LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. (WFLA) – A locally-founded taco location is looking to expand not only in the Tampa Bay area, but across the southeast as well.
Capital Tacos was founded in 2014 in Land O’ Lakes, without even a sign for advertisement.
Their chef-driven, scratch-made menu can now be found inside a location with murals and other funky décor. Now, Capital Tacos boasts an average of $1.26 million in sales.
“Our menu is crafted by chefs who dream more of your next taco than their next vacation. They’re out of bed and prepping in our scratch kitchen before you (or the sun) are even up,” the company’s websites states.
“The mission was just to deliver really, really great Tex-Mex and word got out,” said co-founder, Josh Luger.
Luger said Capital Tacos focuses on flavorful, inventive Tex-Mex food.
“We really view the tortilla as a blank canvas to explore and do really fun and creative things,” he said.
Everything Capital Tacos offers has been made with a chef-created profile in mind. Guests don’t have to go through a line to pick what they want on their taco or burrito.w
Luger said since expanding from Land O’ Lakes, to Wesley Chapel, in to Hillsborough County in Brandon and Riverview, things have been successful.
“Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve seen overwhelming support from the community,” he said. “We set the bar that every time we open a store, our goal is to have our menu and our food offering be better.”
No matter where they expand, with options currently in Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and more, Luger still thinks of home. Luger said the company is currently looking for four franchisees. They’ve been looking for the right time, and right moment, to open these locations.
“It’s really humbling. I mean, we take a lot of pride in being Tampa’s home-grown taco, so I mean, we don’t take that lightly. We want to make a mark across the state, across the country and let folks know we’re a Tampa-based brand and proud of it,” Luger said.
News on the expansion of Capital Tacos will be announced in the coming weeks, but Luger did hint about the fact they currently do not have a location in the City of Tampa.
“It could be as close as Sarasota, as far south as Miami, or up to Jacksonville, the Panhandle,” he said.
Luger said Capital Tacos pride themselves in having something for everyone. He said to not skip right to the tacos, but to keep an eye on appetizers, like the chips and queso and the Mexican street corn.
“We like to say ‘we take food seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously.’ So for us, it’s about fun. Whether it’s in the food or the experience in store. When you come in, you see pinball machines, you see grandparents and mothers and kids, so it’s really family-friendly, there’s something for everyone,” Luger said.
