Baja Fresh is a chain of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Newbury Park, California in 1990 and headquartered in Cypress, California.[1] The chain emphasizes fresh ingredients, and each restaurant features a self-serve salsa bar.
The chain operates 256 restaurants in 29 states,[2] and in 2010 opened a store at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.[2]
Competitors include California Tortilla, Panchero's Mexican Grill, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Moe's Southwest Grill, Qdoba, Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, Tijuana Flats.
In 1990, Jim and Linda Magglos took out a third mortgage on their home[3] and opened the first Baja Fresh in the Conejo Valley of California with the vision of fast food, Mexican-style, that was not processed.[4] The result was a chain of restaurants where the customer would "never see a can opener"[4] — and the motto “no microwaves, no can openers, no freezers, no lard and no MSG.”[5] Franchising began In 1995,[3] and the chain had expanded to 31 outlets by 1997.[6] In 1998, the Magglos worked with Greg Dollarhyde, who recapitalized the parent company, acquired venture capital and bought shares from outside holders to take control of Baja Fresh.[3] Dollarhyde then grew the chain from 45 locations in 1998 to 249 stores.[5]
In 2002, Wendy's International purchased Baja Fresh for $275 million.[7] As a wholly owned subsidiary of Wendy's, the 249 restaurant chain[5] saw consistently declining same store sales.[5] In 2006, Wendy's sold the roughly 300-location Baja Fresh chain for $31 million to a private investor consortium that operates other restaurants, including Sweet Factory, La Salsa[8], Cinnabon and Denny's.[9] The consortium is led by David Kim, who took on the role of CEO of the company.[5]
In 2009, Baja Fresh moved its corporate headquarters from Thousand Oaks to Cypress,[6] California, and closed all locations in central Ohio.[10] Between 2009 and 2010, the chain closed stores in Berkeley, Pasadena and Torrance, CA.