After a short hiatus, popular fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain Taziki’s is set to open a new Mount Pleasant location in the Indigo Square shopping center around July 15.
The store will be the third location in the Charleston area, as the first two, one on King Street and one on Coleman Boulevard, closed their doors in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
However, according to Taziki’s longtime partner and franchisee of multiple locations, Doug Van Scoy, the closures weren’t due to a lack of business.
“The downtown building got condemned, and we moved out and closed it,” said Van Scoy. “And then we opened up one here on Coleman Boulevard, and when our lease was up, we didn’t renew it because it was a little too much space.”
That being said, the Coleman Boulevard location proved that Mount Pleasant was a perfect fit for Taziki’s, and was a neighborhood staple before closing.
“Mount Pleasant’s got a very robust business community and it’s also got some very affluent homes, and those are the kind of people that we typically attract,” said Van Scoy.
The new Indigo Square location, right next to REI and across Highway 17 from Towne Centre, has 1,688 square feet and boasts a large outdoor patio, as well as plenty of pickup shelves for to-go orders.
While the original opening date was set for July 8, Van Scoy cites staff training as the reason it has been pushed back slightly, since the new general manager has to spend a month training at a different location.
Supporting employees, as well as the general community, is an important goal for the Taziki’s franchise, which started as a local Greek cafe in Birmingham, Alabama in 1998, and has since grown to 100 stores throughout the Southeast.
“Tazikis got started when a chef who went to Greece and fell in love with the food came back and started cooking Greek food,” said Van Scoy. “They opened a tiny restaurant down in Birmingham, Alabama.”