Ghost Taco marks major milestones as franchise growth accelerates

We opened our third corporate location in Barrie, which was a huge milestone for us. Every opening teaches us something new, but this one really reinforced how much our role is changing. We are no longer trying to prove that the concept works. Now the challenge is learning how to scale it consistently, in new markets, with new teams, without losing the food, culture and energy that made people connect with Ghost Taco in the first place.*

At the same time, our franchise development pipeline has become very real, very quickly. We are now managing conversations ranging from single unit prospects to significantly larger development opportunities. I am learning there is a huge difference between saying you want 50 locations and actually sitting across from people who could help you get there.*

It is forcing us to think much more critically about who we say yes to, where we grow, what kind of operators we want representing the brand and whether the infrastructure behind the scenes is ready for the opportunities in front of us.*

Taco Fest was another big moment. Operationally, it was a beast and there were definitely lessons that came out of it, but seeing thousands of people experience Ghost Taco outside the four walls of our restaurants was such a reminder of what makes the brand special. Those moments where you watch people interact with something you created never really get old.*

And now we are heading into probably the biggest milestone yet.*

This is the week we expect to finalize our deal with Happy Belly Food Group.*

It is hard to articulate how exciting that feels because Ghost Taco never started with some massive franchise master plan. It started as a pop up. People loved the food, connected with the brand and kept asking for more. One restaurant became another, franchising became real, more markets started calling and somewhere along the way this thing we created became something with the potential to grow much bigger than us.*

The Happy Belly deal feels like the moment where that potential gets an entirely different level of horsepower behind it.*

More than anything, I am excited to learn. I have spent the last several years learning by doing, opening restaurants, making mistakes, fixing them, building systems, rebuilding systems and figuring out what it actually takes to grow a business.*

Now I get to learn from some of the absolute best in the industry.*

I fully intend to extract every ounce of Sean Black’s brain that he will let me. I joke that I want to come out of this with a doctorate in growing and scaling a fast casual restaurant brand, but I genuinely mean it. I want to understand how the best think about development, locations, franchisees, leadership, unit economics and the decisions that have to be made when a brand starts moving quickly.*

I do not just want Happy Belly to help grow Ghost Taco. I want to become dramatically better at growing Ghost Taco because of what I learn from them.*

And through all of it, sharing these moments with my husband and my kids remains such a huge part of why it matters to me. They see the long days, the hard decisions, the wins and the things that do not go according to plan. Showing them what it looks like to lead with conviction, take risks, keep learning and build something you believe in is something I do not take lightly.*

There is still so much work ahead of us, but this feels like one of those chapters I am going to look back on years from now and realise just how much was changing all at once.