Mango Crazy to open first Stockton location. Aguas frescas and more are on the menu
If you have to choose between a sweet tooth and a sour tooth, Mango Crazy has the perfect solution.
Choose both.
Choose a “tostielote," made with corn, mayonnaise, cotija cheese, lime, hot sauce, tajin, served with your choice of chips or a “mangonada,” an in-house mango sorbet with diced mango, mango nectar, lime, chamoy, hot sauce, and Tajin.
“If they haven't heard about us, come and check it out. I can almost guarantee we have something for anybody. We have smoothies for people on the go. We got the tostilokos for the kids, all the kids love chips. Then we got ice cream for the younger kids, and we got aguas frescas...," said Melissa Melendez, owner of the Mango Crazy Stockton location. "There’s something in here for everybody."
Mango Crazy's grand opening is on Friday, June 16, at 222 N. El Dorado St, Ste B2, formerly Elissa's Kitchen. A ribbon cutting at 1 p.m. Friday will kick off the treats.
Aguas frescas will be served for free from 1-5 p.m.
Melendez, a Manteca native who was a customer of the franchise's Lathrop location, noticed the need for Stockton to have its own Mango Crazy. Coming from the real estate and construction industries, owning her restaurant was never her dream.
Larry Rivera, CEO and co-founder of Mango Crazy, and childhood friend Andy Lopez opened their first location in 2014 in Modesto. The business first started as an Ice Cream Shop. Now, Mango Crazy has transitioned to a restaurant with flavorful sweet, and savory Mexican treats.
Melendez was inspired by the duo's dedication and what they were doing for their community. So, she decided to partner with them and bring Mango Crazy to Stockton.
“The funny thing about Stockton is that when you look at our analytics and see where our followers are on our social media, we have a huge following in Stockton, and it's like bigger than Ceres, Turlock, Atwater combined, which is interesting,” Rivera said. “So, I think the turnout is gonna be unbelievable. And we're excited to come to Stockton.”
Stockton will be the company's 23rd location, with locations in the Central Valley, Bay Area, and Arizona, including four food trucks.
“In my opinion, you typically find places like this in more predominantly Hispanic areas of town. We are bringing this Mexican street food to mainstream. So our locations are like Starbucks-like locations,” Rivera said. "Andy and I, when we first started Mango Crazy, we would make sure that nobody left without a smile on their face. So great customer service and a quality product that's kind of our foundation is we want to carry that on at every location and make sure that everybody leaves happy and has a great quality product.”
The Stockton location has been in the works since December. They received their keys on May 1, Melendez said.
“It's all Mexican street food, but ours is just a little bit different," Rivera said.
For more information follow them on Instagram at mangocrazy.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached atarocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record athttps://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Mango Crazy opens first Stockton location
