Fast-food Mexican restaurants

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Fast-food Mexican restaurants

Answer 1

Taco Tico

Taco Tico

Taco Tico is a chain of Tex-Mex cuisine fast-food restaurants headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Dan Foley opened the first Taco Tico in 1962, in his native Wichita, Kansas, and began franchising new locations in 1967. The company was a regional hit by 1980.

In 1988, Foley sold the company and chain to a former executive from KFC. The meat recipe, which gave Taco Tico tacos their unique flavor, was changed at that time. The meat, at that time, was sent to the stores in frozen tubes from the main distribution center. The new flavoring was unpopular and Taco Tico has since switched back to the original.

As of 2014, there are locations throughout the Midwest and Southeastern states. Newer buildings are adobe with teal-green and orange awnings, signs, and trim.

On March 5, 2013, 10 restaurants were closed by the Kansas Department of Revenue for failure to remit $434,939.23 in sales tax. The restaurants were later reopened after a bankruptcy filing and a deal between Ajax International Group and the Kansas Department of Revenue. Three independently-franchised locations were unaffected by the closure or bankruptcy filing.

On July 11, 2013, The State of Kansas re-closed 10 Taco-Tico franchises for failure to pay state taxes.

Three remaining Wichita-area Taco Tico restaurants closed in August and September 2013.

On February 5, 2014, the new owner reopened one of the former Wichita, KS locations (13th Street & Tyler Road), with plans to open at least four more stores in Wichita by the end of 2014. Stores have also reopened in Arkansas City, Augusta, Derby, and Newton, KS.

On October 25, 2014, one of the closed locations in Topeka, KS reopened after being purchased by new owners.

As of October 2016, fourteen Taco Tico locations remain in the United States.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 2

Taco Time

Taco Time

Taco Time is a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in Mexican food. The chain offers dine-in, take-out, and drive through at over 300 locations.

The chain was founded in Eugene, Oregon, United States, in 1959 by Ron Fraedrick, who opened the first restaurant near his alma mater, the University of Oregon, at 13th Avenue and High Street in January 1960. In 1962, the first Taco Time franchise opened in Tacoma, Washington. By the end of the decade, the company had 48 restaurants in seven Western states. In 1978, the company franchised its first international restaurant, in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 1979, Taco Time Northwest, became a licensee with the rights to franchise and operate the Taco Time concept independently. Taco Time Northwest's operating region includes Western Washington from Longview to the Canada–United States border and the eastern Washington cities of Wenatchee and Moses Lake. Taco Time has since expanded, now holding more than 300 franchises in the United States, Canada, Kuwait, and Curaçao/Netherlands Antilles. During the 1990s, there were also multiple locations in Greece.

In 2003, the company was bought by Kahala Brands of Scottsdale, Arizona,

...

Wikipedia

Answer 3

Taco Time Northwest

Taco Time Northwest, or simply Taco Time, is a fast-food restaurant chain with over 70 locations in western Washington.

The Taco Time concept originated in Eugene, Oregon in 1961 and brought to Washington by Frank Tonkin, Sr., opening his first store in White Center the following year. The Tonkin family later spun off and moved their Western Washington stores to become independent of the parent company in 1979, establishing Accord Inc. to franchise restaurants in Western Washington; the remaining Taco Time locations in Eastern Washington and Oregon remained with the original corporation.

Taco Time has 79 restaurants located across Western Washington, primarily centered in the Seattle metropolitan area, and two stores located in Eastern Washington at Moses Lake and East Wenatchee. From 2012 to 2016, the company also operated a food truck called the Taco Time Traveler, which offered a limited menu at Downtown Seattle stops during the weekday lunch hour and catered community and private events on the weekend.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 4

Tijuana Flats

Tijuana Flats Tex-Mex is an American restaurant chain serving Tex-Mex cuisine. It has 130 locations throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Indiana. Tijuana Flats restaurants are fast-casual hybrids with fresh food, hot sauce bars, art murals and off-beat culture. Customers order at the front counter and are served after sitting.

Tijuana Flats uses zero trans-fatty acids (TFA) cooking oils, 100 percent hormone free, white meat chicken, fresh produce and all of its menu items have been lard free. Flour or whole-wheat tortilla options are available for select items. This restaurant features a "Power Lite" selection, offering low-fat cheese and fat-free sour cream in any menu item.

The restaurant was founded in Winter Park, FL in 1995 by University of Central Florida graduate Brian Wheeler with $20,000 in loans. The company had 18 locations before expanding out-of-state in 2004.

Tijuana Flats was started in Winter Park, Florida. It was modeled after Burrito Brothers, a Mexican restaurant in Gainesville, Florida and funded with $20,000 in borrowed money from Wheeler's family. Students from Wheeler's former college made up some of the restaurant's early customers.

After the third location was opened, a semi-retired restaurant executive, Camp Fitch, was invited to Tijuana Flats by his golf partner. In 1999, Fitch invested in the company and was appointed its CEO to expand the company. When the fourth location opened, the founder's dad, Chester Wheeler, was reimbursed for his $20,000 loan used to start the company and joined as the CFO.

Tijuana Flats had six locations by 2001, which grew to 18 locations in 2004 and 65 by 2009. In 2005, Tijuana Flats built its training center for restaurant managers in Winter Park. Today, the restaurant support and training center is located at the Tijuana Flats HQ in Maitland, FL In 2007, Tijuana Flats shifted from a franchise model to corporate-owned stores. That same year Tijuana Flats created its non-profit arm, the Just in Queso Foundation. The Foundation donated $46,000 to remodel the home of a handicapped war vet and started donating profits from the Just in Queso hot sauce to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 5

Two Pesos

Two Pesos was a Tex-Mex restaurant chain in the U.S. state of Texas that opened in 1982 in Houston. It was similar to Taco Cabana but Two Pesos never opened in Taco Cabana's home market of San Antonio. The Two Pesos chain was sold to Taco Cabana in 1993 after losing a drawn-out trade dress suit that appeared before the United States Supreme Court.

Two Pesos was started in 1985 by Houston restaurateur Marno McDermot, who had been in negotiations with Taco Cabana's management to take the patio-restaurant chain nationwide. When Taco Cabana's founding Stehling brothers rejected his advances, McDermot decided to open up his own chain of similarly themed patio-dining Tex-Mex restaurants under the Two Pesos name. When Taco Cabana entered the Houston market, they sued Two Pesos for stealing their business concepts and "trade dress." After many appeals, the case went to the Supreme Court, which in 1992 ruled in Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. in favor of Taco Cabana. The Two Pesos owners sold to Taco Cabana the following year rather than making the changes required by the judgment.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 6

Zambrero

Zambrero is an Australian Quick Service restaurant chain serving Mexican food. It was founded in 2005 in Canberra by then-medical student Dr. Sam Prince with the aim to establish a successful business that also helped people in need. Zambrero achieves its humanitarian aims through its Plate 4 Plate initiative, on a mission to combat world hunger. For every burrito or bowl purchased at Zambrero, a meal is donated to someone in need in the developing world. Similarly, for every product purchased from Zambrero’s retail range, a meal is donated to someone in an underprivileged Australian community.

It opened its first store in Lonsdale Street, Braddon in 2005, opening its 100^th restaurant a decade later in Midland, Perth. Zambrero was recognised as one of Australia’s fastest growing franchises on the BRW Fastest Franchises List for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and Fast 100 List for 2014 and 2015. As of October 2017, it has one hundred and fifty (151) restaurants nationwide. It opened its first restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2014, in New Zealand in November 2014 and the first restaurant in Dublin, Ireland in March 2016.

In conjunction with partner organisations; Rise Against Hunger (formerly known as Stop Hunger Now) and Foodbank, they have donated over 17,000,000 (17 million) meals as of October 2017. They aim to donate one (1) billion meals by 2025.

Dr. Prince was named "The Australian of the Year" for the ACT in 2012 for his Zambrero-funded philanthropy. In 2008 he was named “Outstanding Young Person of the World’’ in the Junior Chambers International, in 2011 he was awarded the ‘Weary Dunlop Fellowship’ and in 2015 was runner up of CEO Magazine’s “Chairman of the Year” award.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 7

Zantigo

Zantigo

Zantigo is the name of a chain of fast food Mexican restaurants in the United States and also its predecessor, a separate chain that existed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Zantigo was founded, as Zapata, in 1969 by Marno McDermott, who would later be the co-founder of another Mexican chain, Chi-Chi's. In 1974, he sold Zapata to KFC's then owners, Heublein. (Zapata's home Mexican food product line was renamed Ortega at this time.) In 1976, the chain of Zapata Mexican fast-food restaurants was renamed Zantigo. The chain grew rapidly in this period. Television ads for Zantigo featured a Mexican-American narrator with an accent who ended the commercials with the tag line, "Zantigo – you'll be back, amigo."

In 1977, it was reported that average annual sales for a Zantigo location, $300,000, exceeded those for a Taco Bell store, $230,000, and the Louisville-based Zantigo was eager to challenge Taco Bell in the market. But by 1980, KFC had put expansion plans for Zantigo on hold in order to focus on its core Kentucky Fried Chicken business. Heublein was acquired by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1982. Following the 1985 takeover by Reynolds of Nabisco, the new company, RJR Nabisco divested itself of many businesses. In 1986, KFC was sold to PepsiCo for $850 million. Since Pepsi already owned a national Mexican food chain, Taco Bell, the decision was made to close or convert all existing Zantigo restaurants, of which there were 82 as of the October 1, 1986 announcement. The conversion was complete by late 1987 and the Zantigo name disappeared.

In many cases, the existing Zantigo stores were in better locations or in better physical condition than nearby Taco Bell locations. So, most Zantigo locations were rebranded as Taco Bell and the nearby Taco Bell stores closed. This led indirectly to the Taco Bell chain adopting many of the distinctive architectural details of the Zantigo design into new Taco Bell restaurant buildings.

Zantigo also had several unique menu items – the Chilito, the Taco Burrito, Chips 'n' Cheese. Of these, the Chilito was carried over by Taco Bell after the purchase in former Zantigo markets. The Chilito was promoted to a chain-wide item, and was later renamed "Chili-cheese Burrito".

...

Wikipedia