Taco Bell eyes sixth St. Johns County location as filings grow
Taco Bell’s St. Johns County footprint could reach six stores, and the new filings point to more hiring, training and shift competition for nearby crews.
A sixth Taco Bell in St. Johns County would not just add another drive-thru. The latest county filing put a proposed Sembler Drive restaurant off County Road 207 into the third Taco Bell project in the county pipeline, a spread that could reshape hiring, transfers and schedule coverage across the market.
The World Commerce Center proposal, filed June 15 and set for discussion by the county development review committee on July 8, was identified as COMM 2026000043. The application listed Mario Cerrato as the applicant, 210 East, LLC as the owner and described a new proposed ground-up Taco Bell with drive-thru in parcel 2-A of the larger PREAPP-2025000158 project. Another Taco Bell proposal had already advanced in late April for 1549 County Road 210, east of Interstate 95 near the Fountains at St. Johns and Beachwalk, with Jacksonville-based GPD Group named as civil engineer and pre-applications sent to the county and the St. Johns River Water Management District.
That kind of clustering matters inside the store. New openings usually mean a burst of job postings, training classes and manager recruiting, but they also create competition for the same labor pool. In a county that could soon hold six Taco Bell locations, shift leads, kitchen crew and opening or late-night workers can see more options, more transfers and more pressure on nearby restaurants to keep schedules filled.
The land behind the filings is large enough to support that growth. Stiles Retail Group said it assembled more than 93 developable acres across six parcels at World Commerce Center after buying 487 acres for $45 million, and described the property as one of the largest entitled commercial land assemblages in Northeast Florida. That scale gives Taco Bell room to keep building in St. Johns County even as franchisees and corporate operators watch labor costs closely and lean on Taco Bell Careers listings, which say restaurant positions are available at both corporate-owned and franchised locations and emphasize flexible schedules and growth opportunities.
The drive-thru buildout also hints at the kind of work crews may face. Yum! Brands said it operates 63,000-plus restaurants in 155-plus countries and territories and opens a new KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut or Habit Burger & Grill about every two hours. The company also said in July 2024 that Voice AI would expand across hundreds of U.S. Taco Bell drive-thrus by the end of 2024, a sign that newer stores may come with more automated ordering and a different training curve for workers on headset, line and window.
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