Tijuana Flats has introduced the pink taco to its menu. For this month only, in honor of breast cancer awareness month, the Orlando-based Tex-Mex chain is offering customers pink-shelled tacos for an additional buck.
Now, clearly, putting any double-entendre menu item is going to garner laughs. And general manager Carolyn Lancheros, of the 1489 S.E. 17 Street outpost in Fort Lauderdale, admits she can't get through a shift without cracking up when her customers respond with:
'What do you mean? A real pink taco?'
See also: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Local Restaurants Participating
"I can't say 'pink taco' with a straight face, so I laugh every time I say it," says Lancheros, who has been with the company for 10 years. To celebrate the good cause, she and her staff decked out their 17 Street store in pink, from hanging up bras to some of the staffers donning pink wigs, headbands, and sunglasses.
The past six years, Tijuana Flats has raised $250K -- company wide -- in funds to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) through selling a specialty hot sauce and community outreach efforts. This year, though, the new CEO Brad Kaemmer decided to change up the company's fundraising efforts and add in a bit of pink food coloring to create the pink shells. Customers can order the shells hard or soft for a dollar extra which will go entirely to the BCRF. And the idea has caught on, the 96-store chain reports to have raised $50K in funds in the first two days.
"We've always been a little tongue in cheek as a company," says Lancheros. "After all, our house line of hot sauce has names like 'Smack My Ass And Call Me Sally,' and, 'Don't Be A Chicken Shit.'" Yeah, totally.
In addition, to the pink tacos the eatery is adding fire to the breast cancer fight with hot sauce bottles called "Sauce that Saves," all month long for five bucks to benefit BCRF. There are locations in Broward and Palm Beach County, but to plug into the community Tijuana Flats will pedal its good cause to a few hotspots.
On Thursday, October 17, Tijuana will set up a stand at Laser Wolf at 6 p.m. and serve until the last pink taco is snatched up. And you can find them catering the spooky Zombie Walk on Friday night, October 18.
Find Tijuana Flats online here.
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