---
title: "Wendy's Mega Operator Opening 3 New Taco John's Locations"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/1f3c8b92-d872-4101-8c28-8294e9a67391
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/articles/wendys_mega_operator_opening_3_new_taco_johns_locations.html
author: "Kerry Pipes"
category: "Mexican"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Mexican"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2022-11-09T09:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T01:02:10.684Z
image: https://imgs.franchising.com/art/articles/7171_plate.jpg
---

# Wendy's Mega Operator Opening 3 New Taco John's Locations

**TL;DR:** Meritage Hospitality Group, a mega franchisee of Wendy's, is opening three new Taco John's locations in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area as part of an area development agreement. The group plans to develop 200 Taco John's restaurants in the next several years.

*By Kerry Pipes, originally published in Franchising.com on 2022-11-09. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/articles/wendys_mega_operator_opening_3_new_taco_johns_locations.html).*

## Story

Mega franchisee Meritage Hospitality Group is launching its area development agreement with Taco John’s by opening its first three locations in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area in December. And that’s just the beginning.

“We’re excited to introduce the brand’s signature ‘bigger. bolder. better.’ flavors to the Grand Rapids area,” said Meritage Hospitality Group President Gary Rose. “We plan to develop 200 Taco John’s restaurants in the next several years, but these three locations have an extra special place being that they are the first in our hometown. We can’t wait for the debut and look forward to our continued expansion which will bring many more job opportunities to the community.”

The terms of the original development agreement call for Meritage Hospitality to build 50 new Taco John’s restaurants by 2026, with exclusive options to develop an additional 150 restaurants.

Meritage Hospitality Group is one of the largest Wendy’s franchisees in the world and operates more than 340 of the burger brand’s restaurants in 16 states, as well as several locations of its own concepts, Morning Belle and Stan’s Tacos.

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## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- unit expansion (topic)
- Wendy's (company)
- franchisee (topic)
- Kerry Pipes (person)
- restaurant development (topic)
- Taco John's (company)
- grand rapids (location)
- area development agreement (topic)
- Meritage Hospitality Group (company)

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Originally reported by Kerry Pipes, Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/articles/wendys_mega_operator_opening_3_new_taco_johns_locations.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/1f3c8b92-d872-4101-8c28-8294e9a67391).