Taco Del Mar chain moving into BR area

Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate

11-03-2007

Taco tactics

WHO: Beachhead Partners LLC, a master developer for Taco Del Mar franchises from Lafayette to Destin, Fla. Its principals are LSU graduates Fred Vosloh and Scott Redlich
WHAT: Taco Del Mar, a Seattle-based restaurant chain or more than 260 sites in the fast casual segment

WHERE: The first area Taco Del Mar opens today on La. 16 in Watson, north of Denham Springs; others are coming soon to Baton Rouge

Seattle seemed so well-suited for Fred Vosloh.

He had a flow chart for success in the land of coffee and computers -- a gig selling software for Minneapolis-based Ceridian, with half the state of Washington as his turf.
But it wasn't the Gulf Coast.

And he hadn't counted on a love-at-first-bite encounter.

Today, Vosloh and fellow LSU graduate Scott Redlich will open their first Taco Del Mar in Louisiana, a Watson restaurant that will be followed by Baton Rouge locations on Government Street at Foster Drive in December, on Perkins Road near Bluebonnet Boulevard in March, on College Drive in May -- and on Highland Road at the former University Shopping Center site in late 2008.

"I had seen the success of this brand in a very competitive market in Seattle, where they've got about 90 stores," said Vosloh, who moved to Spanish Fort, Ala., a year ago to develop a Lafayette-to-Destin, Fla., territory with Baton Rouge resident Redlich. "I was just very impressed with the overall quality. I would have never touched it if it wasn't this damn good."

The duo, which operates as Beachhead Partners, owns one Taco Del Mar in Flowood, Miss., a Jackson suburb. But the bulk of up to 60 restaurants they hope to develop over five years will be owned by franchisees who'll pay royalty fees of 6 percent of net sales, along with a 1 percent national marketing fee.

An initial franchise fee of $23,000 covers training, and Taco Del Mar's build-out costs -- using shopping center space rather than freestanding sites -- are below average for the franchise restaurant industry at $140,000 to $250,000. Beachhead has firm deals with franchisees for 11 restaurants so far, Vosloh said.

The LSU location likely will feature breakfast, unusual for a Taco Del Mar. And despite being noted for its namesake fish tacos, the company does about 70 percent of its business selling burritos, among them a 24-ounce Mission-style Mondo burrito.

Ingredients are prepared fresh daily, processed foods are shunned and Taco Del Mar is trans-fat-free.

"That's how we differentiate ourselves from the mom and pop places that have fat in their beans," Vosloh said. "We just don't do that."

World War II buffs, Vosloh and Redlich both moved to Baton Rouge as elementary students and remained through college. Their business name pays homage to the most famous beachhead of them all.

"We're patriots," Vosloh said. "(Beachhead Partners) is honoring the Allied Forces that hit the beach in Normandy, and that's kind of our approach: establishing a beachhead in each area we go into."