Beloved Taco Taco expanding to east

Owner Helen Velesiotis speaks to customers waiting in line outside Taco Taco San Antonio on a busy Saturday morning Sept. 1, 2012. Owner Helen Velesiotis speaks to customers waiting in line outside Taco Taco San Antonio on a busy Saturday morning Sept. 1, 2012. Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Special To The Express-News Photo: JENNIFER WHITNEY, Special To The Express-News Image 1 of / 53 Caption Close Beloved Taco Taco expanding to east 1 / 53 Back to Gallery

When San Antonians think of their favorite tortillas and salsa, Greece and North Carolina rarely come to mind.

But the disparate locations will merge their cultures when the famous Taco Taco Café opens its first franchise location in the Eastern Seaboard state early next year.

“I had been thinking it over forever,” said Helen Velesiotis, a native of Greece who on Sept. 17 will celebrate 14 years of operating the self-proclaimed “taco capital of the world” at Hildebrand and McCullough avenues.

Every morning, Velesiotis throws spices from her homeland into a fresh batch of salsa and makes about 2,000 tortillas by hand, attracting long lines of customers who wait for breakfast at Taco Taco.

And by early 2013, those patient fans could have compatriots in Raleigh, where Taco Taco recently signed a multiunit development deal with a group of six businessmen who already operate franchises in North Carolina.

The businessmen were identified by Fransmart, a Virginia-based company that works to connect developing brands with investors who can help them franchise.

“We are actually working right now to franchise (Taco Taco) nationally,” said Sunny Pinhero, director of franchise development for Fransmart, which helped spread Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Qdoba Mexican Grill and zpizza across the country.

“We have potential franchisees in lots of different states: Utah, Florida, Connecticut and possibly New Hampshire,” he said.

Taco Taco's teeny 1,400-square-foot restaurant, which fits just 14 tables, earned nationwide attention after Bon Appétit magazine selected its tacos as the best in the United States in 2007.

San Antonio Express-News readers named the small eatery as the place for best breakfast tacos in the city for the past two years, and a Details Magazine review described the tortilla and egg meals as “spectacular.”

Velesiotis and her restaurant also made an appearance on Food Network's “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” program, which is what initially caught the attention of Shashin Desai.

He persuaded his franchise partners in North Carolina to quickly pursue Taco Taco after it signed with Fransmart last year and visited the restaurant in June. That's when he was convinced that Taco Taco would offer Raleigh and its surrounding neighborhoods a tasty alternative to common Mexican food franchises such as Chipotle.

“They all have good food, but we don't see the uniqueness that Taco Taco has,” he said. “With those huge brands, there is no flexibility, which makes sense since they have tons of stores.

“With Taco Taco, we would be the first few ones to start, and (Velesiotis was) open to our suggestions, like maybe introducing tofu to the menu,” Desai added. “We liked that it would be a partnership to open suggestions and not be handed down menu or ingredient list without any flexibility.”

Unlike San Antonio-based Taco Cabana, which expanded to Detroit after spokesman Sean Elliott was traded from the Spurs to the Pistons in 1993, Taco Taco had no prior connection to North Carolina before deciding to move there, according to Pinhero. But he said the family-owned business has hoped to find franchise partners in Dallas, where relatives already live, and Velesiotis hinted that she has been searching for real estate on San Antonio's Northeast Side for a future location.

Desai and his partners have agreed that after the Raleigh location opens, they will develop one store every 18 months in nearby communities such as Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary.

That region, Desai said, has turned into a melting pot with an international populace willing to try new foods. And a growing vegetarian community there would likely flock to Taco Taco's meatless menu items.

Customers wouldn't find “that typical rice and beans or enchiladas that you can get at any typical Mexican restaurant,” Desai said. “We would stand out, in hopefully a good way.”

His franchise group soon will return to San Antonio to begin training at Taco Taco's flagship location.

In the meantime, Velesiotis and Fransmart will travel to North Carolina to assist in a real estate hunt and finalize production details for Taco Taco's trademark tortillas and spice recipes.

“We are really excited to take this food to North Carolina,” Velesiotis said. “We already have some local fans that have moved from San Antonio to that area and are really excited we're bringing food to them.

“As for how many stores we open” in the future, she added, “as long as God gives me the strength to continue, we will keep going.”

nmorton@express-news.net