What can we say about Tacos, apart from YUM!
Tacos are super-delicious, delightful treats that are gloriously messy to eat. If you don't have sauce down your shirt after a taco, you haven't fully embraced the experience.
Taco franchises are a segment of the thriving Mexican food industry, focusing on nutritious corn or wheat tortillas folded around a meat or veggie filling. Crammed with additional salads or vegetables, tacos are healthy (depending on the filling) and always totally scrumptious.
Taco franchises have excelled in the United States' restaurant industry, entering the mainstream and becoming as popular as American favorites such as the burger or the hot dog. And with a growing Hispanic population, the time has never been better to invest in a taco franchise.
Tacos are popular with consumers because they're relatively cheap to buy, quick to build, and easy to eat on the go (as long as you don't mind a few drips). Alternatively, you can eat at the table - many taco franchises have eat-in facilities.
So, if you're looking to change your career and would like to see daily smiles from grateful, hungry customers, a taco franchise could be your wisest career move yet.
Franchising
Franchising is a unique opportunity. When you invest in a taco franchise, you inherit:
- The reputation of the parent company,
- A tried-and-tested menu,
- Access to an existing supply chain
- Instantly recognizable branding that proffers immediate curb appeal for your new business.
Setting up an independent business without the support of an experienced partner is super-challenging. More than half of all indies go into receivership within their first five years because they fail to:
- Penetrate the saturated marketplace
- Get their menu right in accordance with consumer demand
- Recoup their initial investment
- Get their branding recognized against established competitors
Often independent company owners go into business wearing rose-tinted spectacles without understanding the full scale of the challenges a business startup needs to overcome.
Franchise owners, on the other hand, open their taco franchise with the full support of their parent company. Franchisees are given full training to bring them up to expert status BEFORE they open their doors to the public. Parent companies need to ensure that the franchisee can sustain their hard-earned reputation for customer satisfaction, so they provide world-class training for business owners and unit staff alike.
Not only does the parent company offer training, but they usually offer an attractive package of HR support, helping the taco franchisee with the tricky food-, business-, and employment regulations that bring operations into compliance with government guidelines.
Facts About Taco Franchises
Top taco franchises including Taco Bell (of course), Moe Southwest Grill, Del Taco, and Taco Time.
Taco Bell is the world’s largest taco franchise, with 7427 outlets (2020) preparing and serving delightful Mexican fare to hungry patrons in 31 different countries. More than 80% of their restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees.
A recent trend in the world of tacos is "dayparts" - varying the menu depending on the time of day. So, customers can pop in for breakfast, grab some lunch on the go, and take home a delicious taco for their evening meal - each time a different flavor sensation.
Taco franchises - traditionally confined to lunchtime or evening fare - have joined in on the profitable early morning commuter market, offering creative breakfast tacos, breakfast nachos, and whatever the innovative and entrepreneurial taco franchise owner can think of to tempt passing trade.
More recently, delivery companies such as Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats have broadened the appeal of tacos for home delivery - especially during the stay-home orders of 2020/21. Revenues from home delivery orders have doubled throughout the pandemic - but they're expected to remain high, even after the world opens up again.
Many people had never ordered food from one of the big delivery services before the pandemic. But, trends suggest that those new to food delivery show no signs of lost interest in (or preference for) delivery dining over location eating.
This sets an excellent precedent for taco franchises, as many have signed deals with the delivery agents to broaden their lunchtime and evening catering reach.
Taco franchises sell more than just tacos, however. On the menu in the average taco joint are:
- Quesadillas
- Crunchy taco shells
- Soft burritos
- Churros
- Fries (with a range of toppings)
- Nachos (with a range of toppings)
One of the most tempting aspects of taking on a taco franchise is inheriting the parent company's reputation for great food and excellent service. When you open your taco franchise, you already have a customer base of hungry clients who already know and love your menu. You can't say the same for independent companies who struggle for visibility amongst the well-known brands in the shopping mall.
Franchising Vs. Independent
As with all franchise opportunities, there's a financial investment to put down before you can open your doors to the public. Taco franchises start at around $100,000.
Most of us, of course, don't have that type of money in our back pocket, which means we have to seek funding from moneylenders and banks.
Luckily, banks and moneylenders tend to favor the franchise model over independent companies set up without an established partner's support. Franchises offer far less financial risk than independent businesses because, with franchises, the business model has already been proven successful, sustainable, profitable, and capable of scaling up.
Independent companies often struggle to achieve their startup funds, but when they do, they're often charged higher interest rates to reflect the additional financial risk. This is because indies don't have the evidence of market viability, saturation, or customer need - unlike franchise businesses.
Independent companies often suffer a slow start - it can take up to three years to establish a reputation - and, often, new businesses get things wrong at first and need to build themselves back up to overcome the initial hurdles.
Franchise businesses tend to hit the ground running - with support from an experienced partner who knows the market intimately and can help guide your new business onto a sure path of success.
Taco Franchises
Check out Franchise Direct's delightful choice of excellent taco franchises, and get cooking for America today!
You can also check out many more Food Franchises here on Franchise Direct, such as: