One Johnson County taco restaurant closes, and another will replace it. More on the way
Kansas City’s Tiki Taco is opening another spot in Johnson County — this time in downtown Shawnee.
Tiki Taco is taking over the former Al Chile Taco Shop at 11200 Johnson Drive, marking the third location in Johnson County and the fifth in the metro.
The Shawnee spot will open later this summer. Tiki Taco’s previously announced location at 14947 W. 119th St. in Olathe is gearing up to open in early May.
Al Chile closed Feb. 1. It had been in that spot for four years, but owner Karol Melendez said business had slowed.
“We weren’t getting a lot of sales like we were in previous years before,” she said. “We just decided to go ahead and close it down. … It was unfortunate.”
She and her family own Mariscos Playa y Mezcal at 4601 Shawnee Drive in Kansas City, Kansas, and Rincon Tarasco at 7534 Raytown Road in Raytown.
Meanwhile, Tiki Taco is rapidly expanding.
The restaurant, which began at its 1710 W. 39th St. location in 2017, was purchased in 2020 by brothers Lyndon and Lindsey Wade, who brought on their mother, Judy Rush. Tiki Taco has added several partners since then, including CEO Eric Knott, who previous said the chain was eyeing spots in Parkville, Liberty, Lee’s Summit and south Overland Park.
“We are still on the pursuit to fill in these other areas in the KC metro,” Knott said. “We’re excited to continue or dive into these local communities.”
It’s also looking to add a location inside Hy-Vee Arena. Tiki Taco does popups inside the Kansas Health System cafeteria Tuesdays.
Some of Tiki Taco’s menu options include its “dripping” birria taco (tortilla soaked in sauce and cooked in chili guajillo and tomato-braised carnitas, cheese, cilantro and onion), sweet chili shrimp taco (tempura shrimp, sweet chili aioli, lettuce and queso fresco on a flour tortilla) and Thai fried chicken taco (purple cabbage and jalapeño sour cream slaw, thai chili sauce, flour tortilla).
Last year, it was named one of the “hottest startup fast casuals” by QSR Magazine.