Family-owned Wichita restaurant open since 1974 closes after ‘tough couple of years’
One of Wichita’s oldest family-owned fast-food taco restaurants is now down to one location.
Joe Thrush, son of founders Ken and Linda Thrush, confirmed on Sunday what a sign posted on the door of the Taco Pronto at 7333 W. Central says: The restaurant is closed for good.
That restaurant, which belonged to Joe’s brother, Jason, closed on Sept. 18 and won’t reopen. It had been owned by the Thrushes since 1974 and in its most recent location since 1991.
It’s “been a tough couple of years,” Joe Thrush said.
But Joe’s restaurant, the one at 8385 W. 21st St., is still open and doing well.
“I will continue to do things the way my family has for 50 years,” Joe Thrush said.
In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing issues every restaurant has faced, the Thrushes also have dealt with their share of tough losses over the past several years. In February of last year, the brothers lost their father, Ken, who founded Taco Pronto in 1973. His wife and the brothers’ mother, Linda, died a year earlier.
Ken was working at Boeing in the early 1970s when he and Linda decided to buy the Taco Pete chain. The family changed the name to Taco Pronto 10 years later. Ken and Linda ran restaurants along with the help of their sons, and Ken Thrush left the businesses to them when he died.
Taco Pronto has always been known for its quality fast-food taco menu, which includes taco burgers, tacos, sanchos and more. It’s famous for the shaved ice it uses in its soft drinks.
Over the past five decades, the Thrushes moved, opened and closed several Taco Pronto restaurants. They once had one in Derby and also operated stores at Harry and Rock and Harry and Broadway. The remaining restaurant at 21st and Tyler opened in a remodeled Dairy Queen store in 2007.
This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 1:16 PM.
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