Restaurants

La Santisima Gourment Taco Shop Corporate Office

La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop was founded in 2010 by Felipe Guzman and his mother Guadalupe in Phoenix, Arizona. Originally called La Condessa, the company changed names a few years after opening.

Guzman has stated that anyone could open a taco stand, which is why he changed to name to “gourmet taco shop” because his tacos and other Mexican food is anything but ordinary. Steering away from the typical Tex-Mex style of food, Guzman’s food is so popular that they opened a second restaurant a short 5 years later.

While some restaurants are content to serve you fresh salsa, Guzman offers a salsa bar, where clients can pick and choose from a dozen or more different types of salsa.

The restaurant frequently makes the local Phoenix papers and new stations “best of ” list, including best salsas, best horchata, best tacos, and best service.

In March 2018, Guzman opened a new restaurant called La Marquesa, which will feature both goat and beef birria and lots of tequila for margaritas.

Company headquarters are located in Flagstaff, Arizona.

La Santisima Gourmet Tacos

La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop was founded in 2010 by Felipe Guzman and his mother Guadalupe in Phoenix, Arizona. Originally called La Condessa, the company changed names a few years after opening.

History

While some restaurants are content to serve you fresh salsa, Guzman offers a salsa bar, where clients can pick and choose from a dozen or more different types of salsa.

The restaurant frequently makes the local Phoenix papers and new stations “best of ” list, including best salsas, best horchata, best tacos, and best service.

In March 2018, Guzman opened a new restaurant called La Marquesa, which will feature both goat and beef birria and lots of tequila for margaritas.

Company headquarters are located in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The Melting Pot Corporate Office

The Melting Pot restaurant was founded by brothers Robert, Mark, and Mike Johnston in Maitland, Florida, in 1975. Originally, the menu had only 3 items but it proved to be so popular that in 1979, the brothers allowed a franchise to open in Tallahassee, Florida.

As franchises grew, so did the menu, but one thing remains the same; fondue. The company is best known for its complete meal, which features a cheese fondue, a salad, the main course and a chocolate fondue for dessert. The four courses are offered individually or as a “4 Course Experience.”

The interiors are done in black and dark red with dim lights for a more private type of experience. While fondue remains to be the restaurants’ major attraction, the company recently opted to include meats which are grilled right at the table.

The company currently has 117 locations, including some in Mexico, with the most recent opening in El Paso, Texas, in September 2018.

Company headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida.

The Melting Pot

History

The company currently has 117 locations, including some in Mexico, with the most recent opening in El Paso, Texas, in September 2018.

Company headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida.

Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket Corporate Office

Sometime in the 1920’s, a man named Irv Kolarik was operating a gas station and lunch counter which served mostly sandwiches. A few local women overheard Kolarik say that he didn’t like the gas business much and would rather work the restaurant. He also said that he would like to change up the menu to include fried chicken but didn’t really know how to make it.

The women told Kolarik that they would show him how to cook fried chicken if he would buy the chickens from their farm. Soon, Kolarik had more customers than he could handle. He closed the gas station and opened a larger restaurant to handle the crowd.

For decades, business thrived. Kolarik had slightly outrageous ideas for advertising, including flooding the restaurant’s roof and have teenagers ice skate on it. The nearby airport allowed for mild entertainment as customers could watch the planes take off and land, and the BlueBird Bus line made the restaurant a bus stop. In 1956, Kolarik added a cocktail lounge for late night business.

Unfortunately, when Route 66 bypassed the location, business dropped. Delbert “Dell” Rhea purchased the restaurant in the early 1960’s. His son Patrick now operates the business and has had it listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The sign was recently replaced after the original sign rusted out after 70 years of service.

The restaurant offers a wide range of foods, including the same fried chicken recipe from the 1920’s, Grace Rhea’s recipe for baked beans, and the 50/50 burger, which is half ground beef and half bacon.

Headquarters are located in Willowbrook, Illinois.

Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket

History

Headquarters are located in Willowbrook, Illinois.

Uncle Julio’s Mexican Restaurant Corporate Office

Uncle Julio’s was originally founded under the name Rusty Taco by Russell “Rusty” Fenton in Dallas, Texas, in 1986. Rusty Taco, now going under the name of just R Taco, was later sold to open a chain of restaurants known today as Uncle Julio’s Mexican Restaurants or simply, Uncle Julio’s.

The chain expanded over the years to 17 locations, most of them in Texas. It was owned by Julio & Son’s until 2011 when it was bought by a private equity firm J. H. Whitney Capital Partners.

The company is known for its exotic drinks and desserts, including the “Chocolate Pinata” and the -321 Margarita, which uses liquid nitrogen and is made in front of clients at their table.

In October 2017, the chain was sold to another private equity firm, L. Catterton, who says they have plans to expand the chain on a large scale.

The company currently has 29 locations, with headquarters located in Irving, Texas. It is unknown at this time if the new owners have plans to move the corporate office.

Uncle Julio's Mexican Restaurant

The chain expanded over the years to 17 locations, most of them in Texas. It was owned by Julio & Son’s until 2011 when it was bought by a private equity firm J. H. Whitney Capital Partners.

History

The company is known for its exotic drinks and desserts, including the “Chocolate Pinata” and the -321 Margarita, which uses liquid nitrogen and is made in front of clients at their table.

In October 2017, the chain was sold to another private equity firm, L. Catterton, who says they have plans to expand the chain on a large scale.

The company currently has 29 locations, with headquarters located in Irving, Texas. It is unknown at this time if the new owners have plans to move the corporate office.

Gatti’s Pizza Corporate Office

Colonel Eure and his wife Patti, opened a pizza and hamburger restaurant in his hometown of Stephenville, Texas after Mr. Eure retired. The couple moved a few years later to Austin, Texas, and opened another restaurant under the name The Pizza Place.

Unhappy with the generic sounding name, Colonel Eure held a naming contest. Eventually, the Colonel chose his wife’s maiden name of Gatti for the restaurant.

Colonel Eure sold 18 of his locations in 1974 but kept a few locations for himself. The company has changed hands several times over the years and currently is owned by Blue Sage Capital.

The company currently has 140 locations across the US. Some locations are branded as GattiTown or Gatti-Land. In addition to pizza, GattiTown locations offer arcades, games such as foosball or air hockey, bumper cars and miniature bowling or miniature golf.

Company headquarters are located in Austin, Texas.

Gatti's Pizza

History

Unhappy with the generic sounding name, Colonel Eure held a naming contest. Eventually, the Colonel chose his wife’s maiden name of Gatti for the restaurant.

Colonel Eure sold 18 of his locations in 1974 but kept a few locations for himself. The company has changed hands several times over the years and currently is owned by Blue Sage Capital.

Company headquarters are located in Austin, Texas.