Here at Border Foods, we’re in a celebratory mood, enjoying the reopening of our popular Snelling Avenue location! Even though business was booming pre-remodel, this was a restaurant in need of a fresh look.
Home of a Taco Bell since the 1980s, 565 N. Snelling has been slated for a possible remodel for decades. Reinvestment and innovation are top priority for Border Foods, considering the immense benefit felt by both team members and guests alike. Excellence doesn’t just happen!
Reinvestment is about giving our employees and guests the best.
In September 2022, our partner B2 Builders started the 16-week “scrape” at the site, demolishing the existing property and building a larger, more attractive restaurant from the ground up. The result is a 1,841 square feet new building with new kitchen flooring, improved layout and traffic flow, walk-in freezers, an employee break room with lockers and tables for online training, and a walk-up window.
“We appreciate Border Foods putting money back into these buildings,” says Area Coach Miguel Avila. “A brand new building makes it feel so much better.”
According to Miguel, the old restaurant was smaller but in decent shape. Because Border Foods does a good job of maintaining equipment and keeping spaces organized and clean, he continues, the working conditions were “okay” given the age of the building. But, it was obvious it was time for an upgrade. There wasn’t even enough storage space to keep pace with its high volume. Now there’s extra!
Location, Location, Location
Within walking distance of the Snelling Taco Bell, you’ve got Hamline University, Allianz Soccer Fields, the light rail, and apartments and residential streets surrounding. From Snelling Avenue, you can easily get to downtown St. Paul or the Minnesota State Fairgrounds after a quick stop at our beautiful new Taco Bell. It’s a prime location, according to RGM Dawn Prouty.
Not only that, but the Snelling Taco Bell does really well during the late-night hours. Open until at least 3 a.m. every day, our team often pulls in $1,000 per hour during late-night shifts!
So a remodel for an older, high-volume restaurant made perfect sense. And with accountability as one of our core values, we strive to make good on our commitment to serve tasty tacos from good looking facilities.
“For some reason, from a customer perspective, food tastes better in a brand new building,” Miguel says matter-of-factly.“If you see it’s old on the outside, you think it’s possibly dirty on the inside.”
Taking Good Care of the Team
But a refresh is equally important for team members. Reinvestment is how we take care of our employees. In an earlier interview, VP of Facilities Brian Davies said “touching the kitchen” by investing in new floors or improving kitchen flow, gives our team members the safe, clean environment they deserve to do their jobs well.
Throughout the remodel, retention was great — 98 percent of the original team came Back to work at Snelling!
Dawn says as a newcomer to Border Foods, she’s been incredibly impressed. Border Foods is easily one of the best employers she’s ever had. “They really care about employees,” she says. “Hands down.”
When the location’s “soft opening” was cancelled last minute due to Internet connectivity issues, the company swiftly replaced those plans with an intimate get together for the whole Snelling team — which included a few new hires Dawn had recruited — with catered food, Taco Bell swag and door prizes, and ample time for tours of the new layout.
So how’s it going? Miguel and Dawn say it was slow the first couple of weeks, but as people realize they’re open, business is picking up again.
The Snelling remodel is just one of several exciting projects Border Foods has in the works; check out our job board to see if there’s an opening that’s right for you!
