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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Yucatan Taco Stand shuts down Frisco & Southlake


Original in Fort Worth is still open.

Kevin Buchanan

Kevin Buchanan

— Yucatan Taco Stand, the three-outlet taco chain, shut down two of its three branches in December, leaving only the original branch on Magnolia in Fort Worth.

The stores in Frisco and Southlake were shut down a couple of weeks ago; a manager at the company said that they weren't sufficiently covering their costs.

"It was the same story for both –- they weren't covering their overhead for quite some time," he said. "We had a little re-organization on the ownership side. When the new owners saw the numbers, they realized that in order to save the brand, they had to shut those two down."

Part of the perceived problem was in the remoteness of the Frisco and Southlake locations. The Fort Worth branch has always done well, and there's a plan to open new branches in more central locations, i.e. closer to downtown Dallas, sometime next year.

Known for its grilled and tempura-fried fish tacos, Yucatan was opened in August 2008 by chef Paul Willis, who also founded the Fuzzy's chain. But Yucatan has a more upscale atmosphere, deep selection of tequilas, and broader menu with dishes from a variety of Latin cuisines.


Shannon Sutlief contributed to this story.



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bigsir, anonymous:

I thought it was a good place however the only reason we never went back was because of the fast food paying process they do. for example you wait in line place your order pay for your food and drink by the time the food arrives your your ready for another drink . well guess what.....you gotta get back in line order, pay and wait for them to deliver. The food was good and I loved the live entertainment. I hated while in the middle of a meal you had to get back in line to order another drink or whatever. good luck guys I think you got something just, change the fast food payment system.

1 year, 4 months ago
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Travasaurus, anonymous:

Nice atmosphere but simply too expensive, both the food & the booze, for the crowd they attracted. Fuzzy's, on the other hand, was and is a great concept and is still going strong and growing like crazy. It's the little "secret" that some of these guys have to keep re-learning over & over again: In this day & age of very little disposable income and fierce competition, you have to give exceptionally good value for the money, and even at that it still can't be too hoity-toity and / or over-priced. Like the old days, your product has to be both good AND cheap to survive in the current financial climate...

1 year, 4 months ago
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Imissyuca, anonymous:

Remoteness of Southlake and Frisco? Hellooo.. both were in prime locations on main strips with high traffic. Something smells fishy here, and it ain't their great fish tacos.

Very affordable as well for the amount of flavor and variety they packed into their menu. Definitely not a "me too" mexican food chain.

Will miss it.....

1 year, 4 months ago
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Jason Rice, verified:

Maybe they meant "remoteness from reality" ??

Just tryin' to help here.

But actually, I can see their point. If they are a small and new franchising venture, having your first one a 70 minute drive away doesn't make it practical to "fly out" and stay a month, nor to drive over every three days. It's just the right distance to make it untennable. Maybe a spot in NRH/HEB would be a better place to experiment. Downtown Dallas is also more manageable.

1 year, 4 months ago
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Teresa Gubbins, staff:

Jason Rice, you made me laugh out loud

i liked Yucatan and i was even living in collin county and getting to the one in frisco was still a pretty big pain in the ass. i'm not as big a fan of fuzzy's but they sure are available everywhere

1 year, 4 months ago
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Bdwyer7, anonymous:

There are a number of very successful restaurants right near the Southlake location. Maybe they should have considered that there are already three other esttablished, highly successful Mexican restaurants on that same block of 1709. Think they need a better excuse than remote location. I recommend they take Economics 101 again!

1 year, 4 months ago
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spiritualweasel, anonymous:

I, as a former employee of one of the locations, was not informed of the shutdown any day prior to the day it happened, nor have i been given a reason as to why it happened. Unfortunately, I had to find out three months later by finding this article. Interesting thing is, we seemed to have a fair amount of customers rolling in and out of the door prior to the shutdown, so I still don't really understand. I haven't even received my final check yet, and it's been three months.. management in the top has always been shady, and this should open some eyes as to how this is really run.

1 year, 2 months ago
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ourhandsfull, anonymous:

We really miss the Southlake location. It was always busy, no matter what day of the week or time of day we ate there. It really confused us to see it suddenly closed. In our opinion, Fuzzy's cannot compare to Yucatan in quality or value.

We were similarly shocked when the same company suddenly shut down the busy and extremely short-lived Southbeach Taco Factory.

It does greatly concern me to read the above post by a former employee of one of the locations, and I'd like to see the company address the issue, since I do still eat at the Fort Worth location on occasion.

1 year, 2 months ago
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r0na1dje1n, anonymous:

There is something to be said about the Southlake location. There was a Melting Pot restaurant there and it was shut down too. That strip mall is a cemetery, for everyone it seems.

What do you think?

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