Del Taco Has a New Owner: What It Means If You’re Applying

Del Taco ownership changed hands in December 2025, when Jack in the Box closed the sale of the chain to Yadav Enterprises for about $119 million. If you are filling out an application right now, you might wonder whether that matters for you. For your first week on the job, it mostly doesn’t. Over the next year or two, a few things could shift, and it helps to know which ones.

Who bought Del Taco

Yadav Enterprises is not a household name, but it is a big restaurant operator. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, the company already ran more than 300 franchise restaurants across the country before this deal. Now it owns the whole Del Taco brand, not just a handful of stores.

Jack in the Box had bought Del Taco in 2022. Selling it was part of a plan the company calls “Jack on Track,” which is about paying down debt and running a lighter business with fewer company-owned restaurants. Del Taco keeps its headquarters in Lake Forest, California, and the chain still has more than 600 locations in 17 states, as Yahoo Finance reported when the deal closed.

What the Del Taco ownership change means for crew jobs

The person who hires you is your restaurant’s general manager. The company that signs your paycheck is whoever operates that specific store. Some Del Taco restaurants are run by the brand itself and others by franchisees, and that was true under Jack in the Box too. Your hourly rate, your schedule and your training come from that operator, not from a headline about a corporate sale.

In California, the pay floor doesn’t depend on the owner at all. Del Taco has far more than 60 locations, so its California restaurants fall under the state’s $20 fast food minimum wage. We break that down in our guide to Del Taco pay in California.

What could change later

New owners rarely change much on day one. The changes crew members actually notice tend to show up later: a revised menu that means new prep steps, a remodel, a different scheduling app, or a store being sold from the company to a franchisee (or the other way around).

That last one matters most. When a restaurant changes operators, staff usually fill out new hiring paperwork, and the benefits package can be different. If you hear that is happening at your store, ask your manager three plain questions: does my pay rate carry over, does my paid time off carry over, and does my start date still count?

Should you still apply?

Yes. A sale at the corporate level is not a hiring freeze. Restaurants still need cashiers, cooks and drive-thru staff on every shift, and that need doesn’t pause while lawyers sign papers.

One tip for the interview: it is fair to ask whether the store is company-operated or franchised, and who runs payroll. The answer tells you who your real employer is, which is useful the day you have a question about a paycheck. When you’re ready, our Del Taco application guide walks through the steps, and you can browse open roles on the Del Taco jobs page.

Del Taco Careers is an independent informational website and is not affiliated with Del Taco LLC or its franchisees. For official openings, visit the official Del Taco careers site.