The trend of fresh-to-order tacos looks to be powering through a skittish restaurant sector. A new location for Willy Taco will open later this month in yet another bedroom community, this time Easley, and a key business tenant for the burgeoning Hub City Hospitality LLC group points to finding the right second-generation restaurant location.
Once a Fatz Cafe, the new location for Willy Taco will be on Calhoun Memorial Highway. Kenneth Cribb, vice president of marketing for Hub City Hospitality, says the arrival of the innovative Silos project coupled with residents hungry for what’s fresh and locally owned made Easley an ideal fourth stop.
“We have our iconic Willy Taco Feed & Seed location in Midtown Greenville less than 20 minutes down the road, which will serve as an invaluable anchor of support as we are establishing ourselves in the new market,” he says.
Upbeat service with a fun, come-as-you-are attitude has been a hallmark for the restaurant group. From the start, they hired for energy and inclusion and welcomed applicants with facial hair, tattoos and piercings; sometimes this translated into little food and beverage experience. Katy Mulholland is interim general manager at Willy Taco Hub City until she moves over to Willy Taco Easley. “We’d rather hire great people because we know how to train great employees,” she says, “and we’re bringing in folks from our original locations to make sure that happens.”
It will be the third restaurant at the Calhoun Memorial Highway address, a fact the Willy Taco team likes. It’s Eric Holman’s job to reimagine failed spaces into Willy Taco locations. Some projects have been smaller and some, like Greenville’s Feed & Seed, became multi-million-dollar endeavors. He calls on designer Sandra Cannon to balance budget and aesthetic for Hub City Hospitality; in May, Sandra Cannon Interior Design was a finalist for ADAC’s Designer of the Year award, in part for her work with the group. A few cardinal design features across the Upstate taco realm include repurposed shipping containers, reclaimed barnwood (this time from Inman) and an overall yearning to upcycle.
“Easley boasts new aesthetic components, things I’ve never done before,” says Cannon. “We used castoff plywood with antique barnwood to create a wood paneling effect and then introduced AstroTurf on the vertical. There’s flipped brick face rubble on the walls and splatter paint in giant spaces. It’s a fresh take on texture and then there’s our first fully open kitchen.”
A fifth Willy Taco is already in the works. A downtown Simpsonville store will open, likely in December, at 129 NE Main St.
The growth of the Willy Taco brand feels expansive, but Cribb says that’s not actually a planned speed. “It’s all about balance to us. We will grow at a disciplined pace, and will slow, stop or accelerate growth depending on our results, especially in Easley and Simpsonville. After that? Well, we’ll see.”
By the numbers
“What we really love is creating opportunity for nearly 100 employees and their families,” says Chris Olson, president of HCH. “That’s what really inspires us.”
Easley location
Square feet: 6,800
Chairs, including outside and bar: 186
Age of upcycled barnwood: 100 years
Employment opportunities, full- and part-time: 87
Minutes from Willy Taco Feed & Seed: 20
Recipe for success
Upfitting second-generation restaurants to feel relevant.
Locating pocket communities with need for locally owned eateries.
Redefining casual dining experience.
Hiring a mix of full- and part-time employees.
Embracing diverse appearance for front-of-house staff.
“It’s a local lovefest to reimagine a space into a Willy Taco,” says Eric Holman, vice president of building and construction for HCH. “We won’t look like a converted old casual-dining restaurant; every Willy Taco feels totally new with a nod to the area’s heritage.”
Builder: JDavis Construction
Architect: Narramore Associates Inc.
Designer: Sandra Cannon Interior Design
