Freebirds World Burrito - History

History

The Freebirds concept was created by Mark Orfalea and Pierre Dube in 1987, when they opened the first Freebirds World Burrito in Isla Vista, California, a block from the University of California, Santa Barbara campus. When the partners decided to open a second location, they looked at the twenty largest college towns in the US, eventually choosing College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M University. They opened the second Freebirds in 1991 in the Northgate shopping district, a commercial district located across the street from the campus in a central hub of activity for both students and residents with heavy foot traffic. In 1994, Dube bought out his partner, though Orfalea retained the original Isla Vista location and a license to continue operating under the Freebirds name there. Dube then opened a second location in College Station, then a third. He later expanded the restaurant to multiple locations across Texas, including Dallas, Houston, and Austin, the home of The University of Texas at Austin.

By 2007, the restaurant chain had 19 locations around Texas. On July 25, 2007, Dube sold the chain to California-based Tavistock Group through its Tavistock Restaurants division. At the time of the sale, Tavistock stated that it would be opening an additional 40 Freebirds restaurants across the southwestern United States. In addition to adding more Texas locations, Tavistock expanded the restaurant chain into neighboring state Oklahoma with the opening of a location in Norman, Oklahoma in January 2008. As of April 2010, the chain has expanded to 31 locations, and stated that it would have 52 open by the end of 2010.