The UAE-born Taqado Mexican Kitchen had always declared itself to be the “number 1 burrito and taco spot” in the country, but now, it has started to make its presence on the global stage as well: Taqado’s regular burrito (which, in the spirit of full disclosure, is a particular favorite of Entrepreneur Middle East Editor in Chief Aby Sam Thomas) has been ranked fifth in online food delivery company Deliveroo’s top 10 most popular dishes ordered around the world in 2017.

Commenting on the ranking, Nadine Benchaffai, co-founder and Managing Partner, Taqado Mexican Kitchen, said, “I think we knew we performed pretty well with Deliveroo in the UAE, but to have made it onto their top 10 list worldwide was well beyond our expectations, and needless to say, we’re all pretty ecstatic! We’ve worked really hard on delivering fresh and great tasting food consistently from all our stores, and also on our partnership with Deliveroo themselves to address issues and improvements to be made. This shows us just how well it’s all come together. It’s also amazing to see a small homegrown brand make its name against some pretty big international brands, and certainly gives us that extra confidence boost as we look towards international growth in the future.”

As for the factors that allowed Taqado to secure this top spot on Deliveroo’s list, Benchaffai puts it down to the brand’s determined focus on quality in terms of its offerings. “Taqado’s USP starts in the kitchens, where we only use the highest quality ingredients, and cook everything from scratch every day,” she says. Other factors Benchaffai notes include training and investing in staff (“because we could never have succeeded without them”), taking on-board customer feedback and working hard to address it (“which at times has meant changing the way we operate”), selecting a number of core partners (“like Deliveroo!”), and never losing sight of the basics of the business (“not cost cutting at the expense of quality and consistency”).

With this achievement in the bag, one has to wonder: what’s next for Taqado? Benchaffai replies: “2017 has been challenging at times, but we’ve kept our head down, and focused on making ourselves better, whether it’s in staff training programs, improving efficiencies on operations, or our recent Tour Mexico with Taqado trip that the team and prize winners just came back from. There are many opportunities ahead of us, as we continue further expansion in the UAE, and internationally in 2018. There are also some new partnerships on the horizon, so look out for those next year!”

We sure will, Taqado. Arriba, arriba!

Related: Three Reasons Why You Should Be Giving Your Business To Middle East Startups