DENISON, Texas -- When Lone Star Food Stores remodeled—from 2,400 square feet to 6,300 square feet—a recently acquired convenience store, it had two options: add a drive-thru or expand its foodservice offer.
A simple site review of the location in Denison, Texas, forced the company's hand, but the result was good: the creation of an entirely new foodservice concept.
"Although we wanted to have a drive-thru, it would have had to be hidden behind the store," CEO Diane McCarty told CSP Daily News, "so we opted instead for additional parking and a store size that accommodates a full kitchen."
The result is Mí Taco, a fresh Mexican concept that is a long way from the chain's previous turns with burgers and fries.
"About 600 square feet is devoted to our proprietary Tex-Mex concept we named Mí Taco, which offers burritos, tacos, salads, nachos and quesadillas made your way and serves fresh-made tortillas prepared on site," McCarty said. "There are six protein options and 16 different fillers customers can choose to customize their meal.
"We make our three salsas, pico de gallo, guacamole and killer queso in-house every day. Our seasoned chips are unique and addictive! We’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner."
How is the concept, which opened in October 2015, progressing?
"We are working on how to improve the interior image of the concept to better convey the message that we have a high-quality, fresh, made-to-order offering with generous portions," McCarty said. "We didn’t devote much space to the restaurant inside this remodeled store. But we plan to have a much bigger area to work with in the location we’re slating for the next iteration of Mí Taco. Not only would it be a larger footprint, but we’ll also change the interior graphics."
The Lone Star Food Stores chain is owned and operated by Douglass Distributing, Sherman, Texas.
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