type private industry restaurants founded 1992 1 founder rodney anderson headquarters coralville iowa u.s. number of locations 67 area served united states key people rodney anderson president website pancheros.com pancheros mexican grill is a chain of fast casual tex mex restaurants in the united states serving mexican style cuisine . the chain was founded in 1992 by rodney anderson when he opened two units one in iowa city iowa near the university of iowa campus and one in east lansing michigan near the michigan state university campus . there are currently 67 units throughout the country . 2 pancheros is known for making their tortillas on site at the time the order is placed . 3 in 2006 sports illustrated voted pancheros the most popular place to eat when bars in iowa city close . 4 pancheros serves burritos tacos quesadillas burrito bowls and salads . the salsas guacamole and queso dips are made on site daily . the restaurant fits into the quick serve category offering both quick service and a higher quality of food than typical fast food restaurants . customers start their order by selecting a menu item . next the tortilla is pressed fresh on a tortilla press . the customers then choose from the ingredients to be added . pancheros main national rivals are chipotle mexican grill moe s southwest grill and qdoba mexican grill . 5 contents 1 history 2 decor 3 references 4 external links history edit pancheros in waterloo iowa in 1992 anderson after just receiving his mba from the university of chicago opened the first pancheros with capital made from the stock market . the first store was opened in iowa city next to the university of iowa campus . the next 10 locations opened in similar midwestern college towns . it wasn t until 1998 that pancheros was revamped to include the addition of a dough press for the famous fresh pressed tortillas and an updated more upscale restaurant decor . in 2003 its first non corporate store opened . bob the tool was first introduced in restaurants in 2007 . bob became a celebrated part of the pancheros experience mixing burritos before rolling them and allowing for each ingredient to be evenly distributed across the burrito . in 2012 pancheros underwent another small change to their branding altering their logo marks slightly and introducing their emblem logo . decor edit an interior view of a pancheros pancheros stores have a warm industrial look . exposed ductwork track lighting and metal accents are softened with warm tones colorful tile and padded booths 6 pancheros average seating capacity is 70 and no units have drive thrus . some stores do have patios . 7 references edit wood gigi 2010 10 08 . panchero s plans additional store openings this year next . corridor business . retrieved 2013 06 06 . http blogs.desmoinesregister.com dmr index.php 2013 05 14 pancheros opening friday in altoona article burrito blog panchero s . burritoblog.com . retrieved 17 september 2015 . sports illustrated pancheros . pancheros mexican grill quick casual restaurant burritos better built . . pancheros . retrieved 17 september 2015 . qsr magazine national restaurant news external links edit official website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pancheros mexican grill & oldid 715341356 categories fast casual restaurantsmexican american cuisinemexican restaurantscompanies based in iowafast food chains of the united statesfast food franchisesfast food mexican restaurantsrestaurant chains in the united statescuisine of the western united statesrestaurants established in 1992restaurants in iowaamerican companies established in 1992hidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters 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 15 april 2016 at 05 23 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about 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