bluTaco franchise
bluTaco: — total investment, None franchise fee. Read out of the filings.
Compiled from public filings and operator sites Reviewed 2026-08-15
—
Total ongoing fee
—
Total investment
34
Units, 2024
2017
Founded
2018
Franchising since
MO
Holts Summit
—
Typical size, sq ft
No
Item 19
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.
Fees
| Initial franchise fee | None |
|---|---|
| Royalty | — |
| Brand fund | — |
| Local advertising | Not required |
| Total ongoing | Not disclosed |
| Transfer fee | $2,500 |
Opening one
| Total investment | — |
|---|---|
| Training | 0 hours classroom, 11.5 on the job |
| Territory | A one-mile radius or less, set by population |
The system
| Format | Tacos and quick-service Mexican |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Holts Summit, MO |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Franchising since | 2018 |
| Units | 34, of which 33 franchised and 1 company-owned |
| Item 19 | No financial performance representation. |
Figures from May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs · dataset year 2024.
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 behind this row records 34 outlets in 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.
The location model is a meaningful distinction. The official locator 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 or 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 rather than for a fixed initial term. 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. 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.