|
tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption
CHAIN -- Taco
Time I was worried about Taco Time when new owners Kahala Corp did the unthinkable...they took the Northwest out of the chain. Taco Time's corporate office, based in Eugene, OR since the company's inception, was moved to Phoenix. There wasn't a single Taco Time in all of Arizona. Ron Fraedrick started Taco Time in Eugene, OR in 1960 after falling in love with Mexican food in California. Everything was made fresh at the two window walk-up. Seasonings were mixed in a large barrel by rolling it around the parking lot. They've since replaced the barrel with real mixers, but the "made fresh" part is largely still intact. Success came quickly with three locations within the year. The first franchisee, Frank Tonkin, opened his first location in 1962 and followed up with many more. In 1979, Tonkin began operating independent of Taco Time International with an agreement that allows Taco Time NW to use the trademarks in Western Washington. Taco Time Northwest operates 73 locations independently and are, short of name and core menu items, a completely separate animal from Taco Time International. The Fraedrick family sold Taco Time International in 2003 to Kahala Corp, an Arizona-based franchise and marketing group that at the time operated a number of concepts like Frullati Cafe, Surf City Squeeze, and others I'd never heard of before. (They've since picked up a couple of much higher profile brands in the form of Blimpie and Cold Stone Creamery.) What would become of my favorite taco in all of fast food? It's doing just fine, thanks. At Taco Time, everything tastes as fresh as it is. From the shells to the beef, the food is prepared fresh on site. There are several chains who make this claim, but none of them provide as fresh a taste. The tacos are beautiful. The soft burritos are huge. But the big signature attraction is the crispy burrito line... thinly rolled meat, bean, or chicken burritos wrapped tightly and deep fried. Behold...They are awesome. Breakfast has come and gone at some locations, but the best Taco Time breakfast is at the Meridian, Idaho store. They've been doing their own thing for years. They have "Taters and Gravy"...Mexi Fries drenched in sausage gravy. NOTHING touches the awesomess of this. Other Taco Times I've been to have done a non-sausage country gravy over Mexi-Fries. Not even close. My local Taco Time, which is always much busier than the local Taco Bell, is one of the best in the chain and gets more of my dollars than any restaurant. But Taco Time is largely a franchisee operation, so there are a lot of bad Taco Time's. Thus far, Kahala hasn't messed with success. They've co-branded...you can sometimes get a Samurai Sam's teriyaki bowl or a Surf City Squeeze with your tacos...but that's as far as it's gone. Taco Time is every bit as good under Kahala as it was before.
Click here to return to tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption |
