In an era when many fast-casual chains trumpet local sourcing as a marketing strategy, z-Teca Mexican Eatery has quietly built its business around this principle since before it became fashionable. Now, after 17 years of methodical growth, the Toronto-based chain is accelerating its expansion across Ontario with ambitions to enter British Columbia markets.
On a recent weekday at z-Teca’s Commerce Court location in Toronto’s underground PATH network, customers watched as staff hand-mashed avocados for guacamole and grilled marinated chicken on an open flame. This emphasis on transparency in food preparation has been a cornerstone of the brand since Gabe Sarracini founded it in 2008, converting a previous restaurant concept into what would become the flagship for the growing chain.
“We want customers to see how we’re prepping our vegetables in-house daily, how we’re grilling our chicken and steak,” explains Sarracini, who serves as CEO. “We were exciting the senses and people really love it.”
The name z-Teca, derived from “Azteca,” initially confused Canadian customers accustomed to pronouncing the letter as “zed” rather than “zee.” “When we were first coming up with the name, we showed it around and people would say ‘not zed,'” Sarracini recalled. The solution came through their branding agency, which created a secondary logo with phonetic spelling. “Once we had that in our marketing and inside the store as secondary signage, people saw it once and immediately knew how to pronounce the name z-Teca.”
In a market now saturated with Mexican-inspired concepts, z-Teca has differentiated itself by gradually shifting its supply chain toward Canadian producers.
“We’re a proud Canadian brand and are constantly fussing over the details of our supply chain,” said Kate Sarracini, Head of Finance and Strategy and Gabe’s daughter. “In a world where food is engineered for operational efficiencies first, instead we focus on creating a fresh, delicious product first, that keeps customers coming back. As an example, we use ingredients like fresh garlic in olive oil versus garlic powder, and make all of our salsas in-house daily by roasting tomatoes and peppers…etc. – nothing comes out of a can in a finished state. We take great care in sourcing our ingredients, opting for higher quality and local vs. the cheapest and quickest product to use. All of our tortillas and chips come from a great Canadian supplier that we have great faith in.”
This localization strategy extends throughout their ingredient list. “Our whole dairy program – our cheeses, our sour creams, our queso – all of this is local,” she added, noting that this approach has other positive knock on effects, like reducing their environmental footprint while supporting Canadian businesses. “Of course, we could move to cut costs and move to inferior products, but this choice to do the opposite is a decision we made 17 years ago and is core to our strategy.”
The strategy appears to be working. z-Teca has expanded beyond traditional retail locations to establish footholds in high-traffic, non-traditional venues. “We have a location at York University and just outside the University of Guelph and have previously held court at BMO Field, home to Toronto FC.” These high-traffic locations have introduced the brand to diverse audiences while demonstrating the concept’s adaptability to various operating environments.
“We’ve got a couple of university sites and they’re off the charts. They do incredibly well for us,” Gabe Sarracini noted. “We’re at York University in York Lane, so we’re right inside the university. And then we’ve got a second site out in Guelph, which is down the road about a half a kilometer or so from the university near around the student residence. And it does, again, extremely well.”
Madeline Sarracini, Director of Marketing and Gabe’s Daughter, explains how the brand has successfully adapted to these diverse locations: “Every store has its own set of unique demographics, customer trends, and external factors. What we feel has really worked for us is keeping marketing communications strategy and brand at the head office level, keeping it very tight. But once we take a strategy, whether it’s an initiative or a specific rollout, we’re actually tailoring each program per store and per geography.”
While many restaurant chains pursued aggressive expansion in recent years, z-Teca has taken a more measured approach. “We’ve always valued quality over the quantity of store count,” emphasized Gabe Sarracini. “We’ve really spent our time trying to hone that in and building a solid foundation before we continue growing the brand.”
That deliberate strategy doesn’t mean the company lacks ambition. In addition to its core concept, z-Teca has recently launched a more upscale brand extension called z-Teca Cocina Mexicana at Bay Adelaide Centre in downtown Toronto. “The intention behind this concept was to be more bespoke and chef-inspired,” explained Kate Sarracini. “It’s not the same format as Mexican Eatery. You don’t go up to the front counter and move through the line. Our menu items are curated and prepared the way we think tastes best – it’s overall a little more elevated.”
“We wanted to be a little bit more elevated with Cocina,” adds Gabe Sarracini, “and this might lead us to go into certain street front opportunities like Summerhill or Leslieville where we could maybe expand some of the appetizer options and maybe do a craft offering of beers and whatnot to attract a different type of audience.”
Like virtually all restaurant operators, z-Teca has been forced to adapt to the surge in delivery demand accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID is when the aggregator share of our business really jumped because a lot of stores were closed or not easy to access in person,” Kate Sarracini said. The company responded by signing an exclusivity agreement with Uber Eats after previously using multiple platforms.
“Pre-COVID, we were running about less than 5% on the aggregators,” Gabe Sarracini explained. “Our ideal or typical store footprint was about 1,500-1,600 square feet with up to 30 seats in the restaurant. COVID happened… and we took some learnings from that. One of the main takeaways was, maybe we can reduce the ideal footprint of our stores.”
The rise of delivery has created operational challenges familiar to restaurant operators nationwide. “It’s definitely an interesting dynamic and has changed the face of the restaurant industry,” Kate explained. “It’s challenging because we now don’t have full control over the customer’s experience. There is an added layer of logistics that impact the speed, customer service and quality of product. It’s forced us to continually improve on what we can control, like optimizing for prep and timing, the best packaging and sealing methods.”
The delivery trend has even influenced the company’s real estate strategy. “In more suburban markets where there is a lot of third-party delivery activity, we’ve identified that we can reduce our footprint in terms of square footage in addition to store format – we no longer need 1,500 SF and 30 seats,” Gabe noted, highlighting how digital ordering is reshaping physical location requirements.
As the company eyes further expansion, maintaining operational consistency becomes increasingly crucial. “As we continue to grow, our operations have to be tight, bulletproof,” said Madeline Sarracini. “Kate and I spend a lot of time really trying to automate processes, whether it’s communications or having resources franchisees can pull on very quickly and efficiently. But we wear a lot of hats given the nature of our team. So we are a phone call away for our franchisees.”
As z-Teca looks to its next phase of growth, it’s focusing first on continuing to expand its Ontario presence while starting to venture westward. “We’ve partnered with strong area developers for the BC market and look forward to rolling the brand out in Vancouver first,” revealed Kate Sarracini.
“The focus is going to be right here in Ontario,” adds Gabe Sarracini. “In fact, we have the Ottawa franchise show that we’re participating in. We have one location now in Ottawa and we’re looking to sort of build that market as well. And we’ve got three sites right now on the books that we’re just trying to finalize.”
Regarding their BC expansion, Gabe explains the careful approach: “We did an area development deal out in BC and we haven’t secured our first site yet. We want to make sure it’s the right one. We want to launch properly so that people see the brand and have a great experience with us because they don’t really know z-Teca out in BC.”
To guide this expansion, z-Teca is working with Ali Baker, Principal and VP of Retail at Avison Young, on site selection and real estate strategy. The partnership signals a more aggressive growth phase while maintaining the company’s emphasis on quality locations.
For Gabe Sarracini, who has spent his career in the food service industry, maintaining brand integrity during expansion remains paramount. “We want to grow this brand one location at a time,” he emphasized. “We believe in the pillars of a good concept, a great location, and partnering with a strong operator that will really help us drive this brand.”
In a fast-casual Mexican segment crowded with international chains and local upstarts, z-Teca’s longevity and careful expansion strategy provide an interesting counterpoint to the rapid growth models that dominate much of the Canadian industry. Whether its patient approach will yield the national footprint the company envisions remains to be seen, but its focus on Canadian suppliers and methodical growth has certainly sustained it through nearly two decades of changing consumer preferences and economic challenges.
As z-Teca advances its growth plans, the company continues to build on the founding principles that have distinguished it in Ontario’s competitive restaurant landscape: quality ingredients, transparent preparation, and community engagement – with a distinctly Canadian accent.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes leadership roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, Starbucks and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024 and 2025, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.