For six weeks, patrons of the well-known Fort Dodge restaurant had to wait patiently as an expansion of the kitchen area took place without doors opening to the public.

As it turns out, the customers and workers weren’t the only ones learning lessons from an uprooted routine.

Taco Tico — Fort Dodge owner Ben Johnson tore his patellar tendon last month, suffering the injury while removing snow from the establishment’s parking lot during a blizzard. The accident, and subsequent knee surgery, slowed Johnson down significantly at the most inopportune time — just as the project he had envisioned for years was hitting the home stretch.

“It’s kind of like a quarterback going down right before the Super Bowl,” Johnson said. “I’ve tried my best to stay positive through the chaos of it all. But as you can imagine, it was an interesting turn to the whole process.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
The dining room at Taco Tico looks the same because the recent renovation focused on the kitchen.

“I’ve had to remind myself a lot recently that everything happens for a reason,” he added. “To have this dream for years and go through months of planning to get to this point, then have to adjust almost everything about the preparation right before we reopened, was the definition of bad timing. Life goes on, though, and it reminded me how thankful I am for my family – both at home and at work.”

Johnson’s vision was to create a safer, healthier and more functional environment for his employees and the process of food preparation behind the scenes. While customers may not necessarily notice many of the changes, the idea was to improve both the comfort level and efficiency of the nearly 50 workers who give Taco Tico its identity.

“The name of the game, especially after COVID, became the drive-thru operation and how all of that was being handled,” Johnson said. “The slow but steady progression has been a shift from (more customers) using the dining room to carry out. Because of that, you want the work space and kitchen space set up so that employees are able to be as successful and comfortable as possible.”

Johnson has lived the life of a Taco Tico loyalist, so he has a bead on what works and what is important from any and all directions. His father, Dennis, opened the restaurant in Fort Dodge 48 years ago — the year Johnson was born.

“My brother, Jake, and I started going in and helping out at Wendy’s (the Johnsons’ other local franchise for decades until 2019) when I was about 11 (years old). I think I was 14 when I started at Tico — around 1990. It’s been such a big part of my life for so long, but I try not to be so close to it that I can’t take a step back and think from the perspective of a customer or a part-time employee.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Taco Tico, 319 S. 29th St., has reopened after a six-week renovation which expanded the kitchen and included a bumpout for the drive-thru window.

“I think that’s important for growth and evolution — to be able to see things from different points of view.”

The tried and true formulas that bring people back to the Fort Dodge location will never waver for Johnson, who took over full-time ownership close to a decade ago.

“The little things and attention to detail add up,” Johnson said. “I think the main factor is cooking everything fresh and in-house. We’ve always focused on quality and freshness, from our meat and cheese to our tomatoes and lettuce. We have control over the ingredients, and we pay close attention to what works versus what doesn’t with our customers.

“We also always want to be a restaurant that is warm and inviting,” he added.”Even when we went through a remodel with the dining area, we didn’t want to lose the nostalgic environment people have come to know and trust. It’s the same with our prices … of course things change over time and you have to find the right balance, but at the end of the day, we want to be a place you can go for lunch or dinner, spend some time together, and not blow the budget in doing so.”

As for the importance of this particular renovation, Johnson admitted with a laugh, “I need to be out of a wheelchair and off of crutches before we can really maximize the efficiency of it all.”

“The most important thing is creating long-term value,” Johnson said. “You want to make something that will withstand the test of time. Our staff and our customers come first. They make Taco Tico what it is.”

Local companies like Jensen Builders Ltd., Baker Electric, Dan Riley Plumbing, Midstate Plumbing and Heating and IFC Security were involved in the renovation project, which started in mid-February and concluded earlier this month.

“I grew up in Fort Dodge, and now my wife (Andrea) and I are raising kids here. This community means so much to us,” Johnson said. “When I drive around town and see other businesses taking pride in their property, or when I see the growth across the street (from Taco Tico’s 319 S. 29th St. location) with the Corridor Plaza, it makes us want to raise our standards as well and meet those expectations.

“I think it’s an exciting time to be invested in Fort Dodge.”