This taco chain started in Wichita 62 years ago. As of Sunday, the city is down to one.
Wichita is down to one Taco Grande restaurant.
The restaurant at 2315 W. 21st St. — in the same strip center as New Neighbors Bar & Grill — closed on Sunday and will not reopen, an employee at the last remaining store at 2255 S. Seneca said on Tuesday.
A sign on the door at the 21st and Amidon-area store, where on Tuesday afternoon a sign company employee was removing the exterior Taco Grande sign, said that the location was permanently closed and instructed customers to visit the restaurant on South Seneca.
Taco Grande, a fast-food taco chain founded in Wichita in 1960 by brothers Richard and Mike Foley, has had a restaurant in the 21st and Amidon neighborhood since the late 1960s, though the restaurant operated at other addresses over the years, including at 2119 W. 21st St. and at 2201 N. Amidon. People often say that the Foleys introduced the concept of fast-food tacos to the Midwest.
The first Taco Grande opened at 867 S. Oliver and eventually was franchised across the nation. Foley sold his stores in 1982 to Charles McLochlin and John Wylie.
This story was originally published August 30, 2022 at 3:22 PM.
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