Taco Tuesday is a custom in many US cities of going out to eat

taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of fillin ...

s or in some cases select Mexican dishes typically served in a tortilla on

Tuesday Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to some commonly used calendars, however ...

nights. Restaurants will often offer special prices, for example, "$1 fish tacos every Tuesday night". It is popular in many big cities across the nation and especially popular in the beach cities of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. Taco Tuesday is similar to Happy Hour in that restaurants vary in their participation, hours, and specials offered.

Trademark status

The Wyoming-based fast food restaurant

Taco John's Taco John's International, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant founded in 1969 by John Turner. The chain serves Mexican-inspired fast food (which it calls "West-Mex") as well as the company's signature dish, Potato Olés, which are bite- ...

was granted a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

for "Taco Tuesday" in 1989, and has defended against other restaurants using that phrase. Taco John's trademark extends to all of the United States except New Jersey; in New Jersey, Gregory's Restaurant & Bar of Somers Point trademarked the term in 1982. In 2019, Los Angeles Lakers basketball player

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...

began sharing social media posts on Instagram about his family's weekly taco dinners dubbed "Taco Tuesdays". Through a shell company known as LBJ Trademarks LLC, he filed a trademark on the term "Taco Tuesday" for use in downloadable audio/visual works, podcasts, social media, online marketing, and entertainment services. The request was denied by the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...

, stating that Taco Tuesday was "a commonplace term, message or expression widely used by a variety of sources that merely conveys an ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment." In practice, Taco John's has been unable to stop widespread use of the term regardless. Many taco fans disagree with the idea that any one entity can "own" the term "Taco Tuesdays".

References

Sales promotion Restaurant terminology Taco Tuesday observances Trademarks {{observance-stub