A San Diego taco truck that started in 2021 is now aiming to become a 200-location national restaurant chain. The story of Mike's Red Tacos is the kind of bootstrapping narrative that makes the American franchise model worth watching.
Mike's Red Tacos, founded by Mike Touma in 2021, has partnered with heavyweight franchise investors Bill Phelps and Andrew Feghali of Four Wall Partners to pursue a 200-unit national rollout. The company has secured development agreements with franchisees across California, Michigan, Minnesota, New England, Nevada, Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Indiana, and Illinois, with a corporate-operated Pasadena location scheduled to open this spring and a third San Diego location expected to open in March. Vincent Montanelli, who spent nearly two decades in leadership roles at Wetzel's Pretzels, has been appointed president to lead the expansion.
The ambition here is hard to miss — and so is the business logic behind it. Phelps and Feghali are not newcomers to this game. They were early investors in Dave's Hot Chicken, which reached a $1 billion valuation last year and was acquired by Roark Capital in 2025 for roughly the same amount.
According to the Daily Mail, Touma's journey follows a familiar but still compelling arc. He launched Mike's Red Tacos as a food truck operation in 2021, opened his first brick-and-mortar location in 2022, and added a second in 2024. Now, with institutional franchise backing, the brand is preparing to go national at a pace that would have seemed absurd just a few years ago.
"Honestly, when we were parking the food truck hoping to sell out, I never imagined this," Touma said. "It's surreal. My focus is on protecting the soul of what makes us special."
That kind of sentiment matters in franchising. The tension between rapid growth and brand quality is the oldest story in the restaurant business. Every chain that has scaled too fast without controls — from Quiznos to Sbarro — serves as a cautionary tale for operators who prioritize unit count over customer experience.
The involvement of Four Wall Partners adds real credibility to the expansion plan. Bill Phelps and Andrew Feghali are seasoned veterans of the restaurant franchise industry who helped build Dave's Hot Chicken into a billion-dollar brand. Now they are placing a similar wager on Mike's Red Tacos, banking on birria's rising popularity to fuel demand.
Touma addressed the partnership directly: "I've known Andrew for over a decade. I saw how the team scaled Dave's while protecting the founders and maintaining quality. I knew we could grow without losing what makes us special."
It is worth noting the financial context here. Roark Capital, which manages approximately $38 billion in assets, agreed to acquire Dave's Hot Chicken for roughly $1 billion in 2025. That kind of exit is exactly what franchise investors dream about, and it explains why Phelps and Feghali are eager to replicate the playbook.
The broader market trend supports the bet. According to Datassential projections, birria appeared on just 0.5 percent of U.S. menus in 2020. By 2028, that figure is projected to exceed 5 percent. That is a tenfold increase in less than a decade — a trajectory that signals real consumer demand rather than a fad.
For investors and aspiring franchisees, this kind of data is critical. A concept built around a trending food category with a proven operational model and experienced backers checks a lot of boxes. The question is whether execution can keep pace with ambition when you are going from two locations to 200. Newly appointed president Vincent Montanelli seems confident. "The strength of Mike's Red Tacos is the combination of authentic, craveable birria, a strong business model, experienced partners, and strong market positioning," Montanelli said.
"With a team that has a proven track record in multi-unit franchising and restaurant leadership, we are well-positioned to scale nationally," Montanelli added. His background — nearly two decades at Wetzel's Pretzels — gives him direct experience managing the kind of multi-unit franchise infrastructure this rollout will demand.
The near-term milestones are concrete. The third San Diego location, operated by Touma and his team, is expected to open in March. A corporate-operated Pasadena store is scheduled for this spring. Development agreements are already in place across at least 10 states, spanning markets as varied as New England, Texas, and Arizona.
Free markets reward entrepreneurs who identify real demand and build scalable systems to meet it. Mike's Red Tacos appears to have both — a product consumers want and a franchise team that knows how to build restaurant brands from the ground up. Whether the company can actually reach 200 locations while maintaining the quality that earned its reputation remains the billion-dollar question, but the ingredients are there.