- 21 December, 2003 -

James Schmidt's empire is built on beach food without the sand. Schmidt is founder and CEO of Taco Del Mar, a taco and burrito chain based in Seattle. Taco Del Mar - with three Tacoma locations, plus one each in Gig Harbor, Puyallup, University Place and along Canyon Road - will soon wash into Phoenix and Boise, then Chicago and points east by 2005. Schmidt, originally from Friday Harbor, and Tacoma native Ken Batali, vice president of operations, command 72 restaurants in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and British Columbia. Schmidt and Batali are Bellarmine Preparatory School graduates. "We didn't have any classes together," Schmidt said. "Ken was an upperclassman, so he didn't have much to do with me." Batali said: "Both our fathers (Dino Batali and Charles Schmidt) were lawyers who went to Gonzaga law school. I graduated from Bellarmine in 1980, and James in '81." Schmidt founded his kingdom of tacos 11 years ago. Batali joined Taco Del Mar this year after 20 years with Restaurants Unlimited Inc. (RUI) in Seattle. James Schmidt's life changed on Pier 57 in Seattle. He like to call the moment "an inner Baja." He remembers the date like it was Saturday morning. "We opened June 8, 1992," Schmidt said. Instead of mondo burritos, fish tacos and that fleeting inner Baja, Schmidt thought he was catching a wave on deli sandwiches. "Like Briazz, but not as fancy," Schmidt said. "I talked to Hal Griffith, who was the landlord at Pier 57. He already had a sandwich place, the Bean Pot." Standing on the Pier with Griffith, wondering what the jalapeno he was going to do with his life, Schmidt had an epiphany. "You need to do ethnic," Griffith said. With ferries scooting in to Elliott Bay, gulls squawking and gray-green water lapping at the dock, Schmidt though of Mexico. As an undergraduate at University of San Diego, Schmidt sampled fish tacos at stands in Rosarita Beach, between Tijuana and Ensenada, Mexico. "You move the flies out of the way and you've got a good fish taco," Schmidt said. "It was a place to get drunk and go dancing and find something to eat at 4 in the morning." His business sense nudged by a woozy memory, Schmidt told Griffith that he as going to open a fish taco stand on Pier 57. "Whatever," Griffith said. "As long as the rent's in by the first of the month." In four months, Taco Del Mar, its name borrowed from the horse racetrack just north of San Diego, took in $22,000. Business was so lousy that Shirley Schmidt, his mom in a family of seven kids, said, "Now it is time to get a real job." "It was a failure," Schmidt said. "But I couldn't close." He found a better location at Seventhe Avenue and Madison Street. Business improved. By June 1994, Schmidt was opening a fourth Taco Del Mar in a 270-square-foot space in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. "There was a line out the door 12 hours a day," Schmidt said. "That is when I knew I might have something." Schmidt had the sense to keep the menu small - the base taco of Alaskan cod with shredded cabbage, cheese and salsa, plus burritos, nachos, tacos and enchiladas. The lone failure was a potato burrito. "People would come back and say, "What is this? Irish stew?" Schmidt said. Schmidt allowed franchise owners to transform interiors into their notion of a taco stand, with beach posters, woody station wagon photos and surf d cor of their choosing. "They train us and let us do what we think is best," said Kris Manke, owner of three stores in Tacoma, Lacey and Tumwater. "They let us have individual personalities." "That way we can give the customer better service and a better experience," said Marc Houser, who owns a Taco Del Mar in Tacoma. Taco Del Mar opened 25 stores this year and has plans for 70 next year, Schmidt said. Sales are expected to hit $25 million this year, $42 million in 2004. "We think our restaurants are about fun and being young and enjoying outdoor activity," Schmidt said. "We strive for high energy, that new Baja. You come here and we feed it."

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