Baja Fresh Mexican Grill

Baja Fresh Mexican Grill is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant brand that focuses on fresh, made-to-order food. Guests order at the counter and watch meals prepared in an open kitchen, with a core menu of tacos, burritos, bowls, salads, and grilled entrées. The concept is built around fresh prep and customization, serving both dine-in and takeout traffic, with strong participation from digital ordering and third-party delivery.

The company was founded in 1990, when Jim and Linda Magglos opened the first Baja Fresh in Newbury Park, California. The early “Fresh Mexican” positioning resonated quickly, leading to a build-out across Southern California through the 1990s. A key milestone came in 2001, when the brand reached its 100th location after Wendy’s International acquired a controlling stake and accelerated expansion. Ownership later transitioned to new groups in 2006 and again in 2016. Under Fresh Mex, LLC and the broader Xperience Restaurant Group portfolio, Baja Fresh has continued to refine its menu with more grilled proteins, bowls, and salads, aligning the concept with modern fast-casual expectations around quality and health-oriented choices.

As of September 2024, Baja Fresh operates about 80 restaurants across the United States. The footprint is weighted toward California, with additional units in states such as Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, and a handful of East Coast and Midwest markets. The system includes both company-operated and franchised locations. Sites commonly appear in inline retail and end-cap spaces in grocery-anchored centers, power centers, and suburban arterial corridors, with select urban and lifestyle placements where lunch and dinner traffic support all-day use.

Over roughly the past five years, the brand has shifted from broad national ambitions to a more deliberate, franchise-driven expansion strategy. Growth now emphasizes infill in existing Western U.S. markets and opportunistic entries into additional states with multi-unit franchise partners. Under the Fresh Mex and Xperience Restaurant Group umbrella, Baja Fresh benefits from shared operational expertise and multi-brand relationships that can support disciplined, multi-unit development. Recent openings have tended to favor smaller footprints and adaptable layouts that work in a variety of configurations, including compact inline spaces and locations where off-premise volume is significant.

For landlords, brokers, and developers, Baja Fresh represents a long-established fast-casual Mexican operator with national name recognition, a track record that dates back more than three decades, and a current growth posture built around selective franchised expansion. The brand’s flexible restaurant formats, moderate space needs, and daylong appeal across lunch and dinner make it a practical option for neighborhood centers, power centers, lifestyle projects, and transportation or employment nodes looking to round out their food lineup with a familiar fresh-prep Mexican offering.