Torchy’s Tacos opens its fourth location this week in Dallas, this time in Far North Dallas at Preston and Alexis. Last year, when Torchy’s announced its Casa Linda location, we talked to Torchy’s spokeswoman Brittany Platt about the restaurant’s expansion plans, wondering if the Lake Highlands Town Center could be home to a future Torchy’s.
“The Casa Linda one is kind of in that same neighborhood,” she said, but added, “It’s hard to rule out any option at this point. You never know.”
Platt said Torchy’s is focused on “one market at a time, and right now, DFW.” Its goal is to “infiltrate” the market, she said, and in terms of logistics, the restaurant is “keen to the corner lots.”
Then she said something interesting.
“One of reasons why we grow how we do is we have a running list of people come to the website and say ‘Come here’ and ‘Come there,’ ” Platt said. “Casa Linda was ahead.”
Wait, did the spokeswoman for Torchy’s just say that a significant factor in the decision to open in Casa Linda was a tally of website requests? The way we heard it, that’s exactly what she said.
“That’s the way we’ve always been. Half the tacos on the menu were ones customers wanted on there. They just wished them to reality,” Platt said. “So why not grow like that?”
If Lake Highlands wants a Torchy’s, it sounds like a campaign similar to the (so far) failed attempt to draw Trader Joe’s into the neighborhood could be successful in this case.
And no, we’ve not heard any tenants named for the under-construction Town Center — grocery store or otherwise. Which means, of course, that there’s still time for neighbors to enter our contest to guess the date that Town Center developer Prescott Realty will announce its first official tenant. If yours is the winning guess, you’ll receive $100 to spend at that retailer or restaurant, plus a celebratory bottle of wine to enjoy while we wait for it to open.
