Built Different Brands has signed a 36-unit development agreement to bring Mike’s Red Tacos — the San Diego-born birria fast-casual concept — to Florida, the two companies announced October 27. CEO Kal Gullapalli, who leads a platform of more than 80 franchise locations spanning Dave’s Hot Chicken, Marco’s Pizza, and PopUp Bagels, will develop the brand across the greater Tampa and Orlando markets and along the state’s East Coast corridor. The first location is planned for 2027.
The deal’s significance runs deeper than the unit count. Mike’s Red Tacos started as a San Diego food truck in 2021, when founder Mike Touma built its signature program around slow-braised beef birria and a consomé dipping broth that became a social media fixture. In early 2025, the brand received a strategic investment from a team of restaurant industry veterans including Bill Phelps — co-founder of Wetzel’s Pretzels and chair of Dave’s Hot Chicken — and Andrew Feghali, who was Dave’s Hot Chicken’s first-ever franchisee, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Touma transitioned to the role of chief brand officer as the investment group built out an executive team designed for national franchise scale. With that capital came a training center in Pasadena, California, a logistics infrastructure to supply proprietary tortillas, birria, and sauces across distant markets, and a deliberate recruitment strategy aimed at operators who already run multiple franchise systems.
By the time Nation’s Restaurant News named the brand a Hot Concept for 2026 in July, Mike’s had already placed more than 250 development commitments across the country. That pipeline has grown since with deals across Michigan, New England, Southern California, Texas and Northern California, and now Florida — each signed with operators carrying substantial existing portfolios. The franchisees who have committed to Mike’s Red Tacos to date include operators running Dave’s Hot Chicken, Jersey Mike’s, McAlister’s, Dunkin’, Carl’s Jr., and Little Caesars locations, according to NRN and QSR Magazine reporting on individual deals. None of them are taking a first franchise…