Taco Bueno is a fast-food restaurant serving Tex-Mex style food. The restaurant currently has nearly two hundred locations across eight different states. Most of its locations are located in Oklahoma and northern Texas. Its headquarters is located in Farmers Branch, Texas.

This fast-food chain features food items such as tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and nachos. Locations are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Although there are similar fast-food restaurants that are more widely popular throughout the United States, Taco Bueno sets itself apart from its competition in a number of ways.

History

Taco Bueno’s first restaurant was built in Abilene, Texas. The company was founded by Bill R. Waugh, a man who is also the founder of a handful of other chain eateries located in the southwest. Unfortunately, he passed away in January of 2015.

The company has undergone a number of changes in ownership since its opening in 1967. In 1981, the chain was purchased by Unigate. The company was then sold to CKE Restaurants, owner of the Carl’s Jr franchise, in 1996. Just five years later, CKE Restaurants was struggling financially and sold Taco Bueno to Jacobson Partners in an attempt to climb out of debt. Four years after that, the company came under new ownership yet again by Palladium Equity Partners.

Throughout the years, the eatery has also named a few different CEOs including John Miller in 2005 and Ed Lambert in 2011. Currently, the CEO is Mike Roper. Very recently, the restaurant was sold to yet another parent company, TPG Growth. This occurred in December of 2015. The company intends to continue to expand the restaurant with more locations. Specifically, they have been opening more locations in Colorado.

Although Taco Bueno has not won any notable awards recently, it was voted the “Best Mexican Quick Service Restaurant in the Country” in the year 2000. This is especially notable considering the fact that the chain only operates in a small percentage of states throughout the nation.

Review

Taco Bueno remains able to stand out from its larger corporation competitors by offering a higher quality menu with more customizable options. For example, the restaurant offers a self-serve salsa and condiment bar, which is constantly stocked with various fresh homemade salsas as well as pico de gallo, jalapenos, and onions. This allows customers to adjust menu items to their own liking.

As with its salsas, the restaurant also has a higher standard for its food by making its items fresh every day, including homemade guacamole and freshly seasoned meats. While others may offer a higher quantity of menu items offered, Taco Bueno chooses to focuses on the quality of food on the more limited menu they offer.

A few of their locations also offer delivery options, something that is very sparsely available at most any other fast food chains. This service is offered at its restaurant located at University of Oklahoma. The chain may look into expanding its delivery service in the future.

While tacos are, of course, an extremely popular menu item at this establishment, some additional widely loved options include the cheesecake chimichanga and the chips and queso dip. Recently, Taco Bueno released a new menu choice “Build Your Own Mexidips and Chips”. This gives customers the option to choose three different dip selections from the wide variety the restaurant offers. Restaurant specials are constantly changing, usually on a day-to-day basis. They are currently offering “Party Tacos” for under a dollar each.