Orange County businesses rally in effort to free Taco Tuesday
Plenty of diners know which restaurants have great Taco Tuesday specials, but what taco enthusiasts may not have realized until recently is the term Taco Tuesday is trademarked. Taco Bell petitioned the government to cancel the trademark a few weeks ago, which is held by Taco John’s, a Wyoming-based fast food restaurant chain.
“This news was news to a lot of people that even such a term could be trademarked,” said Pamela Waitt, an Orange County resident and founder of tacotuesday.com. “It was like finding out something crazy like ‘Sunday brunch’ is trademarked.”
The earliest Taco Tuesday specials have been documented as far back as the 1930s, while Taco John’s has held the trademark since 1989. In mid-May, Taco Bell filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademark.
“The phrase has been used long before they trademarked it, decades before,” said Waitt. “It continues to be used by millions even after they trademarked it.”
Taco Bell, whose headquarters are in Irvine, isn’t interested in acquiring Taco Tuesday for itself but rather freeing it for public use.
“‘Liberating’ Taco Tuesday means canceling the trademark registrations because Taco Tuesday is a common [generic] term. Once Taco Tuesday is ‘liberated,’ no one restaurant will be able to claim they have exclusive rights to use it [especially not us],” reads a statement on Taco Bell’s website. “Taco Bell wants Taco Tuesday to be free for all restaurants and taco vendors to use without fear of a cease-and-desist letter or lawsuit.”
Taco John’s isn’t necessarily stopping restaurants from hosting Taco Tuesday, but Taco Bell is not alone in speaking out against the trademark.
“Support for the cause continues to grow with NBA star LeBron James joining Taco Bell in support of restaurants and taco lovers across the nation in an effort to #FreeTacoTuesday,” said Waitt.
Waitt is part of the team that secured the tacotuesday.com domain name in 2019 in order to create a taco search engine, free for restaurants and the taco-loving community.
“As we discovered how valuable Taco Tuesday was for restaurants and how there really wasn’t a space to easily find Taco Tuesday events, we created it as something that is always free for the user and always free for the restaurants,” said Waitt. “They can put their Taco Tuesday menus up there, and there will never be a charge.”
The site lists restaurants with Taco Tuesday menus from Costa Mesa to Las Vegas, Dallas and Jersey City along with taco trends and margarita recipes.
Tacotuesday.com reports Taco Tuesday events increase restaurant revenue by an average of 22% to 36%, which local Orange County restaurants can attest to.
“Taco Tuesday is our busiest day of the week, across the board at all of our locations,” said Lidiya Harvey, director of brand strategy for Puesto Mexican Artisan Kitchen & Bar. ”It always has been.”
Puesto’s locations in Anaheim, Park Place Irvine and Los Olivos Irvine all offer half off on all tacos on the menu from 3 p.m. until closing each Tuesday.
Most recently Puesto launched a new restaurant, Marila’s Mexican in Huntington Beach.
“Marila’s is inspired by the owner’s grandmother. We wanted to open a concept in Huntington Beach that was tailored to the community, based on feedback we had received wanting entrees,” said Harvey. “We took a lot of inspiration from family recipes that the owners grew up cooking with their grandmother at home; they are first generation Mexican Americans. So that is a special concept we created for that location.”
Marila’s Mexican also offers Taco Tuesday specials all day, from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. with half off all tacos and $8 margaritas and $6 draft beers specials.
“I think tacos are great everyday, personally, but something about Taco Tuesday is like a community celebration almost,” said Harvey.
Waitt agrees.
“We are here to amplify the voices of our restaurant industry friends across the country who celebrate Taco Tuesday and all the taco loving fans who visit them on Tuesday or any day of the week,” said Waitt.
Waitt said Taco Tuesday being trademarked today can be likened to someone owning “happy hour.”
“I don’t think anybody gets to own something like [that] ... I think it belongs to everybody,” said Waitt. “It belongs to the people.”
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