Last night around midnight the Brigham City Taco Time caught on fire. The inside of the building was gutted by fire and the roof collapsed. I am sad not only for the fact that Taco Time is my favorite fast food restaurant but the memories of the place.
Taco Time came to Brigham the summer of 1975. I was hired on as part of the crew that would open the place for business. It was my first job after my graduation. We trained for one week at the Ogden Taco Time. It is owned by the Bigler's. I went to school with their son's Dean and John who were good friends.
Mr. Bigler and his wife both sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at that time. He used to sing to us at work. In fact every time I came in to work if he was there he would sing the song "Juanita" to me.
I worked there until March the next year. I was made a shift manager and I really loved the people I worked with. Jeff B. was (and still is) our manager and he and his wife Claudia would have parties at their house for us. It was like one big family.
Mr. Bigler and Jeff were great to work for. I remember Mr. Bigler talking to us in a meeting the day before we opened. He was telling us the importance of first impressions and how he expected us to keep the place clean at all times. Some how it ended in him talking about how even the little things like the space between the tines of a fork should sparkle when we got done cleaning. He was good to work for but he expected perfection from us all the time.
I got married in March and went to work for American Greeting Cards until Jamie was born. After she was born In January of 1977 I went back to Taco Time and was made the closing manager. I worked there until September of 1978 when I went to work for Grand Central which started my career in retail.
Kelly would bring Jamie in while I was at work in the evenings. He would get some dinner and Jamie started eating Taco Time before she was even one.
I remember the Indian students from Intermountain Indian School, which was across the street, coming over for their meals. It was always fun to talk to them. It's where I learned about the connection between the Navaho's and the Eskimo's.
One time a group of bikers came in and no one wanted to wait on them (sometimes they were a bunch of prudes). I had no problem with it, in fact I wanted to wait on them, I have a soft spot for the bad guys. I took their orders, and got to talk with each one of them. When they left they all came up and gave me a tip, which included some beer bottle caps. I was a little puzzled by it at first, but later learned that it was considered a compliment. Some were worth money because they were rare.
So I hope that the Bigler's will rebuild our Taco Time. I don't know what I will do without my weekly Casita Burrito fix. Here is a picture someone took last night while they were trying to put the fire out. I asked my boss if I could take some bereavement because Taco Time was like family. He just laughed at me....sometimes he can be so insensitive......
