Resourceful San Antonio Restaurant Owners Recover Stolen 150-Pound Bull Mascot with the Help of AirTag

When Tacos Don Manolito opened on January 13 on Stone Oak Parkway in San Antonio, Texas, the team sat a large fiberglass bull named Manolo on a bench outside.

Executive chef and owner, David Barquet, told The Messenger his team first had the idea to use a tracking device because they anticipated that at some point, "someone was gonna try to steal it because it just looks cool."

So, they cut a hole in Manolo's leg and placed an AirTag inside.

"Just for protection, just in case something ever happened," he said. "Turns out, it actually did happen."

The restaurant was closed on Monday, June 12, and when the team showed up to open on Tuesday, June 13, Manolo — the 150-pound, six-foot bull that was chained to the bench under lock and key — was gone.

Thanks to the AirTag, they were able to locate the mascot quickly and notify the police.

A manager and one of the owners drove to the found location on Tuesday and waited there for the police. When they arrived, they saw Manolo sitting on the front porch of someone's home, Barquet said.

In a video provided to The Messenger, a police officer says the residents claimed to have purchased the bull from someone else in an attempt to keep him. However, the police said they clarified that the bull was stolen property and they'd have to give it back, regardless of how they obtained it.

The San Antonio Police Department didn't immediately respond to The Messenger's request for comment.

Barquet told The Messenger that the restaurant's parent company built Manolo at its headquarters in Mexico and estimated that he is worth $3,000 considering export taxes and transportation material.

The Tacos Don Manolito team tried to get Manolo into their car, but he wouldn't fit. Instead, they got someone with a truck to come pick him up.

The chef told The Messenger that while there are outdoor security cameras, footage showed that the lenses seemed to be moving around trying to focus on something else. They didn't catch any footage of the robbery, he said.

The mascot is an integral part of the Tacos Don Manolito brand, Barquet said, and the team was happy to welcome Manolo back.

"Back in 2005 when the brand started, my business partner — his grandfather is the guy who founded everything [...] he decided that the mascot was gonna be a bull," Barquet told The Messenger.

He said the bull has become a very significant part of their brand, and that having Manolo out front gives customers another way to interact with them.

"Sometimes we dress him up for when a soccer team or a football team is playing," he said, and everyday diners or visitors can sit for a photo opp.

It's like he's part of the staff, Barquet added, saying that many employees will greet him in the morning and say goodnight at the end of a shift.

The owner says he hopes people come back to visit with the bull now that he's been recovered, take a photo "and maybe have a taco."