TacoTuesday.com Launches Golden Taco Award

The Golden Taco Award is a new initiative from TacoTuesday.com, a website founded by Pamela Waitt that has become a major online hub for taco enthusiasts. The platform aims to celebrate and support the restaurant industry, particularly after the challenges it has faced in recent years. Unlike many food awards decided by a small panel of critics, the Golden Taco Award is entirely community-driven. Winners are determined exclusively by public engagement on the official @TacoTuesday.Official Instagram account, allowing taco fans to directly support their local favorites. The competition will unfold in a series of regional contests, focusing on major taco hubs across the United States. Cities slated for inclusion are Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, New York City, Austin, Phoenix, Chicago, and Miami, with each region having its own voting period and eventual champion. Winning taquerias receive more than just bragging rights; the prize package includes official Golden Taco Award Champion wall art, a promotional spotlight on TacoTuesday.com, and features on social media. This is designed to boost visibility and bring more customers to the winning establishments. The launch of the award taps into a significant cultural and economic trend, with Americans consuming over 4.5 billion tacos annually. Taco Tuesday has evolved from a restaurant marketing slogan into a widespread weekly ritual, with sales for tacos spiking by over 60% on Tuesdays. The term "Taco Tuesday" itself has a contentious history, having been trademarked by the chain Taco John's in 1989. In 2023, Taco Bell filed a petition to cancel the trademark, arguing the phrase was too common to be owned by one entity, which Taco John's eventually conceded.