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FORT PIERCE FOLKS
The RESTAURATEUR
O’Connor serves
up one of the many
delicious offerings
on the menu at
Taco Dive’s new
Port St. Lucie
Tradition location.
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BY WENDY DWYER
Allison O’Connor was teaching high school and loved
educating young minds, but she felt she wasn’t
fulfilling her biggest dreams, which were far more
entrepreneurial than teaching would ever allow.
The Vero Beach native who has lived on the Treasure
Coast her entire life always enjoyed working in the restaurant
industry and had spent much of her childhood in her
grandparents’ kitchen watching them cook and learning from
them. When an opportunity arose to join forces with three of
her closest friends and fellow foodies, O’Connor didn’t think
twice before redesigning her dream.
Soon, the St. Lucie resident and her business partners,
Bonnie Turk and Kelly and Joel Rucker, were owners and
operators of Taco Dive, with four bustling locations, including
the original in historical downtown Fort Pierce, one in
downtown Vero Beach, another in Port St. Lucie’s Tradition
and a beachside location in Fort Pierce. All four locations
feature freshly crafted tacos in an infinite number of varieties,
and O’Connor says she is having the time of her life, living
her best dream.
“Tacos are so much fun!” O’Connor says. “Anything can go
with a taco because the possibilities are endless, and everyone
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loves them — kids, older folks, middle age, everyone.
They’re not as heavy as bread. They are so versatile, and you
can go salty or sweet. I think the most rewarding thing about
the business for me is the partnership.
“My partners are my best friends and family, and we all
love what we do. And honestly, it never gets old watching
someone take a first bite of a taco and watching their faces
light up with sheer enjoyment. We still get giddy when that
happens, and I don’t think that will ever change.”
O’Connor says that the most popular item on the everchanging
menu is the steak taco, with the shrimp taco a
super-close second. When asked what was the strangest combination
of toppings they’ve ever had requested, O’Connor
said, “On Fridays, we do specials, and one special we created
was a chicken taco with a donut and pickles. It was a big hit,
so I don’t think anything someone asked for would seem
weird to me.”
A mom with an 8-year-old daughter, O’Connor tests a lot
of recipes from food blogs and kitchen creations from a lifetime
of food experiences out on her daughter, whom she calls
her littlest food critic.
“Honestly, she is usually spot on,” O’Connor says.
O’Connor still works in the kitchen, but not as much as
she’d like to because of the responsibilities of being an owner.
However, she still considers cooking free therapy because
the focus on preparing, working as a team in the kitchen and
aiming for perfection is rewarding.
“We love our staff,” O’Connor says of the team she and
her partners have assembled to help execute the Taco Dive
dream. “They are family, and we cherish them. We are so
lucky that we get to go to work every day and see so many
different people.”
Like most restaurants, the pandemic did cause some sleep-
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ALLISON O’CONNOR
Age: 46
Lives in: Fort Pierce
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Family: One daughter, 8
Education: Bachelor’s degree
from University of South Florida
Hobbies: Cooking, spending time
with friends and family
Who inspires me: “My daughter and my partners”
Something people don’t know about me: “I’m pretty much
an open book, but two things that people may not know
about me is before I jumped in the world of entrepreneurship
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owning restaurants, I had two jobs that most people
would never guess. While in college, I drove the monorail at
Busch Gardens. My second job after graduating from college
was a special education teacher and coach at Centennial
High School for just under 10 years. I see many of my former
students to this day.”
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less nights, but a fabulous staff, a healthy dose of creativity
and tremendously loyal customers allowed them to adapt
and keep going.
“We were able to take our food truck out and post on social
media where we’d be,” O’Connor says of the lockdown mode
of operation. “People came from as far as Fort Lauderdale to
support us. It was a lot of love, and we still feel the love. I feel
so fortunate and blessed to have found my passion and get to
live it each and every day.”