A new location for a mission-focused restaurant opened Tuesday in Dilworth.
Tacos 4 Life offers “craft tacos for a cause,” according to its website. Each location donates a portion of its proceeds to Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit that helps supply food to families in more than 70 countries.
The national chain restaurant has more than 19 restaurants across five states, including three others in the Charlotte area.
Keon Williams, who operates Tacos 4 Life Dilworth, the company’s youngest and first Black franchisee, told QCity he hopes his business will make a difference in the community.
Williams said he chose Dilworth as the location because he saw an opportunity to add diversity to the historical neighborhood.
“I wanted to come here. I know that there aren’t any Black businesses or food businesses in this area,” Williams said. “I wanted to be that beacon of change and that beacon of light.”
The restaurant offers a wide range of tacos, including Korean BBQ and blackened mahi-mahi, crab cake, tofu and more. It also sells non-taco items like chicken bacon ranch quesadillas and fried chicken burritos, as well as house-made drinks, like its signature Paradise Punch.
The 3,000-square-foot Dilworth location offers indoor and outdoor seating and provides catering services.
A family calling
Williams, 32, said Tacos 4 Life Dilworth is his first business, but he grew up in the food service industry.
Williams said he worked the front of the house at his father’s sub shop, Chat and Chew, which was open on Charlotte’s westside.
He also worked at a hoagie shop his grandfather owned.
Growing up in that environment, he said, provided him with the knowledge to help him as a business owner today.
“I watched them, the growing pains, the goods and the bads,” Williams said.
He said he wanted to make a difference in his community, and food was one vehicle.
“Food brings fellowship; food brings community,” Williams said.
Williams hopes to collaborate with the Dilworth Community Association and local schools.
Meal for a meal
Through Tacos 4 Life’s partnership with Feed My Starving Children, the company has donated 38.8 million meals so far, according to its website.
“My hope is that through Tacos 4 Life Dilworth, my teammates and I, we can be a part of the overall mission to help end starvation around the world,” Williams said.
Williams, who identifies as a Christian, said he believes the Tacos 4 Life mission and meal program could empower him to be “a vessel that God can use” to help people in need.
“We have the opportunity to be a part of the solution of bringing these necessities to communities,” Williams said.
Williams said his location is set to host its first meal-packing event in March.
Tacos 4 Life Dilworth is located at 1716 Kenilworth Avenue, Unit #150. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and closed on Sundays.