When you think of gas station convenience stores, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Coffee, certainly. Hot dogs, beer, tobacco, lottery. Maybe a fresh sandwich if you’ve found your way to a Wawa or Sheetz.
But tacos?
In the Washington area, gas station tacos are not front of mind. But way down south, they are — in the form of the Laredo Taco Company, found only in Stripes convenience stores. The popular taco line is available in roughly 480 of Stripes’ 679 locations in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Thanks to Sunoco LP’s (NYSE: SUN) $1.9 billion July acquisition of Susser Holdings Corp., the former owner of the Stripes chain, Laredo Taco appears to be headed north. Core States Group, an engineering and architectural firm, recently filed a letter with Loudoun County that spells out plans to update to 22405 Flagstaff Plaza in Ashburn with a Laredo Taco.
“Sunoco proposes to remodel the existing convenience store to include food service (Laredo Taco Company) within the existing building,” per the letter.
Laredo Taco Company bills itself as “fast, fun, friendly, and delicious,” offering “generous portions of your favorite Mexican food, handmade with the freshest ingredients every day.” Its menu includes breakfast tacos, beef enchiladas and beef fajitas.
“We are pleased to have this brand in our portfolio and it will be a strong platform for future growth both organically and through acquisitions,” Bob Owens, Sunoco’s CEO, said of Stripes during the company’s third quarter earnings call.
The improvements to the Ashburn store, according to the Core letter, will include new kitchen equipment, food storage areas, food preparation areas and five counter seats. Sunoco also plans to update the retail sales shelving “to their new standard equipment.” The property fronts the Loudoun County Parkway immediately south of the Dulles Greenway, and is adjacent to a Hilton Garden Inn.
The wrench in this plan, for now, is that the gas station at that Ashburn location today is an Exxon, and the convenience store is a Circle K. It is unclear at this time whether Sunoco will acquire the gas station site and rebrand it as an APlus or a Stripes, or if it will simply fit a Laredo Taco into the Circle K. A Sunoco spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Still: Gas station tacos! Northern Virginia, we’ve been deprived for too long.
