Anna's Taqueria is a chain of quick-service Mexican-fusion restaurants in the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

area.

Overview

Anna's is modeled after U.S. West Coast style Mexican cuisine, specifically the Mission-style burrito of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Its menu offers only five core items:

burrito A burrito (, ) or burro in Mexico is, historically, a regional name, among others, for what is known as a taco, a tortilla filled with food, in other parts of the country. The term ''burrito'' was regional, specifically from Guanajuato, Guerre ...

taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn tortilla, corn- or Flour tortilla, wheat-based tortilla topped with a Stuffing, filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and fing ...

quesadilla A quesadilla (; ; Mexican diminutive of ''quesada'') is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a tortilla that is filled primarily with cheese, and sometimes meats, spices, and other fillings, and then cooked on a griddle or stove. Trad ...

s, burrito bowls, and salads. It has been described as "the best burritos for next to nothing". The food is made using an

assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...

-style process.Cheng 2005 The chain currently has six stores in operation, including two in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. In April 2009, Anna's Taqueria was recipient of the ''

Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the now defunct ''Boston Phoenix'', '' ...

's'' 'Best of Boston' Award for best fast food, while the company has won ''

Boston Magazine ''Boston'' (also called "''Boston'' magazine" or referred to by the nickname "BoMag") is a regional monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area, which has been in publication since 1962. History Metrocorp Publishing, a Philade ...

s 'Best of Boston' award multiple times.Wolfson 2005

History

The first Anna's Taqueria was founded by Michael Kamio and located in Brookline's

Coolidge Corner Coolidge Corner is a neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, United States, centered on the intersection of Beacon Street and Harvard Street. The neighborhood takes its name from the Coolidge & Brother general store that opened in 1857 ...

in 1995 after a disagreement with his sister Mariko Kamio, who owns the competing Boca Grande chain. Since then, the restaurant chain expanded its presence with the opening of a second location in Brookline, in addition to the existing restaurants in Porter and Davis Squares. Furthermore, new restaurants were established at MIT's Stratton Student Center and on Cambridge St. in Boston, strategically positioned across from the Massachusetts General Hospital. These expansions allowed the chain to reach a broader audience and cater to the dining needs of diverse communities in the Boston area.Locations
– Anna's Taqueria website In 2024, Fenway Park added Anna's Taqueria as a concession vendor.

Labor controversy

In 2004, Anna's Taqueria was made to pay $206,918 in back-wages to 127 employees. The Labor Department Wage and Hour Division found that the four stores had been employing individual employees at multiple locations and not paying the requisite

time-and-a-half Time-and-a-half is payment to a worker (or workers) at 1.5 times their usual hourly rate. It is usually paid as an incentive to work on a particular day (such as Saturday) or as government-mandated compensation for having workers work on particu ...

wages for time worked in excess of 40 hours between the months of January 2001 and January 2003.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * *

External links

Official website
{{Restaurants in Boston Mexican restaurants in the United States Restaurants in Boston Restaurants established in 1995 Latin American restaurants in Massachusetts