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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurant, Food |
| Genre | Fast Casual |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder(s) | Felix Stehling |
| Headquarters | San Antonio, Texas United States |
| Number of locations | 161 company-owned restaurants |
| Parent | Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc |
| Website | tacocabana.com |
Taco Cabana is an American fast casual restaurant chain specializing in Mexican cuisine and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. Taco Cabana is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. As of July 2012, it has over 161 locations throughout Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Many Taco Cabana restaurants are open 24 hours a day, and for most of the chain's history all locations were painted in the company's signature pink. Taco Cabana is known for its interior, semi-enclosed and patio dining areas, which provide a vibrant decor and relaxing atmosphere.
Most menu items are handmade daily in each restaurant, which feature open display cooking, including fajitas cooking on an open-flame grill and a machine making fresh tortillas.
Taco Cabana, founded by Felix Stehling in September 1978, opened its first restaurant at the corner of San Pedro and Hildebrand Avenue in Midtown San Antonio. Originally Stehling purchased the vacant Dairy Queen because the family needed additional parking space for their popular bar, the Crystal Pistol Bar, across the street. Recognizing the potential business opportunity, Stehling decided to open a taco stand. The open air design of the existing structure led to the "patio cafe" concept that defined the chain's subsequent locations. After finding all of the patio furniture stolen following the first night of business, Stehling decided to keep the place open 24 hours and the around-the-clock service concept began. Felix Stehling's wife, Billie Jo Stehling, created the décor and interior theme for the restaurant chain.
The restaurant, which focuses on fresh foods rather than pre-packaged, pre-prepared foods and serves beer and margaritas, quickly became successful. With a rapidly growing concept, Stehling needed help running his new chain. Stehling decided to keep the business in the family and asked his two brothers to help expand the chain throughout San Antonio. The brother's had great success in expanding the chain in the early stages of their partnership. However, in 1986 the brothers left the company in Felix's hands after differences in visions for the restaurant concepts future.
After his brothers left, Stehling didn't want to waste anytime in the chain's expansion plans. In 1987 Stehling hired on Richard Cervera as executive vice-president of Taco Cabana. With a vast experience in the restaurant industry and as a huge fan of the Taco Cabana chain, Cervera wasted no time helping Stehling grow the brand. In 1990, Taco Cabana began expansion into neighboring states in addition to continuing growth throughout Texas. Cervera moved up to president of the company in mid-1990 and began his plan for franchising the fast-casual concept. In 1992 Taco Cabana, with several substantial franchising agreements, went public with its first stock offering.
Taco Cabana had proven to be a very successful and profitable concept in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With all of the success, Taco Cabana experienced a lot of imitators during this growth period. The most notable imitator was Two Pesos.
In January 1987 Taco Cabana filed a suit against Two Pesos for allegedly duplicating Taco Cabana’s “Trade dress” and for theft of trade secrets. Two Pesos lost the case and appealed the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1992 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Taco Cabana and awarded the company $3.7 million in damages.
In January 1993 Taco Cabana announced that it was purchasing cash strapped Two Pesos' restaurant assets in exchange for 940,000 shares of Taco Cabana stock, approximately valued at $22 million. The sale included all 38 company-owned restaurants as well as all 51 franchised or licensed restaurants, operating under the Two Pesos and Shortstop Hamburgers names. Taco Cabana converted most Two Pesos locations into Taco Cabana restaurants, closed others and sold the Shortstop Hamburger chain.
Taco Cabana sales hit a high in 1994 with the success of the acquisition and protection of its niche in the restaurant market. In 1994, Stehling decided to resign as chairman and was succeeded by Cervera. Despite the rise in revenues the company saw while Cervera was in charge, stock prices for Taco Cabana drastically dropped. Stockholders blamed Cervera and wanted him replaced. In 1995 Cervera resigned as president of Taco Cabana for a position with the House of Blues restaurant chain. Stephen Clark was appointed both COO and president that same year.
Clark had over 15 years experience in the food industry. With his vast knowledge of the industry, Clark began a comprehensive evaluation of Taco Cabana's operations. With the damages of Taco Cabana's operation spread far, Clark wasted no time getting the fast-casual concept back on the right track. Clark brought on his own management team to help him update the brand's marketing strategy. He started by deciding to close several of the company-owned restaurants, restructuring a lot of the franchisee debt, eliminating many non-restaurant related assets and slowing down the plans for further expansion of restaurant or new franchise agreements. Clark's goal was to get Taco Cabana operating in the most cost-efficient way.
Towards the end of 1996, Taco Cabana introduced a new type of restaurant to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. With new features and designs, this prototype sent Taco Cabana in a slightly different direction. The new design featured a rounded front, clay tile roofing, aged wood paneling and stainless steal counter tops. The layout was intended to give the customers a feeling be dining in an old Mexican cafe. The new design worked attracting more customers than before. Plans were laid to build a series of these new designs for the fast-casual chain across Texas. During this time, profit margins and employee accountability improved proving Clark had achieved a more efficient operating system.
By 2000, Taco Cabana had spent almost $30 million on upgrades to the brand's image. However, despite the improvements and continuous growth in profits, stock price remained poor. Clark began looking for options for Taco Cabana.
In 2001 the company was delisted when it became a privately held, wholly owned subsidiary of Carrols Restaurant Corporation, one of the largest Burger King franchisees and owner of Pollo Tropical. After the acquisition, Clark left the company.
Mike Biviano, an employee of Carrols Restaurant Corp. since 1973, succeeded Clark as the Regional Director of Operations and Executive Vice President.
Taco Cabana continued to thrive and in 2001 introduced its well-known Mexican grill concept that includes made-to-order grilled beef, chicken, pork and shrimp that remain a staple on the menu today.
In 2002, Taco Cabana proved it's ability to thrive and contributed to a 41 percent revenue gain for Carrols Restaurant Corporation. During this year, the fast-casual chain introduced flautas to the menu as a limited time offer. The item proved to be very popular among Taco Cabana fans and set the restaurant apart from competitors it was added as a permanent menu item.
In 2003 Taco Cabana began inventing a new store prototype in order for the brand to remain competitive in the fast-casual food industry. The new concept featured eight-foot char-grills in all restaurants. During these store renovations, Taco Cabana premiered the "premium bowl" promotion as a precursor for potential bowls and salads to add to the menu.
Taco Cabana began forming the brand image of fresh made food and its San Antonio heritage bringing the restaurant images to a higher standard in the quick service industry in 2004. Magnetic menu boards were added to the restaurants and Taco Cabana began implementing the new design changes including new artwork, furniture and more. 2004 was a period of growth for the brands image and sales giving the brand some strong momentum for 2005. In 2005, Taco Cabana operated over 120 locations and saw an increase in overall growth for the brand.
During 2006 through 2010, differences in operations, leadership and opinions lead Taco Cabana to a lot of new product testing. However, due to the overwhelming number of products coming to the brand in such a short period of time, Taco Cabana ultimate saw little brand elevation and differentiation during this time.
In 2010, the company decided to re-establish and strengthen the Taco Cabana image with the launch of the "Obsession" campaign which help the restaurant establish a new brand direction focusing on consistency, guest service and food quality. This new direction ultimately pushed the Taco Cabana brand towards where they are today.
By developing one single-minded brand strategy that all functions of the brand are responsible for managing and maintaining, Taco Cabana has rebuilt the fast-casual restaurant from its steep decline during the early part of the 2000s to successful brand supported by a passionate and driven team that aims to bring Taco Cabana fans the quality of food and cultural atmosphere they have grown to love.
In September 2012, Biviano announced his intentions to retire. Todd Coerver was named his successor effective January 31, 2012. Coerver joined Taco Cabana in 2009 as the Chief Brand Officer. Before Taco Cabana he was Vice President of Marketing and Innovation at Whataburger, Inc. for 15 years.
Taco Cabana reached several milestones in 2012 including introducing the restaurant's $3 Happy Hour and the Favorites Under $5 menu offerings. In July 2012, the fast-casual chain introduced the new redesigned restaurant in North Texas at the Allen, Texas location. The new design echoes the contemporary and authentic Mexican cuisine the restaurant is known for. The new features include decorative metal estrella lights, papel picado accents throughout the restaurant and large street-life photos from Mexico to give the customer a feeling on dining in an authentic Mexican cafe.
On October 23, 2012 Taco Cabana introduced this new redesign to Dallas and announced plans to update all of the restaurants with this new concept by the end of 2014.
In 2011, Carrols Restaurant Corp. announced its intentions of separating its Hispanic brands and Burger King restaurant business into two separate public companies. The Hispanic brands were places under Fiesta Restaurant Group, the new subsidiary of Carrols Restaurant Corp. With a combined revenue of $439.1 million in 2010, Fiesta Restaurant Group was in a perfect position to become a subsidiary for the time being.
In August 2011, Carrols Restaurant Corp named Tim Taft the CEO of Fiesta Restaurant Group. Taft succeeded Alan Vituli who remained on as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Fiesta Restaurant Group. Previously serving as President and CEO of Whataburger, Inc. for more than 10 years and most recently interim CEO for Souper Salad, Inc., Taft has more than 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry making him a great fit to take over Fiesta Restaurant Group.
Soon after the announcement of the new CEO, Fiesta Restaurant Group announced Joe Brink as the Vice President of Supply Chain Management. With more than 20 years experience in supply chain management, Brink was more than qualified for the job. He was most recently Vice President of Supply Chain Management at Souper Salad, Inc.
By the time the separation of the brands was complete in 2011, Fiesta Restaurant Group saw an 8.2 percent revenue increase for the year and finished at $475.0 million in 2011.
In April 2012, Carrols Restaurant Corp agreed to allow Fiesta Restaurant Group to spin-off with Taco Cabana and Pollo Tropical. Currently Fiesta Restaurant Group owns, operates and franchises 284 restaurants in the southern United States, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. The spin-off was completed on May 8, 2012.
In an effort to round out the senior-level positions, Fiesta Restaurant Group announced the hiring of Josh Todd as Chief Development Officer on May 14, 2012. Todd was most recently the Chief Development Officer for Arbys. His main goal with Fiesta Restaurant Group is to lead real estate development, new location site selection, design, construction of new location and upgrades to current restaurants.
Fiesta Restaurant Group named Lynn Schweinfurth their new Chief Financial Officer in July 2012. Schweinfurth has more than 20 years of senior-level financial experience. She most recently served as Vice President of Finance and Treasurer at Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc..
In December 2012, Fiesta announced that would be moving the location of their headquarters to Addison, Texas. With plan to grow substantially over the next 2 years, the company needed more space. The new headquarter is located at 14800 Landmark Boulevard.
Fiesta Restaurant Group started 2013 off with the announcement of Nancy Clark appointed to Chief People Officer. Clark has more than 15 years experience in human resources. She previously served as division Vice President, Human Resources, Global Supply Chain Operations and International Divisions at J.C. Penny.
The company headquarters is in 17,700 square feet (1,640 m) of office space in Suite 200 of the 8918 Tesoro Drive building in Uptown San Antonio, Texas.
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