Tijuana Flats facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1995 in Winter Park, Florida |
| Founder | Brian Wheeler |
| Headquarters | Maitland, Florida, U.S. |
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Number of locations
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91 |
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Area served
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Florida, North Carolina, Indiana |
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Key people
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Joseph D. Christina CEO Louie Psallidas CFO |
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Number of employees
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3,000 (2016) |
Tijuana Flats Tex-Mex is a restaurant chain in America. It serves tasty Tex-Mex food. They have more than 91 restaurants. You can find them in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Tijuana Flats restaurants are a mix of fast food and casual dining. They offer fresh food, special hot sauce bars, cool wall art, and a fun, unique style. Customers order their food at the counter. Then, they find a seat, and their food is brought to them.
The first restaurant opened in Winter Park, Florida, in 1995. Brian Wheeler, who graduated from the University of Central Florida, started it. He borrowed US$20,000 to get the business going. By 2004, the company had 18 locations. That's when they started opening restaurants outside of Florida.
Contents
The Story of Tijuana Flats
Tijuana Flats began in Winter Park, Florida. Brian Wheeler wanted to create a place like Burrito Brothers, a Mexican restaurant he liked in Gainesville, Florida. He used $20,000 he borrowed from his family to start it. Many of the first customers were students from Brian's old college.
After the third restaurant opened, a man named Camp Fitch visited. He was a restaurant expert who was almost retired. In 1999, Mr. Fitch invested money in the company. He became the CEO, helping the company grow. When the fourth restaurant opened, Brian's dad, Chester Wheeler, got back the $20,000 he loaned. He then joined the company as the CFO.
By 2001, Tijuana Flats had six locations. This grew to 18 locations by 2004. By 2009, they had 65 restaurants. In 2005, Tijuana Flats built a special training center. This was for their restaurant managers in Winter Park. Today, their main office and training center are in Maitland, Florida.
In 2007, Tijuana Flats changed how it grew. Instead of letting other people open restaurants (franchising), the company decided to own most of its stores. In the same year, they started a charity called the Just in Queso Foundation. This foundation helped a war veteran by donating $46,000 to fix up his home. They also started giving money from their special Just in Queso hot sauce to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
In 2015, a company called AUA Private Equity bought Tijuana Flats. Brian Wright became the CEO in 2019. In 2021, the company announced they would start letting people open franchised restaurants again. This program had been stopped in 2007. In October 2022, Joseph D. Christina became the new CEO.
In 2024, Tijuana Flats faced some financial challenges. They closed 11 restaurants. A company called Flatheads, LLC, also bought them.
Restaurant Look and Feel
Tijuana Flats is famous for how its restaurants look. A main part of each place is a hand-painted wall mural. The first mural was painted in 1995. Artist Christopher Galipeau created it at the first restaurant in Winter Park, Florida. Christopher painted eight murals for the company. He passed away in 2008. His art often showed a huge Green "God" character. After he passed, other artists tried to paint in his style at new locations.
The company was also known for having a "wall of fame" in each restaurant. Until 2016, every location had a wall with photos and signatures of famous people who visited. Restaurants built after 2016 no longer have this wall.
How the Design Changed
The restaurant chain has changed its look several times over the years. The first design lasted from 1995 to 2005. These places looked like small, local taco shops. They had celebrity photos on the walls, shelves full of hot sauces, colorful string lights, and cool 3D "Hot Bar" signs.
In 2008, the company wanted a more "grown-up" look. Newer restaurants had wall graffiti, purple and red paint, and darker lights. The celebrity photos were no longer scattered. They were neatly lined up in rows.
The biggest change came in 2016 with the "Amped Up" look. The celebrity "wall of fame" was removed. Murals were painted on wood or concrete walls. The restaurants started to look more industrial. For example, the location in Cary, North Carolina, was updated in 2016 with this new style.
In 2020, the company announced a "High-Tech Prototype" design. The first restaurant with this new look opened in Noblesville, Indiana. This design has bright lights, special tables with custom designs, digital menu boards, and walls covered with cool graphics. It also features a mural inspired by the local area. This new design is very different from the industrial look. The restaurants are now painted bright blue and yellow. The old sci-fi murals are gone. New murals show funny lizards in local settings. For example, you might see lizards paddling a boat or fishing. The murals were also moved to the area where customers wait to order.
| Years | Restaurant Design | Cool Features | What's Happening Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–2008 | Original Store Design | Sci-Fi wall mural, hot sauce shelves, yellow walls,
scattered celebrity autographs. |
Very few locations still have this design. |
| 2008–2015 | "Mature" Store Design | Darker murals, straight lines of celebrity autographs,
red and purple walls. |
This is the most common design you'll see. |
| 2015–2020 | "Amped Up" Store Design | No celebrity autographs, industrial style, sci-fi murals returned. | About 10 stores have this design. |
| 2020–present | "High-Tech Prototype" Store Design | Digital menu boards, local "lizard" murals, blue and yellow walls. | All new stores look like this. Older stores are being updated to this design. |
Remodeling Old Stores
In 2021, Tijuana Flats started updating its older restaurants. They wanted them to match the new "High-Tech Prototype" design. The first one to be updated was Tijuana Flats #4 in Winter Park, Florida. This location used to have the original look, then the "mature" design. The update included a new mural with lizards playing in a park. Some fans on Facebook thought the mural looked too childish. So, the company changed it to fit the Tijuana Flats style better. This was the first location to have three different murals over the years.
In 2022, Tijuana Flats #2 in Hunt Club, Florida, was also updated. This update meant removing the second-ever Tijuana Flats wall mural. Artist Christopher Galipeau painted it in the mid-1990s. This mural was not only the second painting for the company, but it was also the first mural that covered a whole wall.
What's on the Menu
Tijuana Flats has many main dishes. These include burritos, burrito bowls, chimichangas, tacos, flautas, fresh salads, nachos, quesadillas, and wings. You can choose your tortilla for tacos: flour, wheat, or hard corn.
Most items let you pick your toppings. You can add lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sour cream, and jalapeños. For fillings, you can choose shredded or blackened chicken, beef, steak, shrimp, or refried and black beans. You can also make your meal "Powerlite" with less fat. Or, you can have it "smothered" with queso or chipotle sauce. For a bigger meal, choose "megajuana" with double meat and cheese. You can also get a meal with rice, beans, and a drink.
For starters, you can order chips with fresh or spicy salsa, queso, or guacamole. Or, try a trio with all three! Sides include fresh or spicy salsa, pico de gallo, queso, guac, rice, or beans. For dessert, they have churro bites or cookie dough flautas. You can also get meal kits for burritos, tacos, and wings.
See also
- List of Tex-Mex restaurants
