Naugles

Naugles is a Mexican fast-food brand founded in Riverside in 1970 by former Del Taco partner Dick Naugle, merged into Del Taco by the mid-1990s and revived in Orange County in 2015.

History

Dick Naugle opened the first restaurant in 1970 at 14th Street and Brockton Avenue in Riverside, with a motto stressing fresh food, fast service and a clean dining room. Harold Butler bought the three-unit business in 1979 and expanded it to 275 restaurants by 1984, when he sold it to Collins Foods International. Around 1988 Anwar Soliman acquired both Naugles and Del Taco and began converting Naugles units to Del Taco the following year; the last Naugles closed in Carson City, Nevada, in 1995.

Revival

Blogger Christian Ziebarth began campaigning for the return of Naugles in 2006, and in 2015 a federal trademark board ruled that the name had been abandoned, allowing his group to use it. With chef John Smittle recreating the original recipes, the revived brand opened in Fountain Valley in 2015 and later ran locations and pop-ups in Huntington Beach, Stanton, Artesia and at Bolsa Chica State Beach, and launched a food truck in 2025. Its menu leans on the oversized Macho items and taco sauce remembered by former customers.

Reviews

See also

• Del Taco
• Hard-shell taco

References

1. "Naugles". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-10-10.