How Velvet Taco’s unique menu gives it permission to go where others can’t

How does Velvet Taco come up with its recipes?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Clay Dover, CEO of the fast-casual taco chain.

This is the latest in a series of podcasts we recorded at the National Restaurant Show. 

Velvet Taco is a rapidly growing chain of taco shops. It finished 2024 with 49 locations and grew sales nearly 22%, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic.

The chain’s menu is more unique than a simple taco shop. You might go to one of the restaurants and be greeted with a Bacon Smashburger Taco or a Paneer Taco. And there are the WTF tacos, or weekly taco feature. We wanted to know how the brand develops these tacos and why that has helped the brand do things that perhaps other concepts cannot do.

We also talk about other issues, including the chain’s growth and its plans for international development and what Dover sees as the biggest barriers to growth right now.

We’re talking tacos on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.