In reviewing 2024 highlights and looking forward into this new year, there’s no better place to start than with Desert De Oro Foods’ (DDO) Chad Burge, President of Development & Operations. Chad is responsible for facilitating development and growth while simultaneously furthering the operations talent that goes with it.
Today, DDO operates restaurants in nine states: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, California, Wyoming, Nevada, Texas, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. We have three brands: Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC. Our most recent acquisition in New England brought another 31 Taco Bells to a growing portfolio.
“You know for us, it’s really about where we see an opportunity,” Chad shares. But also, he says, it’s equally important to get the right people in the right places.
It was another busy year in construction and development. In 2024, we built seven new restaurants and remodeled 16! Four new builds were in Arizona, a fairly mature market for DDO, according to Chad. He says we also doubled our presence in Texas.
“In our business, if you’re stagnant, the business is declining.” – Chad Burge, President of Development & Operations.
Chad proudly represents the second generation of this family business (Chad is son of Co-founder Krystal Burge). Having always hoped he’d be involved in the business in some way, it’s exciting for him to be on the inside! To him, 2024 was very much about efficiency, and providing a higher level of support to team members with a higher level of service to guests. Double whammy!
“This business has been built by my mother and my uncle,” he says. “They’ve done a lot and built a lot … it’s honoring what they’ve done and finding opportunity.”
Among our most significant 2024 accomplishments is upgrading to digital menu boards, a Taco Bell brand standard. DDO also started testing pickup windows at higher volume Taco Bells. The benefit? Being able to extend the hours of operation at certain locations with adequate staffing while closing the dining rooms without compromising team safety.
For the Pizza Hut side of the business, DDO made a major improvement to scheduling with the adoption of HotSchedules software, a tool already popular among many quick service restaurant (QSR) chains.
So what’s in store for 2025?
“Continuing with the momentum that we’ve built,” he says. “Growth is important to us … it’s important to us to build restaurants, but to build profitable restaurants, being selective on where we build.”
Chad predicts significant growth in New England, a market ripe with opportunity. A handful of the 10 new builds scheduled for 2025 are located there, he says. Several of DDO’s other markets are expected to maintain stable growth. Utah has some up and coming locations slated for development, too, according to him. Typically, company growth is mostly Taco Bells.
But, Chad adds, “We strive to improve in all of our brands … we strive to be better than what we were before.”
In the QSR world, improvement often comes by way of restaurant remodels. In 2025, we’re planning 19 Taco Bell remodels and nine Pizza Hut remodels across all markets. When asked if there are any projects that stand out, Chad quips, “they’re all significant, or we wouldn’t do them.”
“I think growth is in our DNA.” – Chad Burge, President of Development & Operations
Chad returns to the importance of thinking about DDO’s people and the guest experience in the midst of all of this growth. It’s clear this is always top of mind.
“The people component — that’s been critically important to how I operate,” he says. “It’s really powerful to lay out the vision … and then give each of these people the runway to do what they see aligns with that.”
To think, this was once a company with one Taco Bell. At last count, DDO had grown to nearly 350 restaurants across the U.S. So why stop now? DDO’s future looks exciting!