Longtime Planoites know the beloved Plano food family, the Aparicios. The family has owned and operated the Plano Tortilla and Tamale Factory since 1986, housed in the little white building at 1009 18th Street in Downtown Plano.
The eatery serves a few traditional Mexican dishes, but is most known for its dozen different flavors of tamales, which are incredibly popular at the holidays and for school and church fundraisers. All of their tamales start with fresh corn and are available to take home fresh or frozen. While there is room for a few in-house diners, the small space serves mostly take-home orders.
In 2004 the family decided to add a second, larger restaurant next door at 1001 18th Street. They built Aparicio’s restaurant from the ground up, offering a full-service bar and dine-in service. Over the years, son Chris took over running the businesses.
After several years in operation, the family decided to close Aparicio’s to focus more on the tamale production in the small white building. But Chris said that selling the larger building does not mean the Tortilla and Tamale Factory will stop making its beloved dishes. “We plan to be in this business for awhile,” he said.
In 2017 the Aparicio family sold the larger restaurant building to The Vested Group, a technology consulting firm that was established in 2011 by Joel Patterson, John Mack and Cedric Carter. The company specializes in implementation and support services for a cloud based management software called NetSuite.
The technology firm was previously located on 15th Street in Downtown Plano and grew rapidly to 60 employees, thus the need for a larger space. Company leadership knew they wanted to stay in the neighborhood.
“The Vested Group has had its headquarters in Downtown Plano for close to eight years and we’ve enjoyed growing as the area itself grows. Downtown Plano is such a vibrant and supportive community – it’s a huge component of our company culture and we couldn’t imagine being anywhere else,” said John Mack, managing director.
After purchasing the building, The Vested Group made some major renovations to update it to a modern but comfortable office. The original bar was left in tact but spruced up with a new top to round out the employee kitchen area. They maintained the original location of the bathrooms but kept the quirky bathroom sign from Aparicio’s.
The walk-in freezer was transformed into a quiet room for employee breaks. The majority of the employee desks are where the catering kitchen used to be, and their conference room occupies the old dining room. Once renovations were completed, The Vested Group officially moved in in October 2018.
Visitors are welcome to check out the renovated space. Just email Shelley Fopiano to schedule a tour.
The Vested Group >
The Vested Group
1001 18th St.
Plano, TX 75074
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