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Our short-lived regional nightmare is over. Before it even started.
Pink Taco, the Mexican-focused "clubstaurant" franchise we once referred to as "a sweat-soaked shame spiral in club-gothic font," will not be opening a Portland location this summer as planned, the company's chief operating officer confirmed to WW.
Related: Douchebag-Friendly "Clubstaurant" Pink Taco Landing in Portland's Pearl District.
The franchise announced in December 2017 that it was moving into the former home of Trader Vic's in the Pearl District. Signage featuring the restaurant's distinctive hot-pink logo had been up on the building for a few months.
Earlier this week, however, Eater PDX reported that those signs had come down and been replaced by a "For Lease" sign.
Taylor Boudreaux, Pink Taco's COO, says the decision to pull out of Portland came after the company's new management "took a hard look" at its expenses and determined it would not receive the return on its investment to justify the expansion.
You'll surely be surprised to discover a business with a barely-disguised double entendre for a name—it refers to the pink onions used on their tacos, wink wink—has stirred up controversy in the past. A now-closed location in Scottsdale, Ariz., was named one of the best spots in the country to have an affair by extra-marital dating website Ashley Madison. In 2011, an LA location celebrated Cinco de Mayo by painting an actual, live donkey pink, leading to calls for a boycott.
Boudreaux says the company, which successfully opened a new outpost in Chicago this year, still has "aggressive growth plans." So breathe easy, Portland—they're some other town's sweat-soaked shame spiral now.