By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Florence city council gave a final approval to a concept development plan this week to allow a Taco John restaurant to locate on Mall Road.
The location is a corner lot, 1 1/4 acres, across Plaza Boulevard from Smokey Bones and facing Mall Road. The entrance is designed to be off Plaza Boulevard, and the drive through line will wind around the sides and back of the oblong building.
“This is a Wyoming based company that recently opened a headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee,” said Joshua Hunt, Director of Business and Community Development in Florence. “They plan to open about 80 new stores in the best markets, and Florence has a huge market.”
This will be the first Northern Kentucky location, although there are some stores in Western Kentucky. Due to the fact that they are a company initiated in the west, their decor tends to be more southwestern, with a lot of stucco, according to Hunt.
“This will probably be the nicest store they have built, because the architectural standards for the Mall road overlay are pretty strict,” Hunt explained. “I expect to see more stone and brick on the veneer.”
Taco John’s International is an American fast food restaurant founded in 1969 by John Turner. It is headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and as of last year, has about 380 restaurants in 22 states.
The closest one to Northern Kentucky is in West Chester, so this will be a good opportunity for residents to try different Mexican-inspired fare. They have a specialty dish that they are known for, Potato Oles, which are deep fried potato nuggets. Taco John describes their fare as ‘west Mex’ food, which has bold flavors.
In 1989 the company trademarked the phrase ‘Taco Tuesday’ in every state except New Jersey, who had another company beat them to the logo.
Hunt said he thinks they will get started on building sometime this summer, and expects a grand opening in the fall of 2023.
“They will shoot for fall, but there are still delays in getting materials, so there could be some delays,” Hunt said. “I expect it to do well. First time businesses in the area tend to do well here.”