Margarita Yard Cups Make Catrinas Mex Popular Spot

JOLIET, IL — The outbreak of the new coronavirus in March was bad news for thousands of Illinois businesses, and Amy Montiel was not sure whether Catrinas Mex would last. Downtown Joliet was becoming a ghost town, and people were not leaving their homes.

Montiel prayed. She prayed for her employees — they needed to keep working — and then she kept praying. Now, four months later, Catrinas Mex is on the social media food and beverage map for the greater Joliet area. All thanks to an enormously popular margarita drink called the Yard Cup.

Catrinas has 20 different flavors of the 24 ounces of margaritas, frozen or on the rocks. So far this summer, the most popular Yard Cups are strawberry mango, wild berry, blue ocean and peach.

Catrinas Mex, 20 West Jackson St., is becoming a trendy destination on weekends thanks to its Yard Cup prices. Monday through Thursday, Yard Cups are $13, but Friday, Saturday and Sunday, they are $10.

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So why is Catrinas Mex offering its Yard Cups for $3 cheaper on the weekends?

"It's usually the opposite," explained Jose Ortiz, the bar manager. "People want to drink on the weekends, so we want to help them, I guess."

"They can order for carryout or dine-in," he added. "They can take their Yard Cups home."

If not for the new coronavirus, Catrinas Mex never would have put its creative juices to work and invented The Yard Cup.

"I was in panic mode, but at the same time I thought, my workers still need to be working," Montiel, the owner, told Joliet Patch on Thursday. "I think God is going to help me."

Catrinas Mex did not close down during the pandemic, but there were a number of days early on when takeout orders were sparse.

"Two or three plates a day," Montiel remembered.

The family owners talked about shutting down, but then Ortiz helped energize the business. Ortiz wanted to focus more on the bar and less on the food.

After seeing other Joliet establishments, including The Dock At Inwood, selling take home margarita flights, Catrinas Mex came up with its own unique margarita drink in late April.

The first weekend Yard Cups were available, Ortiz had 50 in stock.

"Within a half day, we were sold out," he said. The next weekend, he ordered 100 plastic cups. "And it went even better. We could not keep up. At one point, we had an hour wait in the restaurant just for margaritas.

"It was uplifting for everybody, especially the owner because she had never seen such a busy weekend."

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To keep up with the demand, Catrina Mex has had to hire more employees. There's now about a dozen workers. The success of the Yard Cup provided more cash flow to purchase a new state -of-the-art blender. The back area of the restaurant is being converted into a lounge.

The bar menu is being expanded to include more cocktails and signature drinks.

"There was debate at the restaurant being food focused as a family restaurant," Ortiz told Joliet Patch. "But I wanted to focus on the bar end of the drinks. Believe it or not, COVID-19 was the push we needed to do the Yard Cups. Not only did it show everyone the potential, but it helped our customers to see that our drinks are just as good as our food."

Latin music was playing on the sound system Thursday afternoon as socially distanced customers sat inside at the booths and tables. Just as many, if not more customers, were choosing to have their meals and drinks served on the outdoor patio.

Montiel, the owner, does not want her restaurant to take the credit for inventing the Yard Cups to keep her restaurant profitable during the pandemic.

"I think God sent me some ideas," she told Patch. "The Yard Cup, I think God is helping us, and he will help you when you work and do things right."

Six months ago, nobody in the Joliet area associated Catrinas Mex with the Yard Cup and as a must-stop for margaritas.

The business website now proclaims: "Authentic Mexican food and signature cocktails."

"I think the margaritas make other people know Catrinas," Montiel said. "To be honest, our food is good, so this supports Catrinas."

September marks the two-year anniversary of Catrinas Mex opening in Joliet. It's another underdog success story for downtown Joliet. For decades, the brick building at the corner of Jackson and Ottawa was the famous Olde Keg pizza restaurant, then the property fell on hard times. The building sat vacant for nine years before Montiel and her family acquired it, renovated it and opened their authentic Mexican cuisine sit-down restaurant in 2018.

"The margaritas have been great for the young people," Montiel said. "Young people who come like to drink."

Patch asked Ortiz to estimate how many Yard Cups he's sold since their debut three months ago.

"A couple thousand maybe," he said. "Yeah, a couple thousand."

So how many Yard Cups does Ortiz have ready for this weekend? He estimated about 300.

"It's first come, first served," he said. "Now, the thing is, they do sell out pretty fast."

Catrinas Mex downtown closes Mondays, but is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. About 40 percent of its business comes from carryout, the owner said.

For more, visit the Catrinas Mex website here.