Guzman y Gomez south Rockhampton drive-thru opens its doors

When Wade James first visited Mexico about 12 years ago he didn’t think at the time he’d one day own six Mexican restaurants.

When Wade James first visited Mexico about 12 years ago he didn’t think at the time he’d one day have his own Mexican food franchise.

But fast-forward today and he’s now got six Guzman y Gomez stores to his name.

After months of construction, a little taste of Mexico will be available for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Rockhampton’s southern suburbs with the new Guzman y Gomez drive-thru opening its doors on Tuesday morning.

The store, which has a dual-lane drive thru, will be the town’s second GYG with the first opening at Stockland Rockhampton in 2016.

Guzman y Gomez Rockhampton franchisee Wade James.

The store is also the sixth for franchisee Wade James, who has been with the company since 2014.

He also owns the stores in Gladstone, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Maryborough.

“My background is in surf shops, which I’ve had a few of over the years, so I wasn’t really thinking back then I’d have my own GYG,” he said.

“I have always liked Mexican food and have been to Mexico, but when GYG had less than 50 stores I went to one of their early Brisbane stores and just thought ‘oh my God, this is fantastic’ and I became a franchisee about a year later.

“I just love the food, I’ve always loved the food, the taste is brilliant and it’s a good, clean, healthy menu as well.”

Mr James said opening the second Rockhampton store on the southside had been a goal.

“Rocky’s always felt, to me, like a northside-southside town and you have the river up the middle, so Stockland counts as the northside for us and to get a drive-thru on this side, we waited a long time to get what we thought was a pretty good site,” he said.

The new Guzman y Gomez drive-thru on Rockhampton's southside opened its doors on May 14.

“We don’t do breakfast yet on the northside, with it being in a shopping centre, so we’ve had a lot of people that have really waited for the breakfast so it’s been quite a busy morning.”

The new store has also created 80 new jobs for locals, with more up for grabs.

To celebrate its grand opening customers will treat locals to $5 burritos and burrito bowls and a mariachi band.

The opening special on burritos and burrito bowls will only be available in store and not on the app between 7am and 10pm.

Plans for the new GYG drive-thru were approved by Rockhampton Regional Council in April 2023 with construction beginning later that year.

The plans also included a second drive-thru which will be occupied by Banjo’s Bakery, which is expected to be open by the end of June.