In the years preceding the Covid shutdowns, Luke Wuellner was at a crossroads in his life. He longed to work for himself doing something he had a passion for but was at a loss as to what that could be. But little did he know that his future endeavor would land him a wife.

Wuellner is the founder and owner of Taco Tour San Diego, a local enterprise that combines a guided tour of San Diego with the best tacos the city has to offer. It’s an idea that has provided him with the independence and freedom he dreamed about in his earlier years. But it was a bumpy road, and Wuellner reflected on his taco epiphany.

“I was working with the Padres at the time – in ticket operations – in 2016 and I was kinda stuck in a spot where I wasn’t going to go anywhere,” Wuellner said. “So I was looking for a way out and a buddy of mine had mentioned kinda offhand that I should do tours.

“But I think he was talking about working for established tours like the Old Town Trolley or the Seal Tours. But I had always taken friends on taco tours whenever they came to town. I’d be like, ‘Hey, let’s go to National City, hey let’s go to Chula Vista, let’s go to Encinitas, let’s go get some random tacos.’

“So I had a lot of practice at eating tacos! And I always thought a taco tour would be a lot of fun, and I also didn’t want it to be just stopping at food spots. I wanted it to also be a tour of San Diego, so I looked around and didn’t see a lot of food tour options in San Diego and I thought it was something I could do.”

In October of 2017, Wuellner bought the minibus that would become his tacomobile. It took him a little over a year to get from that point to get the taco tour officially on the books, and in December of 2018, he officially launched Taco Tour San Diego.

Two years later, Wuellner and his tacomobile were hitting their stride in the San Diego tourism industry. Enter Leigh Ann Stutts.

In March of 2020, Stutts came to San Diego from Johnson City, Tenn., by herself on a whim to visit the city she always dreamed of exploring. There really was no rhyme or reason to the trip, just a chance to visit the West Coast and see what was out there. It was a trip that would literally change her life.

“I was living in Tennessee at the time and took a vacation by myself – trying to be a strong independent woman in my 30s – and it was March 8 of 2020 just a couple of days before Covid shut everything down,” Stutts said. “I had bought a ticket for the taco tour – not thinking too much of it, something to do, see the area – and so I got on the bus and took the tour.”

The tour started off like every other one, but Wuellner soon began to sense a bit of a connection with Stutts. “She was sitting behind me the entire time and just kind of asking questions about random stuff and I thought there might be a little more interest there than just the normal questions,” he noted.

Wuellner says they hit it off and after the tour, they decided to go have a couple of drinks by her Downtown Airbnb. Two days later, they had a formal date where he got a chance to show her around the town one-on-one. The pair had another date before she had to fly back to Tennessee. Immediately after that, the world shut down due to Covid.

With everything on shutdown, Wuellner was not able to continue his taco tours. So, rather than sit around and do nothing, he decided to fly out to Tennessee himself and spend more time with Leigh Ann.

“I was supposed to be out there for a week, but then I called back home to my friends they just said, ‘Don’t even bother coming back because you can’t golf, you can’t even go to the beach.’ But in Tennessee, you could do whatever you wanted to, so I decided to stay two more weeks!”

Stutts remembers trying to make the best of a difficult time during those weeks. “With the pandemic, we couldn’t go on normal dates. So we spent a lot of time playing like mini baseball out in the backyard or watching old Miss Americas, some completely random things!”

Eventually, she moved out to San Diego to stay and the pair got married. May I now introduce Mrs. Leigh Ann Wuellner.

Now, Leigh Ann helps out with the business side of the taco tour as well as studying at USC Dworak-Peck School of Social Work with the goal of earning a doctorate. The tour stops at three taco shops including Salud in Barrio Logan, Not Not Tacos in Little Italy, and Mitch’s in Point Loma. The tour also cruises through Downtown, Ocean Beach, and Sunset Cliffs so the guests can get a good feel of the vibe of San Diego.

The couple honeymooned in Cabo San Lucas, and were able to taste a lot of tacos while there. They even did a walking taco tour while in town.

But now they are back on the taco tour circuit and business is back to pre-pandemic numbers. Luke now realizes that his hard work not only paid off, but he got a wife out of the deal.

“It took a little bit of time to get going, I mean, California wants their hand in everything. Plus, I had to get my Class B license, and insurance, get the bus, then get the bus wrap and a lot of stuff went into it. But I’m definitely happy I did it, I mean it’s one of those things where I didn’t want to work for anybody, I wanted to be my own boss.”

As for their future, Leigh Ann has some tentative plans that she and Luke would like to explore together. As part of her doctorate program, she has to write a dissertation and her focus is on food insecurity. That gave her an idea where they could use their tour experience to give back.

“We’re talking about starting a taco tour in Los Angeles, but as a nonprofit, so that money coming in actually goes back into the community to help fight food insecurity in LA County. Well see what happens, it’s in the baby stages now.”

Luke likes the idea and also wouldn’t mind expanding on it. “We’re also looking into other cities possibly – you know if we were like to expand – like Austin, Texas, or maybe a barbeque tour in North Carolina. You know, things along those lines.”

These expansions would have to be run by hired help and monitored from San Diego, which they both see as a challenge. But with the luck they’ve had, they both feel good about their chances of succeeding.

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