Qdoba planned for Decatur

DECATUR — Decatur will soon have another option for quick-service Tex-Mex cuisine.

A Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurant has been planned to open at 3116 Water St. in the Brettwood Village shopping center, according to building permit records. The owner, North Fork Fresh Mex LLC, took out the building permits valued at nearly $500,000.

Qdoba was founded in 1995 by Anthony Miller and Robert Hauser in Denver, Colo. The restaurant was originally named Zuma Fresh Mexican Grill before changing to Z-Teca in 1997 due to a lawsuit from a Boston-area restaurant with the name Zuma.

The company began franchising locations the same year. Z-Teca was changed to Qdoba by an ad agency in 1999 after yet another lawsuit by a similar-named restaurant in Arizona. In 2003, the company became a subsidiary of Jack-in-the-Box before being sold in 2018 and then again in 2022.

Qdoba is the main national competitor to quick-service Tex-Mex restaurants Chipotle and Moe’s Southwest Grill. The company aims to expand across the country over the next five years, but did not specify to what capacity and what their expansion goals look like.

As of 2024, Qdoba has 753 locations across the United States, with 19 locations in Illinois. The current nearest locations are in Charleston and Springfield. A Qdoba spokesperson confirmed to Heartland Newsfeed that the store will be opening in late August.

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Jacob Hamm

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I am a college senior at Eastern Illinois University. I cover a wide variety of topics across Central Illinois such as protests, artistic and cultural events, local economic development, and the occasional column.

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