CENTERVILLE — On a warm Monday night, the predinner procession at The Taco Maker is steady. A couple of families dine together, sharing laughs along with their meal. A trio of co-workers munches quickly on Mexican platters bigger than their heads before returning to their jobs. Several parents and grandparents order to-go items, often with a youngster in tow hoping to finish off an ice cream before it melts.

But few likely realize that the restaurant chain they frequent is based in a nearby city. The closest guess springs from a young man suspecting a leading question. "Here?" he asks.

Close.

The worldwide corporate headquarters of the 148-restaurant chain — which has nearly 100 stores in Puerto Rico — is in Ogden.

"The biggest question a lot of people have is, how did a Mexican food place get in Ogden, Utah?" said Steven M. Krolak, vice president of franchise development.

But the answer is simple.

"Well, this is our hometown," Krolak said. "This is where we live."

After Ogden native Gil L. Craig's establishment of The Taco Maker Inc. in 1978, the company has grown from a handful of restaurants to an operation with 50 outlets across the country, those dozens in Puerto Rico and a few restaurants in India and the Philippines.

OK, by now you've probably got that distinctive "Ta-co Ma-ker!" jingle dancing in your head, but Mexican fast food is just one of three "concepts" for The Taco Maker Inc. The others are Jake's Over the Top, serving American fare often chased with an "Avalanche" milkshake topping out several inches above the rim of the cup — hence the name — and Mayan Jamma Juice, offering a variety of frozen fruit drinks.

Abundant flavor options aside, the corporation has used a mix of ingredients — food freshness, intensive franchisee training, co-branding and outlet alternatives — to position itself in the fast-food world and leave The Taco Maker Inc. primed to double its number of outlets over the next five years.

A better way

The Taco Maker's beginnings came from its founder's desire to make a better taco. Craig started his Mexican fast-food career in 1968 in California, working with his brother. "They learned how to do things there, but they came back and said, 'We can do this better. We need to do it right,'" Krolak said.

Craig, now the company's chairman, established The Taco Maker Inc., and the first restaurant opened in Puerto Rico in 1978, setting the stage for it to become the largest Mexican fast-food chain on the island. A year later, a shop opened in Wayne, N.J., and it remains the oldest operating outlet in the United States. By 1987, there were 100 outlets.