genre fast casual mexican style food founded august 4 1995 ; 21 years ago 1995 08 04 bethesda maryland u.s. founder pam felix and alan cohen headquarters rockville maryland u.s. number of locations 51 as of august 2016 ; franchised since 2003 area served washington metropolitan area products burritos salads etc. services catering owner california tortilla group inc. website californiatortilla.com california tortilla also known as caltort is a chain of franchised fast casual mexican style restaurants the first of which was opened in august 1995 in bethesda maryland by business partners pam felix and alan cohen . 1 the chain s menu which features mission burritos is comparable to that of its competitors such as baja fresh and chipotle mexican grill . 2 a typical restaurant has 2 500 square feet 230 m2 with seating for 75 people . 1 california tortilla was voted by readers of washingtonian magazine as having the best burritos in both 2009 3 and 2010 4 and best mexican in 2014 5 and 2015 . 6 the chain sold its 5 millionth burrito on august 22 2007 . 7 contents 1 locations 2 atmosphere 3 promotions 4 grand openings 5 references 6 external links locations edit california tortilla has 51 restaurant locations in seven states delaware maryland virginia west virginia new jersey florida and pennsylvania and the district of columbia 8 and various locations in the state of qatar . 9 some airport locations are branded as burrito elito . 8 the chain is headquartered in rockville maryland . atmosphere edit the interior of a california tortilla restaurant california tortilla s staff members are encouraged to be unique and fun which can vary by location . a monthly taco talk newsletter was published online and in print for 20 years by co founder pam felix whose picture appeared for years along with partner alan cohen s on some of the restaurant s paper goods . with issue 245 dated december 1 2015 pam retired from writing taco talk . 10 promotions edit patrons of california tortilla experience a variety of promotions that offer free food or discount coupons . some of the promotions are typical of restaurants such as a free taco to those who join the email list . other promotions are somewhat unusual such as free pop tart day . in 2008 california tortilla attempted to break the record for the world s largest rock paper scissors game . 11 subscribers of the email newsletter receive occasional secret promotions and a burrito elito loyalty program allows registered customers to receive points based on pre tax totals with each 75 points resulting in a 5 discount . year round promotions include the monday night mystery prize burrito wheel where anyone who purchases a regular sized burrito every monday night after 5 pm can spin the wheel and win a prize . the prizes range from a free cookie or brownie to 1 off your next purchase or a free signature salad . grand openings edit people in line for a restaurant opening at most california tortilla restaurant grand openings patrons who stop by between 11 am 2 pm and 5 pm 8 pm receive a free burrito of their choice and a soft drink . the first ten people in line at 11 00 a.m. receive one free burrito every week for a year at that location . references edit a b kretikos eleni may 14 2004 . california tortilla franchises into n. va. and beyond . washington business journal . retrieved 2009 02 07 . heath thomas october 22 2007 . tortilla franchise growing up . the washington post . retrieved 2009 02 07 . best of washington readers pick their favorites . washingtonian.com . washingtonian magazine . july 2009 . retrieved 2009 07 31 . taco talk july 2010 issue 180 . californiatortilla.com . california tortilla . july 2010 . retrieved 2010 07 02 . spiegel anna august 11 2014 . free food alert . washingtonian magazine . retrieved 2015 02 18 . washingtonian readers voted california tortilla best mexican in our 2014 best of washington survey we asked readers what their favorite spots in the district were . here are the winners . . washingtonian magazine . july 2 2015 . retrieved december 3 2015 . best mexican california tortilla this fast casual chain offers burritos both traditional mesquite grilled chicken and trendy korean barbecue . eckert barton august 27 2007 . that s a wrap 5 million burritos sold california tortilla says pdf . baltimore business journal . retrieved 2015 02 15 . a b locations . california tortilla . retrieved 2015 02 15 . california tortilla qatar . roots for hospitality & services llc . retrieved 2015 02 15 . felix pam december 1 2015 . taco talk issue 245 . california tortilla . retrieved december 1 2015 . this is my last taco talk . monroe ashlee july 18 2008 . steve miller band fans rock guinness record . wtop.com . wtop . archived from the original on 2013 01 12 . retrieved 2015 02 15 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title california tortilla & oldid 743302399 categories restaurants in washington d.c.companies based in rockville marylandprivately held companies based in marylandeconomy of the eastern united statesregional restaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants established in 1995fast casual restaurantsmexican restaurants1995 establishments in marylandhidden categories use mdy dates from october 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 01 26 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may 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