California Tortilla vs Wahoo's Fish Taco's Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of California Tortilla vs Wahoo's Fish Taco's including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees

 
California Tortilla Franchise
Wahoo's Fish Taco's Franchise
Investment $378,400 - $697,000$540,000 - $715,000
Franchise Fee $40,000$25,000 - $30,000
Royalty Fee 5%5%
Advertising Fee .5% local +2% Nat'l2% local
Year Founded 1995-
Year Franchised 1995-
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Renewal Fee --


Business Experience Requirements

 
California Tortilla Franchise
Wahoo's Fish Taco's Franchise
Experience * A minimum of $1,000,000 net worth and $250,000 of liquid assets to invest in your California Tortilla franchise; * Experience in either the food/restaurant industry; and/or prior franchise experience; and/or prior business or management experience (whew!); * A passionate commitment to customer service; * A sound operating plan to manage your business; * A cultural fit with California Tortilla and a passion for Mexican food; * The willingness to learn and apply the California Tortilla Operating System. We prefer applicants who have restaurant experience as well as multi-unit experience. Depending on some other factors, we will consider applicants who have other types of multi-unit retail experience.

Financing Options

 
California Tortilla Franchise
Wahoo's Fish Taco's Franchise
  In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees -/--/-
Start-up Costs -/--/-
Equipment -/--/-
Inventory -/--/-
Receivables -/--/-
Payroll -/--/-

Training & Support

 
California Tortilla Franchise
Wahoo's Fish Taco's Franchise
Training On-The-Job Training: 200 hours Classroom Training: 10 hours -
Support Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings/Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security/Safety Procedures Field Operations Site Selection Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform -
Marketing Co-op Advertising Ad Templates National Media Regional Advertising Social media SEO Website development Email marketing Loyalty program/app -
Operations Absentee Ownership Allowed Number of Employees Required to Run: 15 -

Expansion Plans

 
California Tortilla Franchise
Wahoo's Fish Taco's Franchise
US Expansion Yes-
Canada Expansion --
International Expansion --

Company Overviews

About California Tortilla

California Tortilla is Mexican Re-Imagined. From the ingredients to the preparation to customer service, we’ve transformed a "quick bite” into a mouth-watering, crave-inducing, "I can’t wait to come back” experience.

California Tortilla is a unique fast casual Mexican restaurant franchise that serves "California style” Mexican food. We focus on one aspect that many other Fast Casuals continue to ignore; quality. We source the best ingredients from local farm to table purveyors. We use only premium proteins and our salsa, guacamole, queso and sauces are made fresh daily and are never frozen. In fact, there’s no freezer on site at all. Our menu is Chef-Inspired, and while we cater to individual customer needs, we offer bold and exciting flavor profiles in our signature products. Perhaps most importantly, guests aren’t a number at Cal Tort. They are individuals… people that we really like and want to see again and again.

About Wahoo's Fish Taco's

In 1988, the Wahoo brothers decided to import the fish taco to Orange County, California, and give it a unique twist. They combined the fish taco with their Brazilian favorites and Asian inspired items. The brothers decorated the original restaurant with the donations of near-by surf companies and that's how Wahoo's Fish Taco was born. Wahoo's then quickly developed a loyal and steady following, to where some locals came in daily and servers automatically knew what their customer would order. In 1990, Steve Karfaridis, joined as a partner and the one location in Costa Mesa rapidly developed into multi-locations in Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach. Today you will find over 50 locations of Wahoo's all throughout California and Colorado, including Texas and Hawaii. We are looking for franchisees who have the experience and financial resources to develop an area of at least 3-5 stores.
Wahoo's Fish Taco's initial franchise fee is $35,000 (and just $27,5000 for each additional store)