Taco Del Mar's "Mondo Burritos"
coming to East Tennessee

E. TENNESSEE BUSINESS JOURNAL

05-31-2007

Del Mar, a restaurant franchise based on "quick casual" dining, is about to open its first East Tennessee store in Knoxville on June 2. The West Coast chain so impressed Knoxville entrepreneur Joddi Thomley, she agreed to take on the East Tennessee territory as master developer and open her first location at 2010 Cumberland Ave., near the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus. Thomley says this will be the first of many locations she will develop throughout East Tennessee. "We're delighted to bring a completely new dining concept to Knoxville," said Thomley. "Taco Del Mar is a restaurant that people here are going to love at first bite. I was impressed with the quality, taste and freshness of the food, and from the franchising side how streamlined the restaurant is to run."

Thomley is well known locally for her work with Subway over the past 15 years. She began he Subway career as an employee, and eventually became vice president of development for East Tennessee. In Taco Del Mar she saw an opportunity to bring a new category of dining option to the area, where she noticed few quality fast casual Mexican restaurants to fulfill customers demand. The first Taco Del Mar location will be owned and operated by Thomley and will also serve as E. Tennessee’s flagship training store. She is actively screening franchise candidates for the more than 50 planned restaurant locations all across her territory.