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By Ed Avis
For better or for worse, chain restaurants are how most people in the United States experience Mexican food. The 50 largest Mexican restaurant chains have a total of nearly 15,000 locations, so it’s no surprise that most American consumers are more accustomed to fast-food burritos than authentic enchiladas mole!
That’s why we feel it’s important to keep up with this segment of the industry. We do that all year by interviewing chain executives, reading press releases, and paying attention to other media reports about this segment. When we prepare the data about the number of units for this annual report — believe it or not, this is our 12th annual Mexican Multi-Unit Report! — we also look for trends in the field.
This year we noticed that many Mexican multi-units are redesigning their restaurants to keep things fresh in a highly competitive market. Our report provides some details on a few of these redesigns — but first let’s look at the numbers.
Uneven Growth
The biggest chains on our Top 50 list definitely grew — Taco Bell’s unit count grew by 209 units, Chipotle added 178, and Qdoba added 59. These companies expanded not just in the United States, but also around the world. Chipotle, for example, opened its first Middle East location, in Kuwait City, in April.
In the middle and bottom of our rankings, the results are a bit blurrier. Some chains grew — Bubbakoos Burritos, for example, continued its expansion by growing from 116 units to 127. The company is best known in the East and Southeast, but it has been growing in the Midwest (especially in Ohio) for the past year or two.
Another growing mid-size chain is Costa Vida Mexican Grill, which added 13 units to reach 96. In June the restaurant promoted Wade Allen to president. Allen had been the executive VP for strategic growth, and his success in that position is evidenced by the increasing unit count.
On the shrinking side of the ledger, On the Border Mexican Grill dropped 13 locations by our count, including stores in Kansas and Texas.
Similarly, Tijuana Flats shed 30 units after declaring bankruptcy and finding new owners. The bankruptcy may give Tijuana Flats a new shot — the company announced it is renovating many remaining locations in an effort to attract new customers.
“With this new ownership structure, and a robust strategic plan, we are well-positioned for an emergence in the fast casual space,” Joe Christina, CEO of Tijuana Flats, said in a news release. “I look forward to evolving and expanding our brand and supporting the communities we serve.”
Redesigning for Advantage
Tijuana Flats is hardly the only Mexican multi-unit that has been renovating stores.
Rubio’s Coastal Grill, another chain that suffered bankruptcy in 2024, also launched a redesign. It first appeared at the restaurant’s new flagship location in Oceanside, California. According to a press release, the new look was inspired by “the Baja taco stands where Rubio’s Co-Founder Ralph Rubio first experienced fish tacos during spring break as a college student 41 years ago.”
Features of the Oceanside restaurant (which is just over 2,500 square feet and has 48 interior seats and 24 patio seats) include authentic materials one would find in Baja – tile banquette, corrugated metal, cinder block wall construction, saltillo tile, decorative cinder breeze blocks – and a gallery wall with origin/history images of Rubio’s trips to Baja.
That location will serve as a prototype for future updates.
Of course, it’s not just struggling restaurants that redesign.
El Pollo Loco, which is the sixth biggest chain on our list and whose unit count increased by four in 2024, introduced a new store design in October designed to modernize the 50-year-old restaurant with an updated color palette, footprint, and use of materials. Specifics include interior and furniture upgrades to create a bright and airy space; LED lighting; and energy-efficient hoods and HVAC.
Taco Cabana, which came in at 10th place in this year’s Top 50 List, unveiled a new design called TC 3.0, just before launching a campaign to find franchisees last year. The design features a patio, a walk-up window, dual drive-throughs, and other elements.
“It is a smaller footprint, which equates to a cheaper cost of ownership while maximizing the most recent trends in customer fulfillment preferences at the same time,” Ulyses Camacho, president and COO of Taco Cabana, explained in an el Restaurante interview. “This will make our offering more enticing to potential franchisees, as it can drive more transactions per square foot than older designs.”
The restaurant’s kitchen also was refreshed with a focus on productivity.
“The layout [makes] it easy for our teams to service the front counter and drive-thru, as well as prepare food on the grills and tortillas from one position,” Camacho said. “Margarita machines, which are a core differentiator for our brand, are positioned both DT and front counter for optimal speed of service.”
Barberito’s, which added four units last year and stands at 35th on the el Restaurante Top 50 List, opened a location in September in Temple Terrace, Florida that features a revamped interior design that aims to be more modern and inviting than the previous look.
“We are thrilled to showcase this brand’s fresh new image that perfectly aligns with our brand philosophy,” said Kelly Roddy, CEO of WOWorks, parent company of Barberitos.
Naturally, customers like refreshed restaurant designs, because it shows that the ownership cares about the experience. We’ll continue to cover the state of the industry throughout 2025, and will reveal how current redesign trends impacted restaurant growth in our 13th annual Mexican Multi-Unit Report next year.
Ed Avis is the publisher of el Restaurante.