Taco John’s opening May 1 in Peck’s Landing

Hiawatha will be getting a Mexican fast-food restaurant May 1 when a Taco John's opens in the 18-acre Peck's Landing at 1940 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE.

The 2,091-square-foot eatery will hire about 30 people in the weeks ahead for various positions. Interested candidates can apply online at careers.tacojohns.com.

It will be Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Taco John's third location in the northern end of the Corridor, with existing stores at 226 Edgewood Rd. NW and 4401 First Ave. SE.

The company operates and franchises nearly 400 quick-service restaurants in 23 states.

Pentex Restaurant Group, a Fargo, N.D., franchisee of Taco John's, will own and operate the new Hiawatha location.

The company also operates Taco John's locations in Mason City and Muscatine, as well as in Minnesota, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Privately owned Taco John's opened its first restaurant in 1969. The Hiawatha store will be the company's the 62nd in Iowa.

Also getting ready to open just north of the Edgewood Road-Highway 100 interchange is Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip, which purchased a 2.2-acre site adjacent to Peck's Landing on Jan. 16 for a new Kwik Star convenience store.

Happy Joe's Pizza and Ice Cream Parlors and LV Nails previously were announced as tenants for the 154,000-square-foot retail development.