Creating innovative bowls, deveoping premium tacos, and growing the brunch menu are on the to-do list of Josh Diekman, the new executive chef of Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, the Texas-based multi-unit with 150 locations.
“Innovation is definitely a big, big part of the job, that's the number one goal,” says Diekman, who previously held chef positions at Land O’Lakes and Nestlé, where he developed menu items for Chili’s Grill & Bar, TGI Fridays and Bar Louie.
The chef’s creativity is on display among the 26 bowl concepts that he is trying out. They include an elote potato bowl, a birria bowl, a chimichurri bowl and a poblano tender bowl. The premium taco concepts also stretch beyond the chain’s specialty of Baja-inspired tacos – potentials include honey serrano chicken, chorizo poblano fundido, and shishito pepper and grilled steak. An expanded brunch menu – maybe tacos and bowls inspired by Bloody Mary flavors -- also is under development.
“I love starting aspirationally on menu items and then, of course, we make sure they can be executed,” he explains. He keeps regionality in mind, too, since Fuzzy’s locations stretch from Denver to Ft. Lauderdale. “A taco idea that works in Texas might not work in Colorado and a great taco in Colorado might not work in Florida.…And then the recipe has to be written in a way that can be repeatable and executed flawlessly. It needs to be the same every time in every restaurant.”
The process for testing new menu items at a multi-unit with that many locations is extensive. Diekman explains that the ideas are first narrowed down by an internal leadership and marketing team, and then they go before a franchise committee that gives input on how the menu items would work in the restaurants themselves. Ideas that make it that far are tried out by tasting panels and customers who are members of Fuzzy’s Rewards Program. The careful testing takes time – Diekman says the current limited-time-offer taco on the menu took about nine months to reach that point – but it helps ensure success for the new menu items.
“I can come up with a wonderful idea that I love,” he says. “But if our customers don’t love it, then it’s not going on the menu.”