Jolene Knapp

Taco Time Northwest

Headquartered in Renton, Washington, Taco Time Northwest is a family owned company that employs more than 1,400 people in its 51 company owned restaurants in western Washington and manages another 25 franchise locations. We are proud to be a Northwest institution and plan to stay that way for generations to come. At Taco Time, we think it's important to use only fresh, quality ingredients. We spend hours each morning shredding heads of lettuce and blocks of aged Cheddar Cheese, slicing ripe tomatoes, preparing our own salsas and sauces, cooking ground beef and sautéing all-white meat chicken in small batches throughout the day. Our beans are not refried but rather are fat-free and cooked fresh every day. As a quick service restaurant that serves fresh and delicious food, we're different that way. While our fresh, local ingredients make our food delicious, we owe a great deal of our success to our friendly, caring employees. We work hard to make Taco Time as great a place to work as it is to eat. We believe that each person is key to our success and should be valued and respected. As a local Northwest company, we think reducing our footprint is pretty important too. That is why we've made a healthy investment in compostable packaging. Taco Time Northwest has designed a program that allows guests who dine in our restaurants to place nearly all items to be disposed of in one compostable container, diverting more than 99% of our waste away from local landfills. We make it a priority to give back to Northwest communities. Through fundraising efforts, we're honored to have donated nearly $2 million over the past decade. In 2014, Taco Time Northwest created its own charitable foundation to partner with organizations that provide access to nutritious food and educational programs supporting healthy lifestyles. Our grants are already helping many local non-profit organizations to create a better future for our community.