Unable to find proper, tasty tacos in London, founder Thorne went on a mission to change that. The first step was to learn as much as possible so he headed out on an epic ‘taco tour’ of California in 2018, staying with family and exploring the taquerias of LA and San Francisco’s Mission District.

 

On his return, Thorne met with London Mexican suppliers to find the best ingredients and spent time testing recipes on family and friends before approaching his local coffee shop in Deptford to host a taco pop-up once they’d closed their doors for the evening. After four sell-out weeks, he did several successful pop-ups and residencies in pubs, bars and taprooms around London under the names TacoShak & Mission Tacos. 

 

​When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Thorne developed DIY Taco Kits, hand-delivering them locally every Friday, so that customers could still enjoy tasty tacos from the comfort of their own homes. With more orders coming in and a demand for taco kits outside of South East London, Thorne partnered with couriers to send his taco kits nationwide. It was around this time that a former colleague came up with the name Taca, a fusion of Tacos and California, and so the brand was born!

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In the autumn of 2021, as lockdown eased, Taca joined Brockley Market, trading every Saturday and building a reputation for delicious quesatacos, 6-hour Beef Birria and Breakfast Burritos. By that November, Taca had its first legit employee -  our Deptford Head Chef Tung! Together they continued to build a reputation for great tacos at Brockley alongside pop-ups in SE London. Soon after Thorne took a solo trip to Mexico to learn more and eat as many tacos as possible. 

 

After gaining confidence and a regular crowd at markets, it was time for the next step, and we opened our first Bricks & Mortar restaurant in Deptford Market Yard in July 2022. During the opening, Tommy (now our Peckham Head Chef) joined the Taca Team, as did Katy and Georgie, our FOH extraordinaires - all of whom became fundamental to Taca’s energy and friendly service.

 

In May 2023, after a three-month successful residency at Brick Brewery Taproom’s shipping container kitchen, we were ready for a permanent spot in Peckham and soon opened our doors to our second restaurant - on Rye Lane in August of that year. 

 

Taca has grown in size, strength, recipes and flavours and we are so grateful to all our brilliant customers who have kept us going! We count ourselves very lucky to be part of such a brilliant community in SE London and so appreciate all the support over the years. 

 

We can’t wait to see where our journey takes us next...