Pedro Haro could not afford to hire an influencer for his family’s taco shop in downtown Honolulu, so he became one. His deadpan videos spoofing influencer culture helped Lahaina Tacos jump from about 1,000 followers to 37,000 in roughly three weeks, TODAY reported.
Haro, 46, told TODAY in an Oct. 13 story that it took the take-out restaurant about a year to reach its first 1,000 followers. Once he started posting the comedy clips on Instagram, the count climbed to 37,000, with new fans writing in from as far away as South Africa, New Zealand and Japan.
The Clip That Started It
According to TODAY’s report on the shop, Haro’s first video introduces him as the owner who has to serve as his own influencer because his family “can’t afford to pay” a real one. Borrowing a familiar influencer catchphrase, he then invites viewers on a behind-the-scenes tour of the small lunch counter.
In that same first Instagram video, Haro explains that his family opened the restaurant after relocating from Lahaina on Maui, where several relatives lost their homes in the 2023 wildfires. As of TODAY’s Oct. 13 report, the clip had collected more than 123,000 likes and comments. One new fan joked about being influenced all the way from London, while another said Haro had just found his new career.
A Family Menu Carried From Mexico to Maui to Oahu
The food behind the jokes has a long family history. According to Honolulu Magazine, the Haro family left its home near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 1988 and settled in Lahaina, where relatives spent more than 30 years working in hotels and restaurants. Armando Haro bought a food truck with plans to cook the dishes he made for his family, but the August 2023 fires took the truck, its equipment and the family home.
The family opened Lahaina Tacos in Pioneer Plaza on Feb. 12, 2025, the magazine reported. The menu centers on fresh handmade tortillas filled with steak, chicken, beef birria, lengua, marinated pork adobada, chorizo or vegetables, with tacos priced from $4 to $5 at opening and prepared the way the family makes them in Nayarit. For visitors planning a family vacation to Hawaii, a $4 taco downtown is also one of the more wallet-friendly lunches, in line with the classic tips for traveling cheaply.
In June, Pedro Haro took over ownership from his older brother Armando, who returned to Mexico, TODAY reported. Haro described the restaurant as a family dream the relatives were not willing to let go. He now handles finances and marketing while his sister Ana runs the cooking, and other relatives, including his husband Troy, a graphic designer, pitch in. It is a division of labor that reflects how siblings often take on very different roles in the family.
A Cowboy Hat, Upspeak and a ‘Nonchalant’ Menu
The second video pushed the joke further. It had more than 382,000 likes when TODAY published its story, and it shows Haro in full influencer character, wearing a cowboy hat and piling on breathless buzzwords as he gushes about a spot he supposedly just discovered in downtown Honolulu. Running through the menu, he claims the restaurant offers special items that are “vegan, non-dairy and nonchalant.”
A later clip parodies the “Get Ready With Me” format. In a bathrobe with a towel on his head, Haro presents a mock beauty routine built entirely from the menu, naming the shop’s pico de gallo the “perfect botanical peel.” He describes the spicy salsa, made with chile de árbol, as “rich and spicy and unnecessarily confrontational,” TODAY reported.
The bit works because it lands on a real tension in the restaurant business. Big brands pay creators to promote food, while small independents compete for the same attention with almost no budget, the same squeeze that has pushed some operators toward delivery-only ghost kitchens. Haro skipped the middleman and made the spoof itself the marketing. Customers, in turn, often enjoy rallying behind a small business once its story reaches them, much like the response to a Cleveland shop owner whose break-in turned into a sale and a fundraiser.
What the Attention Did for Sales
The response showed up at the counter. Haro told Hawaii News Now on Oct. 16 that sales had at least doubled since he posted the videos, and that comments had arrived from places including Poland, Tanzania, New Zealand and Japan. “It’s pretty amazing for a tiny little taco shop in the middle of Honolulu,” he told the station.
TODAY reported that the restaurant at first struggled to keep up with the new demand and once had to close early after selling out of food. Haro told the outlet that business is going very well and that customers have been kind. Before the videos, he said, a day when the shop came close to breaking even counted as a good one. The family has since started selling T-shirts, stickers and ball caps after customers asked for merchandise.
From the Shy Sibling to the Star of the Feed
Haro told TODAY he was always the shy one in the family, the kind of child whose mother had to prompt him to say hello, long before the camera ever came out. His acting experience is limited to a handful of community theater shows in his 20s, including playing LeFou in “Beauty and the Beast,” plus work as a movie extra that included a small speaking part in the 2017 comedy “Snatched.” He told the outlet that Amy Schumer called him “really funny” on that set.
Now he says he is happy the videos bring people joy while helping the family business, and that the part he values most is that the success benefits his relatives. Haro told Hawaii News Now he hopes to eventually bring Lahaina Tacos back to Maui and add staff.
For now, the shop keeps its short weekday lunch window, closing at 2 p.m., and it sells both food and merchandise online. The owner who needed a full year to reach 1,000 followers is now the kind of influencer other small restaurants might wish they could afford.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
