. What’s the most popular item on the menu? Enchiladas, by far. When it comes to filling, it’s the chicken. And the cornbread, people love the cornbread. And the pumpkin cookies – those are my mom’s recipe. She 4031 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix • gadzooksaz.com In the Kitchen

17 JULY 2023 would have them out in the fall, and I told her, ‘When I open the restaurant, I want to sell the pumpkin cookies.’ They’re so good. Tell us about your other businesses. The Green Woodpecker is at Earll and Central in midtown. I’ve lived in that neighborhood forever. I’m passionate about the area. There’s a lack of places to go over there. A few years ago, a Starbucks in the area with a great patio had moved out, so we turned that into a beer bar, but we wanted to elevate it. Drew now makes our beer list; they’re all really good, classic styles. We wanted to do food, but not a full restaurant. Woodpecker has complimentary chips and salsa as an ode to the places we’d eat as kids. They’re freshly fried and specially made for us. We have three different sauces. Then at 2 p.m., we have hand-pressed tortillas with al pastor and a mushroom taco. It works well. It’s a communal, family spot. Poolboy Tacos came about years ago, but the name popped up during the pandemic. I was walking around my brother’s pool thinking of a name – our last name is Pool, so that connected. We used to attend the taco festival at Salt River Fields – Eric was my manager when we first opened Gadzooks. He was the only one with restaurant experience, so we signed up for this festival, and we’re thinking, ‘How in the world are we going to do this.’ We came up with the 50/50 tortilla, chicken, and cornbread – and we created what’s going to be the Poolboy Taco. We ended up winning at the festival three times with that taco, and an award at Devour, too. It all goes back to the philosophy of anything I do in the future. I want it to be simplified with five well-done, well-executed items on the menu. Poolboy is on the corner of Earll and Central. We’re just waiting to build out the interior, so it’s not officially open yet. Is it easier or harder to work with family? That’s interesting. You hear horror stories in these situations, but our personalities complement each other well. I’m a super passive, anti-confrontational person. Jared is assertive, and if someone’s messing with us, he’ll call them out on it. Family are the only people you can count on, that are totally invested, and that’s important because this is a tough business. What’s a memorable moment from your time as a restaurant owner? At the original restaurant, instead of using a bag, our to-go trays would slide inside this paper sleeve, but the sleeve would get too hot. I had seen this string machine that would tie the to-go boxes like you would wrap a present. We were brand-new and still learning. One day I was wrapping four to-go meals, I put them in the sleeve and stacked them, and I hit the lever for the string machine. It got caught, took all the food boxes, spun them in a circle and slammed them into the ground. It was so violent! I told the guy I would remake his food, and he’s like, ‘um, I’m good.’ [ laughs ] I got rid of the machine shortly after another incident – one that could have ended Gadzooks before it started. When you’re not working, what are you doing? I have two children – a 2.5-year-old son and a three-month-old girl, so I’m usually at home with them. My go-to thing is hiking Camelback. Now that I’m older, I like just relaxing, vegging out and recharging. I also like to travel to Vegas – I try to be my young self [ laughs ]. What’s your favorite meal to cook? I enjoy making chicken pot pie. It’s weird, but I like the whole process – roasting the chicken and adding the puff pastry. And you can tweak it. Growing up, I didn’t cook much, but I love baking a cake or pie. It’s therapeutic. What’s next for the Gadzooks family? Trying to get Poolboy open. We’d like to do a Gadzooks on the west side, so we’re actively looking for spots. My dream is to open a smaller, walk-up window, old-school fast food spot. I’m passionate about that – it’s all I think about. I’m jacked up for Poolboy – I hope to open it in the next few months, best case scenario. But for the smaller locations, I’d love to have more of them around here and out of state. Gadzooks, located on the canal at 40th St. and Camelback. Discover sophistication, urban living, and reprieve in the heart of the desert at Clarendale Arcadia – the oasis you’ve been searching for. 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