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When Gab Ruiz and their partner arrived in New Zealand from Acapulco, Mexico in 2019, they came on working holiday visas with little more than a passion for authentic Mexican food and a dream of building something of their own.
That dream began with a humble taco stand at Queenstown's multicultural festival. Today, it has grown into Tacos Jaguar, and more recently Casa Jaguar. Their permanent home in Glenorchy is a destination that combines authentic Mexican cuisine with an immersive cultural experience for visitors from around the world. The business now employs three full-time staff, with additional seasonal support during busy periods.
Behind the colourful food, warm hospitality and vibrant atmosphere lies something many customers never see. Artificial intelligence has become one of the business's most valuable team members.
AI has become an extra employee
As the person responsible for administration, planning and business development, Gab says AI has fundamentally changed what a small business can achieve. "To be honest," they say, "I don't think I could do all this stuff without AI."
Rather than using AI for a single task, they have woven it into almost every aspect of the business, from marketing and customer experience to forecasting and operations.
Beyond ChatGPT: building practical business tools
Like many business owners, Gab's AI journey began with image generation, and their curiosity quickly led them much deeper. Today they regularly work with multiple AI platforms, including ChatGPT and Claude, using each for different strengths.
One of their biggest current projects is redesigning the restaurant's winter menu. Using AI, they've been able to analyse menu structure, improve product presentation, refine sales language and rethink how customers interact with the menu itself.
"It's helping us build a better menu and a better customer experience," they explain.
Creating experiences, not just meals
Operating in one of New Zealand's busiest tourism regions means serving visitors from every corner of the globe. AI has helped Tacos Jaguar make that experience more accessible. Gab has created multilingual interactive menus that explain Mexican cuisine to customers who may never have encountered tacos before.
QR codes on tables lead visitors to translated menus, while additional landing pages provide interactive local guides, maps and information about Glenorchy, adding value well beyond the restaurant itself.
Smarter forecasting for a seasonal business
Hospitality businesses live and die by accurate forecasting. Knowing whether fifty people or two hundred people might arrive can make the difference between profit and waste.
Using AI, Gab has built forecasting tools that combine visitor arrival data with weather forecasts to estimate likely customer numbers across weekends and holiday periods. The result is better staffing decisions, smarter food preparation and reduced waste.
Solving problems beyond hospitality
Gab's use of AI extends far beyond the restaurant. Before attending networking events, they upload attendee lists and LinkedIn profiles into an AI-powered assistant that helps them understand who will be in the room, identifies common interests and even suggests conversation starters.
They've also developed AI-assisted food control systems and cleaning procedures. Staff can upload a photograph of an area within the restaurant, and the system recommends the appropriate cleaning products, methods and frequency required to meet food safety standards. For a small team juggling multiple responsibilities, these tools provide consistency while reducing administrative workload.
What still doesn't work
Despite embracing AI across almost every part of the business, Gab believes there is still an important gap. Their biggest concern isn't capability, it's confidence.
As their collection of AI tools continues to grow, they want greater assurance around security, data management and reliability. "I haven't quite closed the circle," they explain.
While AI has helped them build numerous applications and automate significant parts of the business, they want to better understand how to securely manage those systems and ensure they're robust enough to rely on long term. They also see potential to package some of what they have built into tools that could benefit other small businesses, however, they're not quite there yet.
The value of a trusted Mentor
As Tacos Jaguar has grown, Gab has worked with two mentors through Business Mentors New Zealand, each bringing an outside perspective at a different stage of the business.
The first was Chevy Chisholm, who began working with them in November 2024, when Tacos Jaguar was still a small food truck/pop-up operating inside a local Queenstown brewery. Gab and their partner were starting to think more seriously about growth. Having someone outside the day-to-day business to talk through their ideas, challenges and plans helped them consider what might come next.
Later, as Tacos Jaguar began the transition into a much larger operation and eventually Casa Jaguar in Glenorchy, they connected with Melissa Stadler for support. Melissa brought extensive experience in Queenstown's hospitality industry, particularly in operations, cost control, systems and running a larger hospitality business.
The transition was also an extremely busy period, with significant operational demands on the owners. Gab was not able to follow up with Melissa or make as much use of the mentoring relationship as they would have liked. They feel there was much more knowledge and experience they could have gained from her if they had been able to dedicate more time to it.
For Gab, the value of Business Mentors New Zealand lies in having access to experienced people and outside perspectives as the business develops. From thinking through early growth to navigating the demands of a larger restaurant, the support available has reflected the changing needs of both the business and its owners.
A new chapter for Casa Jaguar
Casa Jaguar has recently received Sello M certification, an official recognition of authenticity for Mexican restaurants. It is currently the only Sello M-certified restaurant in New Zealand's South Island and one of only two in the country.
For Gab and their partner, the recognition honours the food, culture and traditions they have brought from Mexico, and the authenticity at the heart of Casa Jaguar. The Mexican Ambassador to New Zealand visited Glenorchy for the official recognition, making it a significant occasion for the team and the local community.
The certification marks an important new chapter for the owners and validates the journey from a small Tacos Jaguar operation to Casa Jaguar. As the business has grown, sharing an authentic Mexican experience has remained central to what they do.
Looking ahead
Gab believes the next stage of AI adoption isn't simply creating more tools. It's building systems that are secure, reliable and scalable enough to become part of everyday business operations.
Their ambition is to continue refining the applications they've already developed while learning how to integrate them more effectively and potentially share them with other small businesses. For them AI isn't about replacing people, it's about giving small business owners access to capabilities that previously belonged only to much larger organisations.
"If it's properly used and properly taught," they say, "there are a lot of opportunities for small businesses to achieve much more."
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