Torchy’s Tacos: Eight Patios, Texas to Indiana, Since 2014
Torchy’s started in an Austin trailer and now runs more than a hundred stores. We have been on its patios since 2014, when Waco and Fort Worth got hand-rolled clear panels, and we were there in 2023 when the brand’s Fishers, Indiana store got black motorized screens for a winter Austin never sees. In between, two stores wore out their first set and had us back for a second.
What we built
- Customer: Torchy’s Tacos, Austin, Texas.
- 8 locations: Waco, Fort Worth Midtown, Farmers Branch, Allen, Escarpment Village in Austin, two Frisco stores, and Fishers, Indiana. Doors and flaps at Round Rock.
- About 100 panels and 5 doors: manual roll-up clear with black borders at the Texas stores, a double layer of clear and screen at Allen, panels to 15 feet at Escarpment Village, and 8 motorized screens with clear windows plus 4 fixed panels at Fishers.
- About 8,300 square feet of enclosure.
- Second sets: Fort Worth replaced in 2019 after five years, Waco replaced in 2023 after nine, Farmers Branch redone in 2021.
Location by location
| Location | Installed | What |
|---|---|---|
| Waco | 2014, replaced 2023 | 6 manual, then 12 |
| Fort Worth Midtown | 2014, replaced 2019 | 10 manual |
| Farmers Branch | 2015, redone 2021 | 16 manual |
| Allen | 2017, door 2019 | 18 panels, clear and screen |
| Escarpment Village, Austin | 2018 | 7 manual to 15 feet, 2 steel doors |
| Frisco, Preston Road | 2021 | 18 manual, black |
| Hollyhock, Frisco | 2022 | 10 manual, black |
| Fishers, IN | 2023 | 8 motorized, 4 fixed, 2 doors |
Before and after
Before, the Hollyhock patio was a black steel canopy over picnic tables with the parking lot on three sides. The panels hang from the canopy frame and tie to the stone knee wall, and in the black Torchy’s uses everywhere they read as part of the building.
What made this one different
Longevity and the move north. Nine years is a long life for a vinyl panel on a Waco patio, and when the Waco set finally aged out the store replaced it with the same thing. Fishers is the other end of the story: an Indiana winter wants a motorized screen with a hood, so that is what the brand’s first northern patio got, and it is the template if Torchy’s keeps heading that way.
Specs
| System | Manual roll-up clear panels with black borders; motorized screens with clear windows at Fishers |
| Fabric | Clear vinyl with black solid; solar screen; flame-rated to NFPA 701 |
| Tallest unit | About 15 feet at Escarpment Village |
| Wind rating | Motorized 65 mph deployed; manual 45 mph tied down |
| Warranty | 5 years on motors, 3 years on workmanship |
| Lead time | About 6 weeks manual, 8 weeks motorized, from deposit |
| Installation | Our own crew, Texas and Indiana. Outlet locations only; we do not do the electrical. |
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