San Clemente-based Chronic Taco Enterprises is set to open several restaurants this year.
The company recently opened a Chronic Tacos Cantina in Corona and plans another this year at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendle-ton just south of San Clemente.
Chronic Tacos Cantina is an expanded version of the company’s Chronic Tacos eateries, where diners order food at the counter. The cantinas have live music and a bar.
Chronic Taco Enterprises has about 30 restaurants altogether, half of them franchised. It has yearly revenue of about $10 million.
The Camp Pendleton restaurant should include a bar, pool tables and a mechanical bull, according to Mike Gleich, president of Chronic Taco Enterprises.
The company-owned eatery is set to be one of the few full-service restaurants at the military base, where there’s also Domino’s Pizza, Subway and Coco’s Restaurant & Bakery.
It took about nine months to get approval for the restaurant, Gleich said, with the company and its suppliers having to go through background checks.
This summer Chronic Taco Enterprises plans to open its second Newport Beach Chronic Tacos at Westcliff Plaza. The company will own and run the Westcliff Plaza eatery.
Chronic Taco Enterprises recently signed a two-store franchise deal in Hawaii and is working on deals in San Diego and Irvine, Gleich said.
In all, about nine restaurants are in the works. Next up is one in Summerlin near Las Vegas. There’s one currently being built in Fullerton, as well.
A Chronic Tacos Cantina at Triangle Square in Costa Mesa recently closed after being bought out by the shopping center’s new owners, Kelly Holdings LLC of Newport Beach.
Chronic Taco Enterprises also owns Chronic Industries Inc., a clothing company in Costa Mesa. Last year Chronic Taco Enterprises moved its headquarters from Costa Mesa to San Clemente to be closer to Gleich’s home.
—Sherri Cruz
