Whether it’s a traditional meal at a full-service Mexican restaurant or a new creation from a fast-casual chain—think Taco Bell’s Grilled Stuft Nacho or On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina’s Border Bowls—Americans continue to seek out Mexican food in unprecedented numbers.
In fact, Technomic Inc., Chicago, states in its recent “Top 150 Fast-Casual Chain Restaurant Report” that the Mexican category is one of the fast-casual segment’s most-developed and mature clusters, posting gains of about 18 percent in sales and 6 percent in locations in 2014. With the well-known chains—Taco Bell, Chipotle Mexican Grill, On the Border, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Baja Fresh, Del Taco and others—opening new locations seemingly everywhere, these findings aren’t surprising.