This East Coast chain reworked its operations to accommodate custom orders and improve kitchen efficiency.

Quick, tasty and fresh, burritos are perhaps the signature item in fast casual. And while this space obviously has a few 800-pound gorillas when it comes to serving up burritos, a few smaller chains have held their own against bigger rivals for decades.

One of these is California Tortilla, a 30-year-old concept based in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. 

With just under 30 restaurants in 6 East Coast states, its menu, at the top level, looks similar to other Mexican-inspired fast-casual concepts. Guests can choose among burritos and tacos, quesadillas and nachos, bowls and salads. But California Tortilla boasts a distinct brand identity, built around food and flavor, says Keith Goldman, the chain’s president and CEO. Each location makes 30-plus items from scratch every single day. These include guacamole, salsa, sides like rice and beans, and the all-important — and often creative — sauces. 

“We’ve always offered more of a West Coast-type foodie experience with lots of unique ingredients and sauces. Our signature sauces are honey lime, Korean barbecue, blackened chicken Caesar and crunchy barbecue ranch,” Goldman says. “We’ve used the Mexican vehicle and run with it in a more creative, food-oriented way.” 

While this inventive approach to Mexican food has served California Tortilla well over the years, how the chain actually executes its menu has changed recently, thanks to a new design that remakes both the kitchen and the dining area. 

An ACE Up Their Sleeves

California Tortilla’s redesign is actually rooted in the pandemic, says Goldman. Along with much of the foodservice industry, the chain spent the early days and weeks during that time period adjusting its operations for off-premises orders and service, as well as pausing expansion plans. After a few months, leadership found itself with “some time on our hands” and took the opportunity to evaluate California Tortilla’s positioning.

With its new design, the chain moved order assembly from the back of the house to the service line, in full view of guests.This effort identified areas for improvement in both operations and menu offerings. Naturally, these opportunities are all connected.

Prior to the redesign, California Tortilla’s menu focused on curated items. Guests would order and pay at a POS station. Orders were sent to the production area. Once the order was complete, staff would call the customer to the pickup window.

The new design remakes this whole process to reflect a more traditional fast-casual approach. Now, guests walk down a makeline, where they can watch staffers assemble curated items or pick out ingredients for personalized burritos, bowls and other items. At the end of the line, they pay a single cashier and depart with their food.

The new process, says Goldman, improves three key areas for the chain: accuracy, customization and efficiency, defined by an internal acronym — ACE.

On the accuracy front, staffers working directly with guests to assemble orders has reduced mistakes for dine-in service. Similarly, when a customer places an online order, each item now prints out not just with a menu item name, but a full list of components. With this change, staff don’t need to memorize recipes.

To address customization, the front-of-the-house assembly line allows customers to build the exact meal they want. While curated items are still offered, guests can get them as is or make tweaks during the assembly process.

The new approach offers great improvements in terms of throughput and labor compared to the legacy model, Goldman says, which addresses the efficiency piece. “The create-your-own, pay-last format is definitely more efficient. We used to have three cashiers in the front, and now we only need one at the end. The redesigned makeline also improves throughput. You don’t have to spend time reading tickets. Previously, three cashiers could take orders quickly, creating a row of tickets that staff had to stop and read. Now you’re just taking customers right down the line.” 

At a Glance

• Chain headquarters: Potomac, Md.
• Year founded: 1995
• Key players: Keith Goldman, CEO/president; Bob Phillips, chief financial officer; Michael Dolinger, vice president of operations; Tom Finn, vice president of development; Stacey Kane, chief marketing officer
• Signature menu items: burritos, tacos, bowls, salads, and other Mexican-inspired items 
• Number of units: 28 locations, including 19 franchised and 9 company-owned units
• Unit size: Traditional locations range from 1,800-2,500 square feet; nontraditional from 650-1,200 square feet.
• Seats per unit: 35-75
• Total system sales: $25 million
• Average gross revenue per unit: $1.5 million corporate restaurants
• Check average: $21.05
• Equipment package cost: $200,000

The chain removed its large soda machine that offered dozens of choices in favor of a simpler fountain model and bubblers with agua frescas.

Three-Station Front

This serving line marries what is now fairly conventional in many fast-casual operations. Guests start by choosing  the menu item, such as a burrito or salad, then requesting their choice of other elements in the build, such as types of protein, grains and veggies and other inclusions. Staff pull these from hot wells and cold wells.

A more dramatic change came to the cookline itself, which now sits along the back wall of the production kitchen but in full view of guests. This change drives home the quality of California Tortilla’s offerings, Goldman says. “We’ve been frustrated for years by not getting credit for the quality of our food. Everybody claims they have fresh food. Not all of them do. The term ‘fresh’ loses its meaning. The only way to convey how good and fresh your food is, is if people can see it with their own eyes.” 

Moving the hot line to a visible location wasn’t just a cut-and-paste job. Instead, the hot equipment lineup changed significantly in the ACE design. It starts with two fryers. Staff use one fryer exclusively to make tortilla chips. The other fryer cooks blackened fried chicken and blackened fried fish. Next to the fryers sits a pair of large floor burners, used to prepare rice and beans, core ingredients for the brand’s menu. Past the burners is the key piece of the hot line: a large chargrill used to cook grilled steak and chicken.

In legacy locations, the chargrill is accompanied by two additional large pieces of equipment. One is a six-burner range used to heat certain sauces, melt queso and warm up chili and taco beef. In the ACE design, this has been replaced by an electric-powered convection steamer that sits outside the hood.

The ACE model also eliminates a flattop grill from the hot line. In older restaurants, this piece is used for quesadillas and items in the chain’s Grill Melts category, essentially grilled burritos. In new stores, it has been replaced by a panini grill that sits near, but not on, the hot line. 

By eliminating the range and flattop, California Tortilla was able to cut its hood length in half, to just 10 feet, says Goldman, resulting in a significant cost saving.

With the customer-facing assembly line at the front of the kitchen and the hot line on the back wall, there’s space between these areas for an island. Staff use this area for some morning prep work, as well as to cut meats fresh from the grill. It’s also the home for quesadilla and Grill Melts cooking, thanks to the two panini grills stationed here.

These panini grills have not just helped shrink the hood. They’ve also sped up food production. 

Quesadillas and Grill Melts used to take seven minutes to cook, says Goldman, compared to 30 seconds for a burrito. “This created a situation where customers had to wait, especially with people in line behind them. The panini grills cut our cooking time for these items down to two minutes, solving that problem,” he says. 

The island is also home to other key pieces of equipment. Below the worktop are hot holding ovens for storing batch-cooked fajita veggies, rice, beans and proteins. These are used to restock the makeline, Goldman explains. A countertop chip warmer is set up as a display unit, signaling to customers that the chips are fried in-house and, ideally, inspiring them to add a chip-and-dip side item to their order.

While these three sections — assembly line, hot line, island — are visible to customers, at least one notable change is found out of sight. This area of the kitchen is where staff make from-scratch sauces using various worktables, mixers and smallwares. This back-of-the-house area now features a dish area, which includes worktables, a three-compartment sink and a door-style dishwasher. The chain added this space to accommodate a change in the customer experience. Prior to the ACE design, California Tortilla served dine-in orders on disposables; now the chain uses melamine plates and bowls.

Front of the House

Kitchen design and operations weren’t the only aspects of the restaurant that changed with the new design. California Tortilla also updated the design of its dining room for the third time in the company’s history, Goldman says. The first California Tortilla restaurants were loud and busy, almost “frenetic looking,” he characterizes. The second-generation design was calmer and included a view into the back of the house. 

The most recent update continues along that trajectory, with lighter colors still, along with the open kitchen. This change wasn’t just about the vibe of the space, though, says Goldman. “Our most recent update was about durability, being able to keep it clean and looking clean, and at the same time using lighter colors.” 

Flooring, for example, went from the tile found in most legacy stores to sealed, polished cement — meaning no grout between tiles to keep clean and bright. Similarly, the furniture is easy to maintain. Tabletops are a solid Baltic Birch plywood with a clear lacquer finish on a steel base. These are durable and easy to clean, Goldman says. Most upholstered seating has been removed, eliminating the need to clean out crumbs between the cracks. In some locations, though, the chain is testing out a lounge-style soft seating area where guests can gather with friends or work on a laptop, notes Goldman.

Another nuts-and-bolts change: The company removed large soda dispensers that allowed guests to customize their drinks in dozens of ways. In its place is a more conventional soda fountain with less than 10 options, along with a handful of bubblers offering lemonades, teas and agua frescas. “They’re healthier, less sugary, more flavorful and people seem to really gravitate to them,” says Goldman.

Other changes to the look and feel are about the vibe, of course. California Tortilla went from a drop ceiling to an open ceiling, giving the space an airy feel. The chain’s color scheme now features browns and beiges with an avocado-green accent color. There’s even a green plexiglass face on the ordering line, backlit by LEDs, which helps draw guests into the food ordering area, Goldman says.

The most intentional design elements in the front of the house drive home key aspects of the brand. One is the Flavor Rules poster series. This highlights the freshness of California Tortilla’s menu by showcasing the food prep, sauce production and meats on the grill.

The centerpiece of the dining area is the Wall of Flame. Here the chain has a display of 75 different hot sauces for customers to add to their meal. “It’s there for customers to enjoy,” says Goldman. “They go to their table, get three or four sauces, and try things out. That’s always been a big part of our brand.” 

California Tortilla prefers endcap and freestanding units but is open to in-line restaurants in high-quality areas.

Expansion Plan

With the ACE model now set, California Tortilla is ready to expand.

The chain, says Goldman, prefers to grow with a hub-and-spoke approach to building brand awareness in its market. In the near term, that means opening more stores in Washington, D.C.; Maryland; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; and Virginia. It typically seeks out locations in upscale suburbs. Downtowns were, at one point, a good option, but those areas are still largely in post-pandemic recovery mode, so the chain is cautious about those locations, he explains.

The company’s leadership is flexible about potential partners. While many chains only want to sign multiunit deals, California Tortilla has a good track record with one-site operators. “They typically put a lot of effort and life’s blood into running the restaurant, which is usually a successful strategy. Most have gone on to open second or third stores,” Goldman says.

California Tortilla is also looking to open smaller restaurants in nontraditional locations, including malls, travel centers and airports. Such sites may not align perfectly with the new ACE design but represent a real growth opportunity for the chain. Being flexible about operations led to the creation and success of the ACE model, after all.

“It’s been a great 30 years, and the only reason why we’re still here is because we continue to innovate and push forward and figure out ways to make sure we’re not being complacent,” says Goldman. “Complacency is the death of many brands.”