tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Del Taco
Owner -- Privately Held
Primary Operating Region -- Southwestern United States
Number of Locations --  470 (October 2006)

Mid-afternoon at Del Taco in St Louis.  Customer count: Four...sort of.  There's me, there's two bikers, and there's a Del Taco employee.  The Del Taco employee is on his lunch break, in his Del Taco uniform, eating Popeye's chicken from the nearby franchise right in the middle of the Del Taco dining room.  For some reason, I found that to be really funny.

The bikers were experiencing Del Taco for the first time, and they had ordered two "Macho" burritos each.  They clearly didn't know what they had coming to them.  They were extremely impressed and one said aloud "This totally blows Taco Bell out of the water."  

Ed Hackbarth was sent to Barstow in 1961 by Glen Bell to run the local outlet of one of his pre-Taco Bell chains, Taco Tia.  Hackbarth decided to strike out on his own and opened "casa del Taco" in nearby Yermo in 1964.  Hackbarth purchased the Barstow Taco Tia from Bell and rebranded it Del Taco. (The Barstow location was rebuilt in the 1970's and is still in operation, one of several units operated by a partnership that includes Ed and his brother Tony.  The building that housed the Yermo location still stands, now housing "The Del Burger Den".)  Hackbarth and partners sold their interests in the chain in 1975, though is still a franchisee today.  There were 50 restaurants in 1977, 100 in 1979.  In 1988, the 225-unit Naugles chain was merged in.  But all was not well.

Del Taco was almost Del Gone-o in 1990 when Kevin Moriarity took over at the behest of the finance group that was stuck with the languishing chain.  Moriarity's guidance brought Del Taco back and beyond before selling to the guys who own Captain D's in 2006. While Del Taco is largely based in California and the Southwest, the chain has franchise agreements in place that will cover a significant amount of territory west of the Rockies (and Denver), and plans are afoot for the Midwest starting with existing Del Taco market St Louis.  So far, a lot of this expansion has appeared to have been little more than talk, possibly because some of those initial expansion locations have failed.  Regardless, Del Taco is also technically the second-largest Mexican fast food chain in the country.  That's not saying much when leader Taco Bell has over twelve times the number of locations, and Taco Johns is nipping at your heels by only a couple dozen units.

Del Taco has a longstanding reputation for cheap food, and that's true.  There's a lot of menu items under a dollar.  Tacos can be found three for a dollar in some promotions (and trust me, you get what you pay for).  But there's so much more to it than that.  

Nobody tops Del Taco in the Chicken Soft Taco department.  They have a mayo-based sauce which has a lime flavor to it.   You can also get basically the same thing plus tomato in burrito form (much bigger, mind you.)  While the basic Taco is a small flavorless dud (and naturally their best seller), the Macho Taco is one of the best tacos out there.  Del Taco's burritos are HUGE.  From the basic beef or bean burrito to the 1-pound-plus "Macho" line, they're very much worthwhile.  Del Taco also does some of the better fast food hamburgers, fries and shakes, and most locations have a 24-hour drive-thru.  Del Taco also scores major points for offering everything on the menu at breakfast.  

Del Taco is trying to market itself out of the "cheap" mentality and into a reputation of having better quality ingredients and fresher food made to order with no use of microwaves.  Most of the menu certainly tastes that way, and busier Del Tacos are alive with the sounds of sizzling on the grill.  But consistency across the chain is still an issue.  The Ogden, UT Del Taco seemed to forget there's a special sauce that goes on the Chicken Soft Tacos during a stretch of the summer of 2001.  And recently at another St. Louis Del Taco, I placed my order and was told "We're out of lettuce."  HOW do you run out of LETTUCE?  You can't have somebody run to the nearby grocery store when you see this coming?  That was completely inexcusable.

Del Taco describes its interior decor as "festive", which it is, in a 1982 MTV video sort of way.  With chains like Taco Johns and Taco Time stepping up their looks in a more upscale direction, it would be beneficial for Del Taco to look at a makeover as well.  

Don't get me wrong...I love Del Taco.  The sooner I have one near me the better.  But they've got some bugs to fix before they can become the national presence they want to be.

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