On a side table in the corner of Velvet Taco CEO Clay Dover’s office sits a thick stack of surveys completed by the chain’s employees throughout the system. The surveys are pages and pages long, asking “every question under the sun,” and Dover said they always unveil some surprises. In-restaurant music is at the top of many employees’ priority lists, for example.
“Our training programs for managers and general managers are really important because they prove we have a path of progression for hourly workers. But the smaller stuff, like music playlists, that stuff really helps with retention, and it helps with our ‘one tribe, one vibe’ approach,” Dover said during a recent interview.
Velvet Taco calls its workforce “The Tribe” while seeking out employees who are “bold, rebellious, curious, and unconventional.” Not coincidentally, those are the same attributes the brand itself strives to emulate. It does so by having unique designs for each location – always eye-catchingly vibrant, locally relevant and including commissioned paintings of Marie Antoinette eating a piece of red velvet cake (the company’s signature dessert). Then there’s the menu, which we’ll get to later.
The culture
The culture piece can be found in one of its restaurants that sits at the foot of those headquarters in the Far North Dallas suburb bordering Addison. The tiny Addison Airport and an aviation flight training center are located less than two miles away and so this particular restaurant features design elements like airplane propellers hanging from the ceiling. During a recent tour, an employee named Scotty is put on the spot when asked about his experience with the brand he’s been with for the past three years.
“I’ve found a family here. This is my safe space and any time I come into the building, I know every single person cares about me,” Scotty said, adding that he recently moved to live closer to the restaurant. “I don’t have a bad day here – regular guests come in to see us, we’re making good food, the music’s playing.”
The same music that has become so important to so many of Velvet Taco’s employees. This is the culture Dover and his team have been striving to cultivate since he came on board in 2017, having previously served as chief marketing officer at Pei Wei and, prior to that, as CMO of Raising Cane’s.
It’s also clear Dover buys into this culture himself, sporting an embroidered velvet jacket with the Velvet Taco logo, reimbursing employees who get a tattoo of that logo, splashing support center walls with the brand’s mission (“to take the taco to an unprecedented level”), and core values (“be relentless, be a rebel, stand together, kick ass and take names.”). Dover is so focused on this cultural buy-in, he recently expanded the company’s tattoo policy to reimburse anyone who gets one, or all, of the core values inked, and a handful of employees in East Nashville recently did just that.
The food
With respect to this playful and committed culture, what really sets Velvet Taco apart is its menu. Everything, down the sauces and house-brined pickles, is scratch-made within each restaurant, while the brisket is roasted in-store for 18 hours and the signature $15 backdoor (rotisserie) chicken is prepped for 48 hours. The kitchen boasts ingredients not typically found at a chain taco concept, like buttered cilantro basmati rice, warm honey-Dijon potato salad, candied pepitas, and kimchee slaw.
There are nearly 20 tacos in total, including the Weekly Taco Feature, or WTF. While most concepts seek operational efficiencies to tighten four-wall economics and expedite service, some of Velvet Taco’s WTFs require up to eight new (temporary) SKUs. Chef Venecia Willis (“Chef V”), director of culinary, said employees take pride in this complexity, while customers appreciate the differentiation.
“We like the challenge of it all. It’s thrilling. We get excited about making something that gives us pride in our work, and we know our guests like the unique flavors we bring to them. We’re going to continue to push those limits on what we can do,” Willis said. “It supports culinary creativity. If you get into this field, you don’t necessarily want to come in and do the same thing every day.”
The menu is what Dover believes will help Velvet Taco avoid being “known as a chain” as the concept grows and as the category of emerging taco brands becomes a bit more crowded. For its part, Velvet Taco’s sales grew by 24% in 2023 versus 2022, while its competitive set average grew by 11.1%, according to Technomic Ignite data.
“Our unique product is definitely what sets us apart. We want to educate people on what a taco could be and that’s anything you want to be served in a tortilla,” Dover said.
“The tortilla serves as a vessel and there are no limitations on what we can do,” Willis adds.
The goal
The challenge now is maintaining this buy in and this uniqueness as the system grows, and Dover has plenty of plans for such growth. Big plans.
Velvet Taco recently opened its 46th location with seven (soon to be eight) states in the mix. Dover said the company has the infrastructure to get to around 200 locations by 2030 – things like analytics, menu design, training, in-house marketing. The company also has tight systems and processes in place.
“We’re very diligent about those systems and processes because that’s how we maintain our menu as we grow,” Dover said.
The best-selling spicy tikka chicken taco has 18 ingredients, for example. Willis said the recipe and cooking process entails extensive vetting and field training to simplify an otherwise complicated process. A heavy mobile-order-ahead business also reduces transaction times, as over 50% of the sales mix is to-go. The longest wait time is a little over 3 minutes – the time it takes the fish ‘n chips taco to fry.
As part of its strategic growth plan, Velvet Taco is taking an infill approach, filling out major cities that have proven an affinity to the brand. There are currently three locations in the Chicago area, for instance, and Dover thinks the brand has the potential to get to 24 there. Also to bolster its national expansion plans, Velvet Taco recently opened its first airport location in Houston through a licensing agreement with LaTrelle's Management Corporation. The William P. Hobby Airport follows the company’s September opening at Choctaw Casino in Durant, Okla. More nontraditional locations are in the works, including additional airport units in Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, and Chicago’s O’Hare.
“These locations are going to help with brand awareness as we grow. Millions and millions of people go through these airports and there will be tons of eyeballs on our brand,” Dover said, adding that he is confident once they see and try Velvet Taco for the first time, they’ll be sold on the product and will facilitate a sort of multiplier effect for brand awareness back to their hometowns.
Additionally, the company recently brought on partners in London, the Middle East and Canada to extend its footprint internationally.
“We believe our international menu lends itself to these markets,” Dover said.
Velvet Taco plans to franchise these international markets, though its domestic locations will remain company owned for now. There is no set goal at this time for an international footprint, but Dover believes a global presence will support the company’s ultimate goal of reaching “hundreds of locations across the world.”
“We believe we have an opportunity to change the way people think about tacos and that resonates all over the place,” Dover said. “We have put the infrastructure in place and the culture in place. And we have proof of concept where we know people who see us want to try us. That’s why we know we have tons of runway.”
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]