Qdoba Mexican Grill today announced the opening of its 400th restaurant location. The newest store is located in Nampa, Idaho at 16383 North Marketplace Boulevard.

According to Gary Beisler, CEO and president of Qdoba, “in the past 12 months, Qdoba has grown efficiently and effectively, opening more than 80 new restaurants and partnering with several new and existing franchisees.”

The August 2007 issue of QSR Magazine reported that the quick-service restaurant industry grew about 5.5 to 6 percent in 2006. Beisler attributes Qdoba’s success within this category to the growing popularity of Mexican food, an engaged franchisee base and a menu that is flexible and adaptable to customers’ needs.

“We are extremely excited to open our 400th location. We opened our first store in Denver in 1995 and we plan to open between 75 and 100 additional stores in the coming year,” said Beisler. “In this industry, we find it refreshing to know that customers are not just concerned with the speed of service and how much you get for a dollar, but rather the quality of food. This store certainly signals a wonderful milestone for our company and we look forward to continued growth in the next year.”

Michael Bladow, a franchisee based in Carlsbad, Calif., opened the 400th store in Nampa and joined the Qdoba team in 2004. Bladow has an agreement with Qdoba to operate a total of twelve units in two states by 2010. “We partnered with Qdoba for a number of reasons, but at the end of the day, it was important for us to partner with a solid franchisor with a strong management team and a restaurant that offers high a quality of food and service,” said Bladow. “We could not be more thrilled with this partnership and look forward to growing the Qdoba brand in northern Nevada and Idaho.”