Holy Mōlli, the fast-casual Mexican fusion restaurant with two locations in Greenville and Spartanburg, will be opening its third location at 11 S. Main St. in downtown Greenville, taking over the spot formerly occupied by Port City Java.
With a menu that features customized bowls, burritos and tacos, as well as a Mexican spin on the traditional Japanese sushi roll (fair warning: each roll is the size of a typical burrito), the restaurant’s setup and ordering system will be familiar to anyone who’s ever eaten at a Chipotle or Moe’s.
Late night food: Holy Mōlli will be open until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays to cater to a late-night crowd. The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. all other days.
But husband and wife owners Luis and Lydia Stark said they want to challenge what people consider fast-casual Mexican food.
“In the fast-casual sector of the food industry, all the guys that have the crown when it comes to Mexican food, they don’t do a good job when it comes to the culture,” Luis Stark said. “Those companies are basically representing our cuisine in America, but that’s not what Mexican food is. We believe there has to be a company out there representing our culture correctly.”
Hailing from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, the Sparks said they wanted to bring the unique and diverse flavors of their homeland to the forefront.
“We couldn’t find that kind of food anywhere,” Lydia Stark said. “So we thought, ‘Why don’t we make it ourselves?’ And we pretty much put in our menu all the things we missed the most.”
Having both spent years in the restaurant industry, with stints in management at restaurant chains like Chipotle and Panda Express, the couple felt they could create their own concept while not becoming, in Louis Sparks’ words, “soulless and mechanized and rigid.”
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“At Holy Mōlli you’re not going to get junk food. You’re getting fresh and authentic food with a great purpose,” he said.
Holy Mōlli is expanding quickly and has just completed the process to begin franchising the concept out to others. But rather than opening as many locations as possible for sheer financial gain, Luis Stark said he sees an opportunity to create a lasting and iconic brand that represents their culture properly.
“I really like to mention Chick-fil-A, because I admire what they’re doing, and I understand what it means to do something that everybody else is doing but to do it in an excellent way,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do – to create one of those companies that will stay for a hundred years. Why not try to aim toward greatness?”
