Taco Bueno
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Taco Bueno Restaurants. | |
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| Type | Mexican Restaurants |
|---|---|
| Founded | Abilene, Texas (1967) |
| Headquarters | Farmers Branch, Texas |
| Key people | John Miller (CEO), Bill Waugh (Founder) |
| Industry | Quick Service Restaurants |
| Products | Tacos, burritos, and other Mexican-related fast food |
| Revenue |  $1.8 billion USD (2005) |
| Employees | 121,000 |
| Slogan | It's More Bueno! |
| Website | tacobueno.com |
Taco Bueno is a U.S.-based fast food restaurant chain that specializes in Mexican food. Founded in Abilene, Texas in 1968, the chain has stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Arkansas with concentrations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Abilene, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The chain currently operates over 150 restaurants. They are currently opening new stores in Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Monroe, North Carolina.
In 1981, the chain was purchased by Unigate (now Uniq). In 1996, the company was sold to Carl's Jr. franchisor, CKE Restaurants, in 2001, it was sold to the private investment group Jacobson Partners and in 2005 it was sold again to Palladium Equity Partners.
The chain attempts to differentiate itself from the Taco Bell chain by using mainly fresh ingredients, which is emphasized by various television and radio ad campaigns (which focus on an "unnamed Mexican fast-food chain" spying on Taco Bueno and seeing why their food seemingly tastes superior) and their slogan, "It's more Bueno."
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[edit] Signature Taco Bueno
There are a few items that only Taco Bueno has:
[edit] Muchaco
A Muchaco is a layer of Mexican-style refried beans, a line of ground beef, lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, and diced tomatoes folded over in a fried pita.
[edit] Mucho Nachos
Mucho Nachos is a bed of tortilla chips layered over with Mexican-style refried beans, ground beef, chili sauce, melted American cheese with peppers (familiarly called "Queso"), shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, and sour cream.
[edit] Cheesecake Chimichanga
A Cheesecake Chimichanga (Cheesecake Chimichanga) is a warm cheescake filling wrapped in a fried shell and dusted with powdered sugar.
[edit] Mexidips & Chips
The Mexidips & Chips is a bed of tortilla chips with two corn tortilla bowls. The two bowls are filled differently depending on if the Mexidips & Chips is made for take-out orders or if it is made for dine-in orders. In the case that it is made for dine-in orders, the bowls contain cheese and Mexican-style refried beans with a small patch of lettuce to put a scoop of guacamole on. If it is made for take-out, then the guacamole is put in one of the cups and the cheese is put in a separate plastic container with a lid to prevent spillage.
[edit] Discontinued Items
Due to food costs, there were some long term items that were discontinued and many short-term items that have been discontinued, such as the "Apple Bueno" which was cinammon chips topped with cinnamon apple filling. The two recently discontinued long-term items were the Bueno Burgers and the Two-Handed Taco.
[edit] Taco Bueno/Taco Bell
There are differences between Taco Bueno and Taco Bell. Taco Bueno does not put diced onions on anything in their menu, unless requested. The only onions that may be found in the food are onion-bell pepper mixes that are put on the fajita items, and diced onions can also be found in the taco meat recipe. Taco Bueno also does not put jalapeño peppers on any of the items unless asked. Taco Bueno serves Coca-Cola beverages whereas Taco Bell serves Pepsi beverages.
[edit] Trivia
- Taco Bueno is referenced periodically in the television show King of the Hill, such as in the episode "Kidney Boy and Hamster Girl: A Love Story," in which Bobby pretends to be a high school student, and while there, discovers a Taco Bueno in the cafeteria.
- Founder Bill Waugh also founded Casa Bonita, a chain with one remaining location in Lakewood, Colorado which was featured on an episode of South Park. See Casa Bonita (South Park episode)
