Tanna Cole was on track to become a PE teacher when things took a different turn.
She was coaching a local middle-school soccer team when she was tasked with bringing in snacks for the kids.
She brought in popular candies that she coated in her own Mexican spice blend made from more than 20 different spices including Tajín, chamoy and a spice imported from Jalisco, Mexico.
"My soccer team tasted them and they were obsessed with them so I was like, 'I should sell them,'" Cole says.
From there, Tanna's Botannas — which means "snacks" in Spanish and conveniently rhymes with Cole's first name — exploded.
Spicy Skittlez at Tanna's Botannas, 4426 S. Sixth Ave.
"I get your typical favorite candies, like peach rings for example, and we have the spice I came up with. I came up with the recipe and gave it to the kids and I never changed it," she says. "It just kinda worked."
In the last two years, Cole's candies have landed in nearly two dozen stores throughout Tucson. She started a food truck in September 2021, where she sells the candies and other antojitos. And now, she's preparing to open her first brick and mortar.
"Si se puede"
Much of Cole's business is an ode to Mexican culture — the colors, food, music, scenery and inclusivity of the country, she says — from the spices of her candy to the Lotería-inspired photos of menu items pasted on her food truck. Cole says she remembers feeling inspired by a marketplace in Guadalajara, Mexico and wanting to bring that same feeling to Tucson.
When her spicy candies took off — spicy Gushers are the fan favorite — Cole quit college to pursue Tanna's Botannas full time.
The journey started with candies being sold in local shops and available to order online. But Cole's real goal was to get a food truck. After that happened, her next goal was to open a storefront of her own.
Tanna's Botannas' food truck sits next to Tanna's Botannas' new brick-and-mortar location at 4426 S. Sixth Ave.
"Our food truck and our cars can only hold so much product," Cole says, as she remembers parking the truck outside Texas Roadhouse and serving lines upon lines of people, selling out hours before they were slated to close. "It's really sad when people come to the window and bring the whole family and we have nothing to sell."
That shouldn't be a problem when her brick and mortar opens, as it gives Cole more space to stock her goodies. Plus, she plans to gradually add new snacks to the menu.
Cole expects to open the south-side storefront, at 4426 S. Sixth Ave. between East Irvington Road and East Ajo Way, before summer.
"What better place than south Tucson?" she says.
For now, though, you can find her candies at stores allover Tucson. She also parks the Tanna's Botannas food truck outside her future brick and mortar every weekend, where you can pick up candies and other treats.
Mango Mexican Italian ice at Tanna's Botannas, 4426 S. Sixth Ave.
Beyond the candy, currently on the food truck menu is: Rim dip, Mexican Italian ice, horchata and aguas frescas, Hot Cheetos with cheese or other fixins such as pickles, Mexican candy and chamoy, pepinos locos (crazy cucumbers), spicy dipped pineapples and cakesicles.
"I have a lot of people who will say, 'You should add this,' and I'll be like, 'Let's do it,'" she says. "My truck is covered in (pictures of) our menu items. I don't even know if I can add any other things until I open the shop."
The Sixth Avenue location also has ample room for mingling — and lots of space for even more businesses.
Eventually, Cole hopes to turn the area into a space for the community to gather, eat and support local businesses. She envisions shipping containers in the lot surrounding her brick and mortar so the space will feel like a mercado. Movie and Lotería nights are also part of that vision.
Owner Tanna Cole makes Crazy Cheetos at Tanna's Botannas, 4426 S. Sixth Ave.
"I'm all about supporting local," she says. "With the other shipping containers, I want to give them a chance to do food because I don't cook; I only do snacks."
"I want it to be like, you can go on a date or you can bring your whole family," she says.
Before Cole made her spicy candies, she sold dipped strawberries. She hopes to start a different food truck strictly for the strawberries and other sweet items, which she plans to park at the brick and mortar.
"That's how I started — with my strawberries — so I don't want to get rid of them," she says.
As for her current food truck, she hopes to find a permanent spot to park it somewhere else in Tucson.
Horchata loyalty cup at Tanna's Botannas, 4426 S. Sixth Ave.
Cole has a seemingly never-ending list of goals for her and her business — for one, she hopes to one day have four Tanna's Botannas locations in Tucson.
"At the beginning, (my family was) like, 'You're crazy,' but now they're like, 'You're crazy, but it's working,'" Cole says. "But honestly, this is what I want. If I say something, I'm like, 'Well, now I have to do it,' because now I can't go back on my word."
Cole's parting words to readers is this: "Si se puede," translated to "yes you can."
"Anything you want to do, you can do," she says.
Find the Tanna's Botannas food truck at 4426 S. Sixth Ave. noon to 5 p.m. on weekends. For more information, visit their website and Instagram.
