Brett Itterman, who owns 46 Taco John\u2019s locations through his company Pentex Restaurant Group, is set to open five more restaurants. The multi-unit deal will have the brand return to the Fargo, North Dakota, market, after an absence of more than two years.<\/p>\n
In 2023, the presence of Taco John\u2019s in Fargo, North Dakota, faded as its last restaurant in the market closed.<\/p>\n
It ended decades of operation for the brand in the area, but franchise leadership vowed to return. Brett Itterman, a Fargo resident and Taco John\u2019s franchisee with nearly 45 years of history with the brand through his family, is making that vow a reality.<\/p>\n
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Brett Itterman is the president of Pentex Restaurant Group, a large Taco John’s franchisee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Signing a five-unit agreement, Itterman plans to open locations in and around Fargo, with restaurants also planned for the adjacent communities of West Fargo, North Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota. He\u2019s well on his way, too, with the first expected to open by year\u2019s end and the second in early 2026.<\/p>\n
Related: Catering, 3PD and Loyalty Programs Drive Sales at Playa Bowls, Dog Haus and Taco John’s<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lived in Fargo the last 10 years and it\u2019s a great legacy market for Taco John\u2019s,\u201d Itterman said. \u201cWhen the market became available again, we were excited to be selected as the franchisee and we\u2019re in a sprint to get our first two open. We\u2019re looking forward to rounding out the market.\u201d<\/p>\n
The development continues Itterman\u2019s longtime relationship with the concept. Itterman grew up in and around Taco John\u2019s, with his father becoming a franchisee with the brand in 1980. That ownership eventually evolved into a larger portfolio under the company Pentex Restaurant Group with 46 Taco John\u2019s restaurants.<\/p>\n
His own career path wasn\u2019t in the restaurant industry, though. Itterman instead worked in the healthcare and manufacturing spaces after earning degrees from North Dakota State University in Fargo and later Northwestern University in Illinois.<\/p>\n
That was until 2015. In addition to moving back to his college town, he decided to take over Pentex when his dad retired. In the decade since, in addition to developing more locations, Itterman has grown closer to the brand by becoming the president of its franchisee association, a position he\u2019s held for three years.<\/p>\n
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Taco John’s has nearly 350 locations, the majority of them in the Midwest.<\/p>\n
What keeps him invested in the 56-year-old Tex-Mex brand is its commitment to supporting the owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve found Taco John\u2019s to be an honest partner,\u201d Itterman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a brand that is working hard to create an environment where a franchisee can be successful. That\u2019s something we really value, and we think the food is exceptional, which is of course critical. They\u2019ve also done a good job in accelerating the technology over the last five years to make sure we have the right equipment in our kitchens to be efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shannon Iverson, Taco John\u2019s vice president of development, said franchising is a business model that has to make sense on both sides, and as Itterman praised the franchisor, Iverson had a similar view of the franchisee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a partner like Brett to be on a parallel path with us,\u201d Iverson said. \u201cWhen looking at who\u2019s the ideal candidate, it starts with the integrity of the person, and for them to have a solid foundation. With Brett, he\u2019s 100 percent solid as a person, family member and a business leader. He leads with compassion, consistency and kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iverson said Itterman\u2019s inclusion in the system is especially important for reentering a market like Fargo.<\/p>\n
Related: Taco John\u2019s CEO Talks Useless Talents and Penchant for Junk Food<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the core markets in the upper Midwest where our customers are,\u201d Iverson said. \u201cIt did well before as a market and it was unfortunate with the closings. But with Brett coming in with leadership, we knew he\u2019d be the right one to bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city is ready for the return, too. Itterman said the response from the community since word leaked on the deal has been exceptional. For the franchisor, it marks continued progress in rounding out the Midwest while going into new markets.<\/p>\n
Iverson said the brand, with about 350 units, is set to enter La Porte, Indiana, soon, while expanding existing markets such as Casper, Wyoming, and the Hartford, Connecticut, area.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shannon Iverson is the vice president of development at Taco John’s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve mainly expanded with tertiary markets and rural communities,\u201d Iverson said. \u201cBut now we\u2019re going into core metro areas. We\u2019re looking at all different levels. We\u2019ve adapted beyond our prototypical model and we\u2019re looking at end-caps, units in convenience stores, as well as non-traditional locations in college campuses and airports. We want to offer franchisees more expansion opportunities so they can fully maximize territories.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of new builds, Iverson said she expects the coming years to involve new franchisees extending the presence of Taco John\u2019s in existing markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we\u2019re more than 50-years-old, we have quite a few franchisees who\u2019re looking to retire and doing succession planning,\u201d Iverson said. \u201cWe have stores for sale and additional growth opportunities from there. So, we\u2019re working with existing franchisees who want to grow and can acquire those units while still adding new stores.\u201d<\/p>\n
Average Taco John\u2019s locations are 1,800 to 2,250 square feet, and have an initial investment between $1.36 million and $2.12 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brett Itterman, who owns 46 Taco John\u2019s locations through his company Pentex Restaurant Group, is set to open five more restaurants. The multi-unit deal will have the brand return to the Fargo, North Dakota, market, after an absence of more than two years. In 2023, the presence of Taco John\u2019s in Fargo, North Dakota, faded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[3051,6557,6555,6558,6556,27409],"class_list":["post-31812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-dakota","tag-north-dakota","tag-north-dakota-dining","tag-north-dakota-food","tag-north-dakota-grocery-stores","tag-north-dakota-restaurants","tag-taco-john"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117334986297297811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}