It costs about $250,000 to $400,000 to open a Baja Sol Tortilla Grill, which averages 2,500 square feet and 80 seats.

The complimentary salsa bar features eight core salsas and one seasonal salsa such as this summer’s grilled pineapple salsa.

President Bridget Sutton, CEO Tony Sutton and Director Bill Cooper created Baja Sol Restaurants Group when it bought the Baja Sol Tortilla Grill brand in 2006 for an undisclosed amount. As franchisees of two units in Minnesota, the Suttons were already familiar with the then-six-unit fast-casual concept. But to create a chain with national potential, the company decided to reinvent the brand.

It hired Corporate Chef Bill Roche to expand the menu beyond the usual burritos, quesadillas and nachos. Roche, who has worked as a regional chef at The Cheesecake Factory and as a corporate chef for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, broadened the menu's flavor profiles to include Pan-Latin and Caribbean flare.

“Consumers understand Mexican food now,” says Bridget Sutton. “They understand what Taco Bell is. They understand what Chipotle is. They understand what a burrito is. And now they're looking for something new, something interesting, something different. And that's what we offer because we provide menu items that most other concepts don't.”

For example, the BBQ Burrito, $5.99, features jerk-style barbecue sauce. Customers have the option of ordering their burritos four ways including smothered-style, $1.49 extra, topped with pork-green-chile sauce rooted in South American cuisine. The complimentary chips and salsa bar has nine salsas ranging from the traditional pico de gallo to the unconventional peach-mango salsa.

To further differentiate itself and drive sales, Baja Sol is testing alcohol such as beers and margaritas at a unit that opened in Columbus, Ohio, in June.

Baja Sol has found success with a catering and delivery program. Because it was cost-prohibitive to set up an in-house delivery program, it uses a local courier service. Since rolling out the program in February, catering sales have increased 47 percent.

The company has also been able to increase sales of items with steak, carnitas and shrimp despite price increases. In March it began a tiered pricing structure, charging an extra 30 cents to 45 cents for steak and carnitas and an extra $1 to $1.50 for shrimp. Sutton believes customers are willing to take the increase because the menu board emphasizes the pricing structure and quality of the items with descriptions such as Gulf shrimp and USDA sirloin steak. In addition to sales of those proteins going up, food costs went down 1.5 percent, to 27.5 percent.

This year a franchisee opened the unit in Columbus, the first outside of Minnesota. Franchisees will open five more this year and eight in 2009 in Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio and California.

Although Baja Sol Tortilla Grill is the main growth vehicle, the company developed a full-service version of the concept called Baja Sol Cantina in April 2007 in Inver Grove Heights. A franchisee in Ohio will convert three Don Pablo's units into Cantinas by year-end. The company also developed Baja Joe's Beachfront Grill, a fast-casual concept that features Mexican and American fare, in 2006 in St. Cloud, Minn., but does not actively franchise it.

Baja Sol expects 100 units of the Grills and Cantinas to be operating within five years.