East Texas Business

By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor

Taco Bueno will enter the Tyler market, opening at 1305 SSE Loop 323 on March 4, the leader of its local franchise group said.

Terry Davis, president and owner of U.S. Merit Inc., said the new restaurant will have a product sampling on March 3. He said the local community appears to have been waiting with great anticipation, as the restaurants have a cult-like following.

"I've been getting 100 e-mails a month from people in Tyler wanting to know when we were going to get a Taco Bueno," he said.

Taco Bueno started in 1967 in Abilene. Now based in Dallas, it began franchising two years ago, and Davis said his company was one of its first 10 franchisees. Davis also has Taco Bueno restaurants in Lufkin and Nacogdoches. The Nacogdoches store set opening day and first week sales records.

Davis plans to expand the Taco Bueno presence in the local area.

"We want to do two here in Tyler, and we want to do Lindale," he said.

Davis, who also owns the rights to Taco Bueno in Shreveport and East Texas, said the Lindale location would be established first, then the second Tyler store.

Taco Bueno is Mexican fast food, but unlike some other restaurants, it uses fresh ingredients that are not cooked ahead of time and frozen for later use. Davis said it is a "throwback" to the days when restaurants used more fresh ingredients and did more on-site cooking.

As a result, the kitchen staff starts cooking beans late at night for the next day. Beef is cooked fresh every hour. Chips, salsa and guacamole are made at the stores.

"The product quality compares to every sit-down (restaurant) in Tyler," Davis said.

Because items are cooked fresh, the restaurant employs a full kitchen staff. He said the Tyler store will open with about 70 employees to handle the initial customer load, and then scale back to about 40 people after the restaurant is up and running.

The restaurant will be open between 10:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. and have a drive-through food service window.

Tony Harris is the district manager, and Lisa Duncan is the Tyler Taco Bueno manager.

Davis said his son Wayne, who was a chef at Sullivan's Steakhouse in Dallas, will play a vital role in company expansion into the Shreveport market.

He estimated the total investment in the Tyler Taco Bueno location to be $1.2 million. According to Tyler building permits the building is 2,557 square feet.

U.S. Merit has 20 East Texas restaurants, which include Burger King and Fazoli's.

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