Earlier this year, a popular Missouri-based taco spot crossed the state line for the first time.
Kansas City, Missouri-based Tiki Taco opened its new downtown Overland Park location in February. Now it’s growing its Johnson County footprint even further with a new Olathe location.
Eric Knott, CEO of Tiki Taco, and Rich Wiles, the taco company’s chief development officer, estimated that the new Olathe spot will open its doors in March 2025.
Tiki Taco will open at 14947 W. 119th St.
- The restaurant will occupy a space at the Olathe Pointe shopping center, just off 119th Street and Black Bob Road.
- Chinese restaurant Master Wok previously occupied that space.
- Tiki Taco will also neighbor acai bar Everbowl at the shopping center.
Tiki Taco serves “Cal-Mex style” fast-casual fare
The restaurant’s “fast and fresh” tacos come in a variety of forms.
Tiki Taco’s street tacos are “by far” the best-seller in terms of tacos, Knott and Wiles said. Among the other taco offerings are “dripping” birria, Korean beef, Thai fried chicken, and avocado tacos.
“I’ve never met someone that didn’t like tacos,” Knott said. “I don’t think it’s trendy in a sense where it’s going to go out or it only has a certain time where people like it — it’s very consistent.”
In addition to tacos, the menu also features other items like burritos and “tiki” fries (topped with a protein of choice, queso, pico de gallo and sour cream).
The restaurant also serves cocktails like margaritas, mai tais and palomas.
“I think our value is the fact that we have chef-driven food that’s 95% from scratch right now, and we’re improving that every single day,” Wiles said. “You’re getting a great value and great quality for the price.”
Tiki Taco has plans for further expansion
With the Olathe store already in the works, Knott and Wiles said the brand is still growing.
In the coming months and years, they have hopes of bringing several more Tiki Taco locations to other currently-untouched parts of the Kansas City metro area, on both the Kansas and Missouri sides.
That expansion might not be limited to new stand-alone restaurants, either. The brand is also in conversations with a couple of Kansas City sporting venues to provide concessions, which could finalize by next year — though nothing is set in stone yet.
The growth provides lots of new opportunities to not only employ more people, Knott said, but to also get to know and create partnerships with new communities.
After all, he said, reaching as many people as possible is part of the Tiki Taco mission.
“We really don’t have a target demographic; we see all walks of life,” Knott said. “It’s part of who we are. We want to have stuff for everybody.”
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