Vincent Montanelli, who identified himself as president and CEO of Mike’s Red Tacos Franchise Company LLC, said the San Diego-born chain expects its first franchised restaurants to open in the first three months of 2027. The company currently has four operating restaurants — three in San Diego and one in Pasadena — rather than the hundreds of locations in its development plans.

“Pasadena was an obvious choice for us at Mike’s Red Tacos,” Montanelli told Pasadena Now in an interview Thursday, citing the city’s international profile and his group’s previous experience with Wetzel’s Pretzels, Blaze Pizza and Dave’s Hot Chicken. “This is where we’re incubating Mike’s Red Tacos,” he said. Montanelli said he lived in Pasadena until about a year ago and recalled that Wetzel’s Pretzels took part in the Rose Parade while he was with the company.

The chain opened its Pasadena restaurant Oct. 16 at 899 East Del Mar Boulevard. The company describes the 3,400-square-foot location, which seats 62 people and has an outdoor patio, as both its first Los Angeles-area restaurant and a prototype for future stores.

Seventy-plus jobs and a 16-person training center

Montanelli said the company has created more than 70 Pasadena jobs across its restaurant, training team, corporate office and leadership staff. The restaurant primarily employs hourly workers; other positions are salaried. He said hourly pay is above market rates but did not provide specific wages, employee counts by category or benefit details.

Behind a locked door inside the restaurant are two training rooms and an office. Each room can accommodate eight people, giving the center a capacity of 16 trainees at a time, Montanelli said.

The first class, consisting of eight trainees from Massachusetts, is scheduled to finish Friday, Nov. 6. Three additional classes are scheduled before the end of the year. Montanelli said the visitors spend about two weeks in Pasadena, stay in local hotels and visit the city while attending training.

The company is using the center to prepare trainees for its franchise expansion. Montanelli did not describe a detailed training curriculum during the interview. Montanelli did not provide a total cost for the Pasadena build-out, saying the company spent more than it typically does on a restaurant because of the training rooms and other customized features.

Hundreds of locations planned, but few open

Montanelli said the company has “another 450 plus stores sold across the entire United States” beyond its four operating restaurants. The figure describes planned franchised locations, not restaurants already serving customers. An Oct. 12 company announcement cited more than 300 locations in development. Montanelli gave the higher figure in Thursday’s interview but did not supply a breakdown of franchise commitments, permits or construction activity for the full pipeline.

The first three franchised restaurants are being built for anticipated openings during January, February and March 2027, he said. The locations are planned for one site in Massachusetts, one in Royal Oak, Michigan, and one in Cedar Park, Texas. He did not name the Massachusetts city or assign a specific opening month to each site.

“It is ground zero for a brand that’s going to be 500 plus here in the next five to seven years,” Montanelli said of Pasadena. That is a company projection, not a count of operating restaurants.

The expansion follows a rapid climb from founder Mike Touma’s San Diego food truck, which began selling birria in 2021. Montanelli said the truck originally operated only on Saturdays and increasingly sold out, prompting a move into a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2022. The restaurant was ranked No. 52 on Yelp’s 2023 list of the top 100 places to eat in the United States.

A prototype shaped by San Diego experience

Montanelli said the Pasadena kitchen layout reflects lessons from the company’s three San Diego restaurants, with an emphasis on faster service and simpler procedures for employees. The new site also includes customized interior and exterior branding, a waiting bench for third-party delivery drivers and what the company calls a “drip sink” outside the restrooms, where customers can wash their hands after dipping tacos in broth.

Its centerpiece remains beef birria, slow-simmered with chilies and spices and served in tacos crisped on a grill with chili oil, cheese, onions and cilantro. Montanelli said more than 200 people lined up for the Pasadena grand opening. He also described an oversized mock cup of consommé, brought by flatbed truck from San Diego, that served as a photo prop. The crowd figure was provided by the company and was not independently verified. Montanelli did not give sales totals or other dated measures of customer demand for the restaurant’s first weeks.

The growth effort has prominent investors and restaurant industry veterans behind it. The company announced in September that NBA star LeBron James had invested. Montanelli described James as a customer who especially enjoys the restaurant’s jalapeño salsa; he did not disclose an investment amount or describe a specific operational role for James.

Montanelli said Pasadena’s connection to the team behind Wetzel’s Pretzels, Blaze Pizza and Dave’s Hot Chicken made the city a natural home for the franchise headquarters and training center. For now, he quantified more than 70 Pasadena jobs and said visiting training groups stay in local hotels.