After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1959, Ron Fraedrick traveled throughout the West selling petroleum products in a rapidly growing post-war economy. In Southern California, he fell in love with Mexican food and conceived the idea of feeding a different kind of hunger — one that involved preparing and serving his own style of fresh, high-quality Mexican fast food to the hordes of hungry college kids in his hometown of Eugene, Oregon.

In fact, that’s the story behind the first TacoTime franchised restaurant. A business acquaintance loved TacoTime food so much he teamed up with Ron to begin franchising the concept in the Western Washington area. So, in 1962, just two years after the company’s initial debut, the first TacoTime franchise opened in Tacoma, Washington.

During the next decade, 48 franchised TacoTime restaurants opened throughout seven western states. As the 1970s came to a close, the company supported more than 150 locations. In 1978, Taco Time International Inc. was born when a franchise restaurant opened in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. By the end of the century, some 40 years from its humble beginnings in Eugene, Oregon, Taco Time International Inc. supported 225 domestic locations and multiple locations in Canada.