On Monday, Mission Taco Joint co-owners Adam and Jason Tilford will open their second area arcade in the retail space adjacent to the restaurant’s St. Charles location, at 1650 Beale Street.
The space will offer six pinball games, Skee-Ball, and 16 retro arcade games. The arcade’s shotgun-style layout features a wall-length mural leading to a cabana-style bar in back with draft beer selections and, of course, margaritas. It will also serve as a new private event space with capacity for up to 150 people.
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Mission opened its first retro arcade in 2020 in Kirkwood, where the restaurant took over the 12,000 square feet previously occupied by Kirkwood Station Brewery.
“Tacos and arcade games are a fun mix,” says Adam. “After the success and popularity of the retro arcade at our Kirkwood location, we knew that we wanted to add this old-school entertainment to our other restaurants with the space for it.”
The new arcade will open on National Retro Day, February 27. Through March 5, the arcade is treating all visitors to six complimentary tokens with any adult beverage purchased at the arcade bar. (For more information, visit the restaurant’s website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.)
Expansion Mode
Mission Taco Joint now has seven locations across St. Louis and Kansas City, a restaurant under construction in Leawood, Kansas (the local restaurant chain’s first out-of-state venture), and sights on another yet-to-be-announced West County spot.
The brand is also beginning to appear on grocery store shelves. Sea-salted, gluten-free MTJ-branded tortilla chips are available in 11-ounce bags at area Straub’s locations and at The Annex in Webster Groves. “The chips have always been part of the plan,” says Adam. “It’s awesome to see our stuff in stores.” They hope to expand the effort with more retail partners soon while continuing to expand the brand’s overall reach.
“After the last three years of pivoting on a daily—sometimes, hourly—basis, we’re ready to settle in and move forward,” says Adam, who notes the same challenges that other restaurants are facing. At the same time, they’re focusing on employees satisfaction, with an internal minimum wage of $15 per hour, benefits, and plans to introduce a 401K match program.
From Final Finals to Families
At one time, Mission Taco Joint was known for its late-night happy hour, particularly at its Delmar Loop location. Those who counted on the bar for a “final final” wistfully remember the people packed between the long high-top tables and the sounds of salt-rimmed glasses hitting the wooden bar. That changed, though, over the past several years. “It just never really came back after the pandemic,” Adam explains. “We learned it was really hard on the staff so shifted our focus to more lunch and dinner.”
A decade and a pandemic later, any chaos associated with some of the St. Louis–based franchise locations is more in the form of chimes and bumper thumps. “We just loved video games growing up,” says Adam. The success of their sense of nostalgia is now shaping the future of their business.
