El Torito Parent Company Acquires Party Hearty Pink Taco Brand

Looks like big plans are afoot for Pink Taco, the inelegantly-named sit down Mexican restaurant with roots in Southern California. Founded by club/steakhouse millionaires Peter (the father) and Harry Morton, the colorful margarita house has been snapped up by Z Capital Partners, the firm behind hundreds of outlets of such luminary casual brands as El Torito, Chevy’s, Acapulco, and more.

At the moment there are only two current iterations of Pink Taco — one on the Sunset Strip and one inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas — after the Century City location shuttered back in January. Never one to shy away from raising eyebrows, it was the Century City mall outlet that, back in 2011, got into some hot water after they painted a donkey and left him out in the sun in front of the restaurant for Cinco de Mayo.

Per Restaurant Business, the plan is to keep Harry Morton on as a consultant for the Real Mex Restaurants group, whose primary shareholder is the aforementioned Z Capital Partners. The CEO of Z Capital said that Pink Taco has "tremendous potential" both domestically and abroad, with full-fledged restaurants and retail products that bear their name. Which means, soon enough, you could be dining at the next Pink Taco in, say, Cancun or Singapore.