Tacos 4 Life, the restaurant mini-chain based in Conway, appears poised to move beyond “mini-chain” status to plain “chain” status with its plans to open more locations in Arkansas, the hiring of a chief marketing officer and, in particular, its announcement last week that franchise opportunities are now available in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee.
Austin Samuelson, who founded Tacos 4 Life, with his wife, Ashton, told Whispers they had been working on the franchise plan for the last six months.
“We’ve just really just gotten to the point in the last few weeks where we’ve been able to say, ‘OK, we’re ready to go live with this,’” Samuelson said.
He noted the addition to the Tacos 4 Life team in December of Donnie Robertson, chief marketing officer, touting his marketing experience at franchisers Nothing Bundt Cakes and Cicis Pizza.
With the company’s focus on fighting childhood hunger — it donates 22 cents to the nonprofit Feed My Starving Children for every meal sold — “franchising is a great answer” to the question of “What would feed the most kids?” Samuelson said.
In addition, Tacos 4 Life is on its way to opening 15 company-owned stores within the next three to four years, the company says. Tacos 4 Life, which has two restaurants in Conway, one each in Fayetteville and Conway and a Benton location scheduled to open today, is set to open a franchise location in Searcy this summer and a company-owned store in Springdale in the fall, among others on the way, the restaurateur said.
The company has attracted investors, Samuelson said, though he declined to identify them, but is also funding its growth through the revenue from its current restaurants.
The company’s website says that total initial investment necessary to begin operation of Tacos 4 Life franchise ranges from $511,466 to $737,400 and that franchise candidates and their partners/investors must have a combined liquid capital of at least $150,000 and a combined net worth of at least $600,000.
Samuelson said the company has already received a lot of interest from potential franchisees, who are attracted to Tacos 4 Life because of the uniqueness and quality of its food, the family atmosphere and the company’s mission. He said each store can feed, through the donations to Feed My Starving Children, about 1,000 kids a day.
“And who doesn’t love tacos? It’s a win-win.”