Seafood’s Place In The UK Taco Boom
Tacos have quietly become one of the biggest growth stories in UK foodservice. According to a recent piece on Restaurant Online, searches for tacos in London alone are up 261% year-on-year, Taco Bell UK’s profits climbed to £2.52m in 2024 (up from £2.22m the year before), and the brand now has over 160 UK sites. Independent taquerias are clustering in East London, established names like Wahaca and Madre continue to expand, and 2026 has already seen a wave of new arrivals — Coyo Taco, Acme Taco, a fourth site for Two Twins Tacos, and partnerships from Trejo’s Tacos.
The reasons behind the boom are ones every operator will recognise. They travel well, they photograph well, and they let operators show off flavour and craft within a genuinely simple build. Restaurant Online also points to regional expansion as the next chapter, with cities like Manchester flagged as underdeveloped taco markets — meaning there’s still plenty of runway for operators outside London to get ahead of the trend.
An Easy Trend To Get Behind
The best part of the taco trend, from a kitchen’s point of view, is how little it asks of you. A taco is really just a vehicle: a warm tortilla, something crisp or flaked at its centre, a slaw or pickle for crunch, and a sauce that ties it together. That makes it one of the simplest ways to bring a on-trend, shareable dish to menu without retraining staff, adding equipment, or overhauling prep.
It’s also a natural fit for seafood. Fish and shellfish bring exactly the texture contrast a great taco needs — crisp coating against soft flake, a bright squeeze of lime, a drizzle of something with a kick. And because Pacific West’s ranges are freezer-to-fryer or oven-ready, building a taco menu doesn’t mean adding complexity to service; it means adding one more way to use products that are likely already sitting in the freezer.
Here’s Some Seafood Taco Serving Ideas We Love
Here are three of our favourite serving suggestions for bringing tacos onto the menu with minimum fuss and maximum impact:
Katsu Fish Goujons Tacos
Crisp panko-crumbed goujons piled into a soft tortilla with shredded carrot, pickled red onion, a scattering of black sesame and a peppery handful of rocket, finished with a drizzle of katsu-style sauce. The crunch-to-sauce ratio is what makes this one sing — order it as a sharing plate of five or six mini tacos for maximum table appeal.
Salmon Tacos
Flaked, pan-seared salmon layered into a crisp taco shell with shredded red cabbage, fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime, topped with a spiced mayo drizzle. It’s a five-minute build that reads as considerably more premium than the effort involved, and it’s an easy way to get an omega-3-rich option onto a taco menu without adding a new SKU to the order.
Tempura Battered Hoki Tacos
Light, crisp tempura-battered hoki nestled into a taco alongside a fresh pineapple salsa and a creamy herb drizzle, finished with a dusting of paprika-spiced fries on the side. The sweetness of the pineapple against the delicate batter gives this one a beach-side, holiday feel that works brilliantly for summer specials or event menus.
Fricy Chilli & Mango Prawn Tacos
While the taco trend has been building, another flavour trend has already arrived: “fricy”, the fruity-spicy pairing that’s been dominating menu conversations this year. Our Chilli & Mango Prawns were built around exactly this combination long before the word existed: butterflied prawns coated in a spicy mango chilli jam and hand-crumbed for crunch. Piled into a taco with shredded red cabbage, fresh coriander and a wedge of lime, they land two on-trend flavours in one dish: sweet heat and street food, together. It’s the kind of pairing that photographs as well as it eats, which does no harm on social feeds either.
Menu-Ready, Freezer to Fryer
Each of these builds uses products designed for speed and consistency, no marination, no bespoke prep, just a straightforward cook and assemble. For operators watching the taco trend and wondering how to get involved without disrupting the kitchen, that’s the real opportunity: the demand is already there, and the product to meet it is already in the range.
To find out more about our fish, shellfish and salmon products for taco menus, get in touch with the Pacific West team or visit pacificwestfoods.co.uk.
