When you’ve been in business for nearly 40 years, you get to celebrate a bunch of awesome milestones along the way. Today, we‘re thrilled to share that we’ve grown to 250 Taco Bells in 10 states!
No. 250 opened July 23 in Davenport, IA. Nicknamed “Kimmy” because of its location on Kimberly Road, those intimately involved in the Quad Cities market know this particular restaurant opening marks a company first. Border Foods entered the Quad Cities in 2019 with the purchase of 13 Taco Bells in the area, but this is the first time we’ve built and opened a brand new location there!
In speaking with Director of Operations Kasey Baeza, it becomes obvious that it all came down to patience on this one. According to her, this opening has been made possible by the company’s dedication to stabilizing operations in the region. Up to this point, we’ve been running existing restaurants in the Quad Cities. But thanks to the investments made in finding the right people, strengthening the bench and maintaining the facilities in place, we built up enough stability to open our own store!
Kasey says it’s hard to put the significance of this milestone into words when you think about the rich history of the company. When she joined us just six years ago, there were only 184 locations.
“It’s been really incredible being a part of this legacy,” Kasey says with a nod to Co-founders Jeff and Lee Engler.
Davenport’s historic grand opening included live music, a ribbon cutting, refreshments, a raffle for commemorative Border Foods t-shirts, and other giveaways. CEO and President Aaron Engler provided remarks, along with several local officials.
Forging Ahead
Border Foods continues to look at expansion, according to Aaron. Growing up in the family business, he remembers those early years “when Lee had a one-room office in the basement of an office building … just him and his assistant.”
Aaron started working for our Maple Grove Taco Bell at age 15. “I don’t even know how many restaurants we had at the time, but there’s no way I’d have told you we’d be doing a ribbon cutting for our 250th restaurant!”
Aaron continues, “Each restaurant proves we can scale without sacrificing our culture or the Border way. The 250th restaurant is the start to the next 250!”
“Opening our 250th location, it’s pretty incredible … success and growth has been built on truly doing the right thing.” -Kasey Baeza, Director of Operations
“We want to continue to grow the Border family in every state that we operate in,” says Chief Operations Officer (COO) Vince Bosscher, who’s been with the company for seven years and remembers the 200th restaurant opening. “The more stores that we open means the more people we get to hire … which means the more lives we get to impact with career paths and leadership development. ‘Making lives better’ is something we love to do and we’re going to do it with tacos!”
“For me, I’m just very proud of the Region 4 team, very proud of Jen,” says Kasey. “It’s been a journey … to get to a place where the company can really consider building a store there. [We] couldn’t do it without building a really stable foundation of people.”
Wanted: New Hires
According to Region Coach Jen Copeland, the hiring never stops! Though Davenport opened with a solid restaurant team under the helm of Restaurant General Manager (RGM) Brandon Wagner (a former “RGM of the Year”), we still have openings! Grab a taco and snag a job with a company who cares. Check out available positions here.
“If you allow people to be your foundation, they’ll continue to raise you up.” -Kasey Baeza, Director of Operations
