- 20 August, 2004 -

Seattle-based Taco Del Mar plans to open perhaps a dozen restaurants in the region over the next few years. Taco Del Mar is a quick-serve Mexican restaurant featuring giant burritos and their specialty fish tacos. The brightly colored restaurants have a Baja theme, with surfboards used as decoration and even for some of the tables. Stellar Ventures Inc., based in Reno, is the master franchiser for Taco Del Mar franchises in Sacramento, the East Bay and the greater Delta region of California. The first local shop will likely be in South Placer, scheduled to open early next year. Stellar is owned by Bill Wright, a former co-owner of 20 Subway units in eastern Washington. He began developing Taco Del Mar stores in central Washington and Utah last year. Stellar -- which owns and operates three stores, plus serves as a master developer -- will begin local openings in the four-county Sacramento area. Stellar expects to open 20 stores in the next year in his markets. The first local franchisees are Tim and Kim Ledford-Hauser. They plan to open their first store, in the Roseville area, by early next year. The Ledford-Hausers intend to open three overall. "It is fresh, healthy food with a lot of choices and a nice ambiance and decor," Tim Ledford-Hauser says. "We've spent a lot of time traveling in Baja, and Taco Del Mar reminds us of the many fine times and fine food we've eaten down there." Taco Del Mar is similar to Subway sandwich shops in that there is no kitchen in the stores. The fresh produce is prepped in the stores, but the meat is delivered pre-cooked by a vendor -- Sysco Corp. in this case. At the stores, the employees simply warm the meat and beans. That means the leased space doesn't need a kitchen, a ventilation hood or a lot of other expensive equipment. It usually costs about $185,000 to develop one of the stores. California's cost might run a bit higher. Even so, that's less than one-fifth of the cost of opening a store with a working kitchen and grill. It also allows for a streamlined work force, with a crew of just three or four people working the counter. The stores do have to have a walk-in cooler, steam tables and a flash-bake oven used to quickly heat the frozen fish. Salsa and guacamole are made fresh on-site.

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