QDOBA Mexican Eats, the fast-casual restaurant known for its bold flavors and fully customizable menu, recently celebrated the grand opening of its Secaucus, New Jersey location. The first 100 guests who made a purchase during the celebration won a free Qdoba burrito or bowl every month for a year.
Located at 200 Mill Creek Drive, Secaucus, the eatery is open seven days a week 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. For general information call (551) 302-5590. For catering call (888) 736-2224.
The new QDOBA is located in a strip mall next to City MD, Panera Bread, Domino’s, Verizon, Jersey Mike’s and Supercuts.
As part of the grand opening festivities, the restaurant presented $250 to Secaucus High School.
The new Secaucus location brings about 50 jobs to the Meadowlands area. The fast casual restaurant offers dine-in, takeout, and full service catering featuring group bundles, boxed meals, and hot bar options.
Operated by franchise group The Integrity Group (TIG), the new Qdoba fast-casual restaurant offers fan-favorite entrées like burrito bowls, quesadillas, and tacos, with no extra charge for premium toppings like hand-smashed guac and 3-cheese queso.
“A fresh menu of craveable flavors makes Qdoba a top brand in the Mexican fast-casual market segment. With rapid growth in the fast-casual franchise category, our fresh, made-to-order menu and focus on convenience make Qdoba a top brand in the segment,” according to the TIG website.
TIG operates Qdoba restaurants in New Jersey, Staten Island, New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, Northern Delaware and the Greater Tampa Florida region.
Win Qdoba Swag During ‘Diptember’
Qdoba is celebrating “Diptember,” a 12-day celebration of prizes and deals in honor of National Guacamole Day (Tuesday, Sept. 16) and National Queso Day (Saturday, Sept. 20).
To celebrate, Qdoba giving free guac and chips with the purchase of any entrée. Order any chips & dip for the chance to win prizes. (No purchase required to enter. More information is HERE.)
Through Sept. 20, order any Chips & Dip using your QDOBA Rewards account for a chance to win over 700 prizes, like a Queso Cup Whirlpool Tub with Jets, a one-of-a-kind Queso Oil Painting by Noah Verrier, and Diptember Knit Sweaters. There will also be other exclusive offers and freebies.
“The holiday season is festive, but let’s be real — National Guacamole Day and National Queso Day are the holidays we live for at QDOBA,” said Kim Zamir, VP of Marketing at QDOBA.
“Diptember is our big, bold way of saying thank you to our Rewards Members with giveaways, exclusive swag and, of course, lots of free queso and guac,” Zamir said.
Highlights of the 12-day celebration include:
🐊 25 pairs of orange and green Crocs, each accessorized with three custom Jibbitz
👕 125 Diptember-themed holiday sweaters—perfect for gifting or keeping all to yourself
🖼️ One original Queso oil painting by viral artist Noah Verrier
🛁One Whirlpool Tub with jets (valued at $10k) – for the ultimate dip experience
💳 100 QDOBA Gold Cards, good for a year of FREE chips and dips
In addition to the prizes, QDOBA will offer a Double Points day to help Rewards Members earn free food even faster. Plus, on National Guac Day and National Queso Day, Rewards Members get free chips and dips with the purchase of an entrée.
For a full list of prizes and giveaways, official rules and details, visit Diptember.com.
About Qdoba
Qdoba is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant with over 800 locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan and South Korea. This latest opening is the first Qdoba location in Secaucus and part of the brand’s continued expansion across the Northeast. There are 26 Qdoba eateries in New Jersey, with plans to open locations in Linden, Marlton, Fort Dix, and Hamilton. The brand aims to have 1,500 restaurants by 2033.
The restaurant reports that it uses ingredients freshly prepared in-house by hand throughout the day to create a variety of flavorful menu options. Burritos, bowls, tacos, quesadillas, nachos and salads can be customized to suit diners’ personal tastes and cravings.
For seven consecutive years, Qdoba was named to the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Award for “Best Fast Casual Restaurant,” including six years at #1.
Qdoba’s loyalty program was named America’s Best Loyalty Program the last three years in a row, Highest Amongst Fast-Casual in 2022, and top ranking Mexican Fast-Casual in 2024 by Newsweek magazine.
QDOBA was also recently named one of Yelp’s Most Loved Airport Brands, a distinction based on extensive analysis of ratings and reviews from travelers.
Expansion Plans
The brand said in a press release it has 600 locations under development, with 50 new stores opening in Alaska, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico. Next up will be Salt Lake City and St. George, Utah, as well as Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Qdoba began offering a $100,000 cash incentive to franchisees opening new restaurants by September 2026. The incentive is for both current franchisees who add new units to their development plans and new franchisees who commit to multiple units.
$100K Incentive
In July 2024, the company started offering $100,000 cash to franchisees making a commitment to open by September 2026.
“This is for candidates opening a committed restaurant by September 2026. That means new franchisees signing on for multi-unit development and existing operators adding more locations to their footprint,” the company said in a press release.
“We’ve got what we think is a fantastic model and a really big opportunity to grow,” says chief development officer Jeremy Vitaro, who joined QDOBA in March. “And so we wanted to do something to accelerate that growth. And we thought about what we could do and we felt like a cash intensive like this—which is a little bit different from what I’ve done in the past with some other brands — would be really attractive in this moment. … I think we’ll just continue to grow from here. There’s just a lot of really good things happening at the brand, and I came in at a great time.”
- New Franchisees: Those new to the Qdoba system who are dedicated to opening multiple locations.
- Existing Franchisees: Operators already with Qdoba who have plans to add more restaurants to their portfolio.
Key details:
- Deadline: The new restaurant must be committed and opened by September 2026.
- Purpose: To incentivize growth and expand the Qdoba footprint in the United States.
- Qdoba’s Performance: The offer comes after 14 consecutive quarters of positive same-store sales growth for the brand.
- Contact: Interested parties can find more information by visiting qdobafranchise.com.
The company sales were up 7.7% in 2024 and 6.1% in 2023, according to an August press release. By the end of 2024, the fast casual brand had 16 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth.
Between 2004 and 2023, the chain averaged 4.1% comps growth. In 2023 alone, same-store sales rose 6.1%, and that’s on top of a 12.1% increase in 2022 and a 10.7% rise in 2021.
In fiscal 2023, the brand earned $1.1 billion in sales and a restaurant-level EBITDA margin of 18%. Corporate AUV was $1.6 million, a 30% increase from 2019. About 70% of that growth came from price and 30% came from transactions, per a press release.
Qdoba’s History
Qdoba was originally founded in 1995 as Zuma Fresh Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado. Its name changed to Z-TECA in 1997, to Qdoba Mexican Grill in 1999, and to its current name, Qdoba Mexican Eats, in 2015.
The restaurant has grown from 200 shops to 600 by 2011 and 700 by 2019. Qdoba opened in Canada in 2012, and in 2022, doors opened in Puerto Rico. In August 2024, Qdoba opened in South Korea and Japan.
Modern Restaurant Concepts (MRC) is a fast-casual restaurant platform that owns and operates numerous brands, including Qdoba. MRC is part of Butterfly Equity, which acquired Qdoba and merged it with its existing MRC platform in October 2022.
The Integrity Group (TIG) is a large franchise operator that owns and runs numerous Qdoba restaurants, primarily in the northeastern and southeastern United States. They are a franchisee, not the overall brand owner.
