University of Iowa grad completes Pancheros’ first ‘Queso Cruise’ for a free year of burritos

On a recent Friday evening, one University of Iowa alum took a little detour on his way home for the holidays.

Instead of taking a combination of interstates and state highways to get back to his family after leaving work at 5:30 p.m., Dubuque native Jared Ness went over the river and through the woods to all 26 Pancheros Mexican Grill locations in Iowa.

But he said the payoff for completing the Iowa-based burrito brand’s first Queso Cruise challenge — a drive to all of its Iowa locations within a single day — was worth the payoff: a year’s supply of free burritos.

“I’ve always been pretty adventurous,” Ness said. “I just took a longer route home.”

How it happened

Like many great ideas, it started when an obsession and a half-joke converged in a group chat.

Ness’ co-worker, Alex Gookin, came up with the idea during a conversation in the group chat. The friends, spread across the state but obsessed with Pancheros burritos and its signatures, like fresh queso cheese sauce, started figuring out which location was closest to each of them.

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That’s when Gookin, a marketing specialist with a passion for math, realized how easy it would be to go to multiple locations. With experience making sports spreadsheets to post to X (formerly known as Twitter,) the Cyclone fan throws numbers together just for fun.

And as a Pancheros fan since starting college at Iowa State University in 2012, he decided to apply his expertise to burritos.

“I like spending time doing a lot of stupid math,” said Gookin, 29. “It was a lunch break activity that turned into an all-day thing.”

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Using an application to optimize the fastest route for 26 locations, he figured out that the journey could be done starting with the first morning opening and ending with the latest store closing in Iowa City, with 5 minutes to spare in between each stop.

The route drawn up started in West Des Moines at 10:30 a.m. and ended in Iowa City before its 1:45 a.m. closing — a route of 12 hours and 53 minutes.

Then, he tweeted it.

You could conceivably order from all 26 @pancheros locations in the state of Iowa in 1 day. Driving route is 12 hours 53 minutes and with 5 minutes at each location, you could order your first burrito at 10:30 AM in West Des Moines and arrive in Iowa City before 1:45 AM closing. pic.twitter.com/81s1T5RTuN

— Alex Gookin (@_AlexGookin) December 13, 2023

“Everybody thought the tweet was so stupid,” he said of the initial impression. “I do it for my own entertainment.”

A Pancheros dare

But after a few reposts and likes, it started to gain traction — and the attention of Pancheros’ marketing team.

"Do it, you won’t,“ they said, daring their followers on Dec. 13 and sweetening the deal with an offer for a free year of burritos to the first one to complete the challenge.

“We thought someone would (do the challenge,) but we weren’t sure how long the process would take,” said Emma Reed, director of marketing for Pancheros. “We definitely have a strong fan base, we see that across our (social media) and our loyalty base. We always know they’re up for a challenge.”

Then, people started to take them up on the offer, prompting them to get a few rules in place:

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How he did it

Until the rules were posted, nobody was quite sure if Pancheros was serious. But just 30 minutes after seeing the fine print on Dec. 15, Ness packed his bags and took off after work to pull an all-nighter quest.

“I’m a young, single bachelor, I have a little more free time on my hands,” he said.

As Snapchat messages inundated his phone during the journey, Ness stayed awake during the 15-hour drive with one burrito for dinner, a couple energy drinks and a call with a different friend scheduled every hour.

Some stats for those that are curious
- 600+ miles
- 26 total Pancheros restaurants
- 15 hours in total
- 2 energy drinks
- 1 dead raccoon 😔

Special thanks to @_AlexGookin for the idea and @pancheros for making it happen 👊 https://t.co/APSBMss7KG

— The Other Jared Ness (@J21Ness) December 16, 2023

That, as well as his enthusiasm for the food, carried him for 600 miles from Des Moines to Dubuque. He arrive home for the holidays in Dubuque at 8:30 the next morning.

Ness is also a notorious fan of Culver’s, which has sent him merchandise and gift cards for his loyalty, as well as the Blaze Pizza down the street from his place.

“I’m not a great cook and I live by myself, so I eat out quite a bit,” he said.

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He has the flexibility to use his 52 burritos any way he wants this year, but still is on the fence about how to spend them — whether to ration them through his weekly budget or have a party and treat his co-workers.

Others who tried

Besides Ness, two other groups of people completed the challenge, but didn’t beat Jared to submitting their proof.

One of them was self-described superfan Louden Foster from Stuart, who eats at Pancheros two to three times a week. Foster was halfway through visiting all locations when the official rules came out stipulating that participants needed to appear in a photo of every location.

“I like to say I’m Pancheros’ biggest fan,” said Foster, 21. “It gets crazy how often I eat there.”

Trying to cover his bases without knowing the rules, the Simpson College student even bought a burrito at each location to fill his freezer. His adrenaline was all he needed to stay awake for the drive.

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It took him slightly over 15 hours to visit every location. But despite no win, he said he’d do it again.

“I had a good experience,” he said. “I liked the challenge of it. With so many locations there was a lot of planning into it and the route you had to go to visit in a certain order.”

Pancheros marketing director Emma Reed said the chain hasn’t made plans for another Queso Cruise just yet, but will monitor its fans’ engagement for future challenges.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.