The Burleson branch of an expanding fast-casual concept blends two of Texas’ favorite pastimes: Tex-Mex and football.
Fuego Tortilla Grill opened its fifth location in Texas last month to the eager masses of Johnson County’s largest city, today with a population of more than 58,000.
Positioned off Interstate 35, just south of the Alsbury Boulevard exit, company officials believe this is the ideal spot to enter the Dallas-Fort Worth market and serve around-the-clock cravings six days a week.
Burleson joins a family that includes siblings in San Antonio, San Marcos, Waco, and the original location in College Station.
“Naturally we wanted to make our way up 35 and break into DFW,” said Garrett Mills, founder and CEO of Dallas-based Uncommon Brands, which acquired the Fuego brand in 2023. “So, it was a matter of figuring out where that was. Burleson was certainly high on the list because it’s a growing market and it’s up 35 from Waco. It’s growing and certainly has a family focus as well. And the location was off I-35.”
Burleson, firmly in the category of Fort Worth suburb, 14 miles south of Cowtown, stretches across northern Johnson and southern Tarrant counties. Its growth reflects the masses streaming into North Texas every day. A community of just more than 200 a hundred years ago and 21,000 just 25 years ago, Burleson has emerged in the 21st century as a dynamic, fast-growing city reshaped by rapid population growth, new neighborhoods and energy, and steady economic investment.
“When we found the real estate — it’s an old Taco Cabana — we decided to make Burleson our first foray into DFW,” Mills said.
The location in Burleson will employ 50, if it doesn’t already.
“We’ve got to pick good real estate that’s both in the form of targeted communities, but also good real estate within the communities,” Mills said when asked about scaling. “We feel we have a strong team and strong data to help drive that. Time will tell, obviously, if we’re right in that prediction. But thus far, Burleson has opened strong.”
Santa is bringing a Fuego Tortilla Grill to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in December. Who wouldn’t want a taco in his stocking hung from the chimney with care?
Mills is the football link to this storyline. (Yes, I know — that opening, the lede as we call it in the biz — was a bit of a stretch.)
He’s a retired player in the National Football League. Mills played tight end for four teams over six seasons in football’s premier league. His last season was a second stint — in 2011 — with the New England Patriots. Before that, he was an All-American at the University of Tulsa after a record-setting season as a senior in 2005 with 1,235 yards receiving, the most for a tight end. (That ranks fifth today, 20 years later.)
After retiring, he went to graduate school to earn an MBA from Northwestern University.
“I had already decided that I was going to go to graduate school as my first bridge between football and figuring out what I really wanted to be when I grew up,” Mills said.
He and his family moved to Dallas for a job at Goldman Sachs. It was a role, he said, “I did not enjoy,” but he had made a connection that facilitated his next move, back to Tulsa, as CEO of Rib Crib, a 25-year-old regional barbecue chain with upwards of 60 locations, mostly in Oklahoma but spanning North Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and New Mexico. While there, the company started a new concept, Society Burger.
He moved back to Dallas in 2023 for a job at Peak Franchise Capital, but a meeting with Wayne Moore and James Kay at Crux Capital led him to business in Burleson.
“They had this idea of raising some capital to invest in emerging concepts,” Mills said. “I had similar ideas, and we put our heads together. We just needed to find one first.”
In December 2023, the newly minted Uncommon Brands closed on Fuego Tortilla Grill.
Athletes as entrepreneurs is natural because of traits that align.
They’re disciplined and persistent with an uncommon work ethic. They’re coachable and adaptable. They’re great competitors, and they have access to capital through elite networks.
Earlier this year, I made the trek to Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, Oklahoma, to meet Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson, and Pudge Rodriguez — every one of them elite athletes at their respective positions and leagues. A year ago, I spoke with David Robinson, NBA Hall of Famer, during his induction into the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
They’re all in business.
Aikman is selling beer. Emmitt and Woodson are both in commercial real estate, among other things. And Pudge’s current big project is energy.
Circon Energy turns what would normally be considered waste materials — like wood debris or agricultural leftovers — into valuable resources and clean energy. Instead of the old “take-make-dispose” model, Circon uses its own process to break down organic and industrial feedstocks into low-carbon synthetic gas and liquid fuels, which can power turbines for electricity or be refined for other uses.
It’s a critically important project with a potentially huge impact on Pudge’s native Puerto Rico.
“When I grew up it was baseball, baseball, baseball,” Pudge said. “But I always have in my mind that I wanted to do something after baseball. So, I started way before I retired. When I retired, I focused totally, 100% into this project.”
Mills said management style was a big lesson he picked up playing football. He played for two coaches who are considered among the greatest of their profession — Bill Belichick, whom he played for for two years, and Andy Reid. Between them, they have won nine Super Bowls.
“What was interesting is experiencing their different management styles and their approaches to how they motivated,” Mills said. “Coach Reid really empowered players more through uplifting. You don’t want to disappoint him because he makes you feel so good when you do things right. When I think about my management style and how I look to lead teams and individuals, I look to Coach Reid.”