What began as a food trailer is now a business with 28 locations throughout Texas. Torchy’s has come to College Station.
Torchy’s area manager, Zakk Vannoy, said there were many locations up for discussion, but the business decided that opening in College Station made sense.
Vannoy, who had previously worked at a Torchy’s in Austin, said he was looking forward to the opening in College Station and getting to know the people.
“I like the town,” Vannoy said. “I like the people. There are a lot of friendly faces, and we’re looking forward to getting them here and serving them tacos.”
Vannoy said the chain has especially found success in college towns.
“Obviously we started in Austin and we have a location right next to UT,” Vannoy said. “We’ve got a location up in Lubbock, right next to the Tech campus. We have one in Waco right next to the Baylor campus.”
Replacing the closed Sully’s, the taco shop’s new location is on Texas Ave. between Layne’s Chicken Fingers and Raising Canes.
Jasmine Rodriguez, interdisciplinary studies senior, said she enjoys the quirky menu, with taco names like The Democrat, Republican and Independent.
“I like Torchy’s because they have a unique style of tacos,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not just your everyday normal breakfast taco, but they add their own style to it.”
Allison Mayo, communication senior, said she visited Torchy’s at one of its Houston locations.
“When I heard that there was one in College Station, I was really excited because I think that hopefully, maybe, College Station will become a place where people can remember it by the food, too,” Mayo said.
Torchy’s will officially open Oct. 16, but from 7-10 p.m. on Oct. 15 the restaurant will host an early opening where it will offer two free tacos and chips to each customer. The event is open to the public.
Vannoy said the chain strives to maintain a quality menu and original atmosphere, which is why it is not an official franchise.
“We don’t ever want to give it off to someone else because we feel like that’s when you lose the culture, the kind of fun atmosphere,” Vannoy said. “You may lose food quality, so we just want to keep our hands on it.”
Vannoy said Torchy’s would “have stores on the moon” if it could.
“We just want to keep on spreading our culture and our love of tacos and getting to where everybody can have a little taco love,” Vannoy said.