Saint John Gets A Taste Of Mexico Via PEI
SAINT JOHN — Taco Boyz says it has had a successful autumn after opening its first Saint John location at the East Point Shopping district.
First-time franchisee Brad Demone says it’s been very busy at the location, which is at the corner of East Point Way and Retail Drive, even more so with the ongoing holiday shopping season in full swing.
“I had this thing in my mind that we’ll open this restaurant and we’ll have six months where it will be very quiet and we’ll find our way. We’ll have customers trickle in here and there,” Demone explains. “That’s not what happened. The doors opened and … the people came. It was like baptism by fire – you learn very, very quickly.”
Demone has had a hand in other businesses, but never a restaurant, especially one where the customer can see their meal being prepared before their eyes.
“As a customer, you walk in, you get to the front of the line and we have a variety of menu items,” he explains. “You’re watching it be assembled right there in front of your eyes. And we like that, it was designed that way.”
Taco Boyz offers tacos, burritos, bowls, quesadillas, chimichangas, nachos to eat in and take out, as well as a variety of hot sauces and salsas to spice things up. Demone says one of his favourite offerings comes from the dessert menu. It’s not the cookies or even the deep-fried cheesecake.
“We have four,” he says of the types of churros, a deep-fried pastry stick offered at his location. “We have one that’s a Bavarian cream, that’s our most popular. We also have apple, strawberry, and a caramel. They’re dusted in cinnamon and sugar. They’re delicious.”
“I actually gained a bit of weight because I was on the exclusive churro diet.”
The P.E.I.-founded Mexican food chain opened its first and only Saint John location in August after Demone tried the tempting tacos at a Fredericton location.
“[My wife and I] were married in PEI in 2012… and anytime we went to Charlottetown we’d go to this taco place called Taco Boyz, ’cause we liked the food,” he says. “And I was always kind of kicking the tires on other things to try to do someday, and we were in Fredericton well over a year ago, just for a quick family getaway and we had Taco Boyz.”
“My wife just brought it up, she said ‘we should look into this.’ So, I got home, sent off an inquiry email, and the rest is history.”
The chain got started in Charlottetown in 2014 after friends Chris Furlong and Michael Facchini got the idea to bring a taste of their winter trips to Mexico back to the Maritimes.
There are currently three locations in New Brunswick (two in Fredericton and one in Saint John) with plans to open a new one in Moncton at 11 Granite Drive.
There’s even a Taco Boyz set to open in Ottawa, Ontario in 2023. But as of yet, there are no Nova Scotia locations.
Alex Graham is a Huddle reporter in Saint John. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].