# bluTaco franchise

bluTaco is a tacos and quick-service mexican franchise based in Holts Summit, MO.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Total ongoing fee | Not disclosed |
| Royalty | — |
| Brand fund | — |
| Local advertising | Not required |
| Initial franchise fee | None |
| Total investment | — |
| Units (2024) | 34 (33 franchised, 1 company-owned) |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Franchising since | 2018 |
| Territory | A one-mile radius or less, set by population |
| Item 19 | No financial performance representation. |

No initial franchise fee, no required local advertising spend and no grand opening requirement. The agreement runs until either party terminates it rather than for a fixed term, and no royalty rate is disclosed.

## A host-location taco format

bluTaco is a Holts Summit, Missouri, taco concept founded in 2017 and
franchising since 2018. The May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs
behind this row records 34 outlets as of 2024: 33 franchised and one
company-owned. The operator calls the menu a customizable Southwest format
built around tacos, nachos and bowls on its
[official site](https://theblutaco.com/).

The location model is a meaningful distinction. The
[official locator](https://locator.theblutaco.com/) includes outlets inside
country stores and other host businesses, so this row should not be read as 34
freestanding restaurants comparable in footprint to a full dining-room brand.
The dataset has no Item 7 total and no square-foot assumption to normalize that
difference.

## Why it is unranked

The study reports no initial franchise fee, no required local advertising
spend and no grand-opening requirement. It does not disclose a royalty or
brand-fund rate in the fields required for this directory's fee stack. That
makes bluTaco unranked; it does not establish a zero recurring fee.

The agreement also differs structurally from most peers. It runs until either
party terminates it rather than for a fixed initial term, which is why it is
omitted from the [term ranking](/by-term/) rather than sorted as zero years.
Territory is one mile or less, sized by population, and the transfer fee is
$2,500. Training is listed as 11.5 on-the-job hours with no classroom hours,
the shortest total in the [training ranking](/by-training/). No Item 19
financial performance representation is disclosed.

Those facts make bluTaco useful precisely because it resists a clean rank. A
host-location concept, an indefinite agreement and missing percentage inputs
cannot be forced into the same cost model as a conventional restaurant by
assuming blanks are zero. A current prospect should obtain the current FDD and
confirm what payments replace or sit outside the fields absent from this 2024
study.

## Who it is not

bluTaco is not a freestanding 34-unit dining-room chain, not a ranked fee-stack
peer, not a ten-year grant, and not a taco equivalent of a döner imbiss. It is
the host-location, indefinite-term, unranked row that shows why missing fields
stay blank. Source: May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs; dataset year
2024.

## What to request next

Obtain the current FDD and list every required payment. This desk cannot rank
a fee stack because royalty and brand-fund rates are not in the study fields.
Do not treat “no initial fee” as no ongoing cost. Confirm that the agreement
still runs until either party terminates it. Item 7 and square footage are
absent here; host locations inside other businesses cannot be underwritten as
freestanding dining rooms. Training is 11.5 on-the-job hours with no
classroom hours. Transfer fee $2,500. Territory one mile or less. No Item 19.
Rebuild the 34-outlet 2024 count (33 franchised, 1 company) from current Item
20 tables, noting which units sit inside a host business.

bluTaco is useful because it resists a clean rank. Blanks stay blank. The
[official locator](https://locator.theblutaco.com/) is company evidence of
where stores sit, including host businesses; it does not supply the missing
Item 7. A consultant who needs a conventional restaurant stack should drop
this row at the format screen, not invent a royalty to make it sortable.

Founded 2017, franchising since 2018, Holts Summit, Missouri. Those dates
place bluTaco in the same founding cluster as GDK and Great Greek. The
agreement structure does not. Indefinite term, no ranked stack, no Item 7,
no Item 19: four blanks that are the brief. The May 2024 comparative study
is the source year for every figure that is present.


Figures from May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs; dataset year 2024.

---
HTML: https://franchiselandscape.com/franchises/blutaco/