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Updated RecentlyTaco Time Northwest Goes Green And Local To Mark 50th Anniversary
Friday, March 02, 2012
At fast-food restaurants, however, the priorities tend to be different. More like quick and cheap.
But Taco Time Northwest is not your typical fast-food restaurant chain, say the folks who run it, and they're doing their best to get that point across.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of when great-grandpa Frank Tonkin Sr. opened his original Taco Time in White Center at Seattle's south border � and subsequent growth of the family-run business to 73 restaurants, primarily in Western Washington � Taco Time Northwest has launched initiatives that underline a commitment to fresh, local and green.
The Mexi-Fries (spicy tater tots) will be made with Washington potatoes. In May, Caesar soft tacos will have romaine lettuce from the Kent Valley. Soon, the pinto beans could be coming from Quincy.
"We've always had a commitment to fresh quality food," TTNW President Robby Tonkin said. "The new twist is not only fresh quality but also local sources. In most fast food restaurants, you just don't see that. Usually big distributors bring in the food from somewhere else." Taco Time Northwest already was getting Northwest beef from Petschl's Quality Meats, based in Tukwila, and its cheddar from Darigold, the dairy farmers' cooperative based in Seattle. The tortillas are made fresh daily at La Mexicana in White Center.
The goal now is to get even more local, Tonkin said, partly to support local businesses and partly because closer means fresher.
Taco Time Northwest's green initiative addresses the quandary faced by anyone standing with a tray of assorted cups and wrappings in front of multiple recycling bins and wondering what goes where. More than half of the group's restaurants that are near a commercial composting company will have entirely compostable wrappings.
"Nearly everything will be able to go in one composting bin, without the customer having to sort it," Tonkin said.
Based in Renton, Taco Time Northwest has nearly 1,500 employees. This year it will open new restaurants in Tacoma and Kirkland, bringing its total to 75. It spun off from what is now Taco Time International in 1979 when Frank Tonkin Sr. became the franchisor for the region, and since then, "has evolved independently," Robby Tonkin said.
Anytime is Tonkin time at Taco Time Northwest. Leadership has passed from Frank Sr. to his son Jim, to Jim's sons, Bob and Matt, and to their sons, President Robby Tonkin and Vice President Chris Tonkin, who now run the company together.
Robby was the baby in a playpen at his parents' Taco Time in Kirkland. He worked in the group's restaurants while attending Bellevue High School and the University of Washington . He got his degree from UW law school in 2004, practiced law briefly, joined Taco Time Northwest in 2005 after his father died, and became president in 2010.
As part of its 50th anniversary, Taco Time Northwest also plans to launch a 22-foot food truck this summer that will run on biodiesel fuel made from canola oil recycled from the group's restaurants. The truck will be at farmers markets and events from large (Seafair) to small (block parties), with people able to request an appearance on the company's website.
That website also has extensive nutritional information, a "Build a Meal" tool for calculating calories, and a "Health Coach" who answers questions and offers tips about making healthy choices. The menu includes seven "Fit Hits" items of about 400 calories or less, as well as several gluten-free dishes.
"Normally you don't think of these sorts of things with a fast food restaurant, but we're different," Robby Tonkin said. "We care about our community. We actually bring the food to your table. We're not what's traditionally been fast food. We think of ourselves as being in our own little niche." Robby Tonkin declined to share revenue figures, but he offered some other numbers suggesting the size of that niche.
He said Taco Time Northwest has more than 10 million guest visits a year. It goes through about 1.6 million pounds of lettuce annually. And if all the Mexi-Fries it sells in one year were laid end to end, the line would reach from Seattle to New York City.
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