Taco Maker purchased

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A group of Puerto Rican investors has bought the Ogden-based Taco Maker fast-food franchise in a multimillion-dollar deal.

FransGlobal, a group of six businessmen in the U.S. Caribbean territory, purchased the restaurant chain from The Taco Maker Inc. for an undisclosed sum, one of the investors, Steven McClintock, said Thursday from the restaurant firm's headquarters in Ogden.

Ninety-five of the Mexican food outlets — roughly half of the total locations — are in Puerto Rico. The rest are in the United States, India and the Philippines.

FransGlobal also acquired small burger chain Jake's Over the Top and fruit drink company Mayan Jamma Juice as part of the deal, said McClintock.

Ogden native Gil L. Craig founded The Taco Maker Inc. in 1978 because he wanted to make a better taco.

The first restaurant opened in Puerto Rico in that same year and eventually became 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. The first Jake's Over the Top outlet opened in 1993 in Ogden.