Taco lovers rejoice! Zandra’s Taqueira to open a third location.

Zandra’s Taqueria owner and founder Miguel Pires will open a third location in Haymarket.

“We’re finishing up the buildout now,” Pires said, and added that the Haymarket location will be open the end of October.

Pires had been trying to open a Zandra’s in Haymarket for three years, but he had faced challenges with finding a space.

• The new restaurant will open inside the Quality Business Engineering (QBE Building) – a 1940’s era school building once owned by the Prince William County School division.
• The building is located at 14600 Washington Street.
• Many Zandra’s customers from Prince William County visit the chain’s original location in Downtown Manassas., particularly the Gainesville/Haymarket/Bristow area, Pires said.
• Pires said that the QBE building has a similar historic charm to their Old Town Manassas location.

Clarke Congdon, one of the partners at Georgetown Caterers along with Pires and Chris Sellers, will be the executive chef for Zandra’s.

• Congdon has introduced and developed four signature sauces that are available in the restaurants – a chimichurri, a peach habanero, a salsa verde, and a red chile sauce.
  Congdon and Pires are considering production for the sauces and will look to sell the sauces at farmers’ markets.
• The Haymarket location would be a “test kitchen” of sorts, Congdon explained.

“You always want to dream big when you start anything,” Congdon said.

This month also marks the first anniversary of Zandra’s opening its second location in Fairfax.

• Pires said that business in Fairfax has been good. 
• The faculty and staff at nearby George Mason University nearby provide a lot of their business, so it slowed down a little over the summer.