Front Burner Restaurants Inc., parent to the Twin Peaks chain, will announce later today that an investment group led by six former executives of competitor Hooters, including former CEO Coby Brooks, has signed a deal to develop as many as 35 units, sources close the company say.
Brooks, the new franchise group’s majority partner, is the son of late Hooters of America LLC owner Robert H. Brooks and until last month was chief executive of Atlanta-based Hooters. Twin Peaks, a 15-unit, casual-dining chain shares a so-called “breastaurant” service model similar to the all-female Hooters wait staff.
The franchise group will open Twin Peaks restaurants in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina over the next 10 years, with two in the next 18 months and an option for more.
Brooks, who appeared on CBS’ “Undercover Boss” in February 2010 had continued as CEO at the 425-unit Hooters after the January completion of its sale by Robert Brooks’ estate to Chanticleer Holdings Inc.
Brooks leads an investment group that includes five other former Hooters executives:
• Joe Hummel, former executive vice president of operations and purchasing
• Roger Gondek, former vice president of company store operations
• Clay Mingus, former vice president and general counsel
• Jim Tessmer, former vice president and controller
• Patti Frederick, who served 17 years as business administrator to Robert Brooks, who owned Hooters from 1984 until his death in 2006, and for the past five years with the Brooks estate.
Hummel Gondek, Mingus and Tessmer resigned from Hooters last month.
Another former Hooters executive, Rick Akam, who served as president and chief executive of Hooters of America from 1995 to 2003, joined Twin Peaks as chief operating officer in May.
“I have great respect for Rick and his understanding of what it takes to build a national restaurant brand,” Brooks said in a statement to be released later today. “His decision to join the Twin Peaks management team made my decision to pursue this opportunity that much easier.”
Randy DeWitt, Twin Peaks co-founder and chief executive, said, “To have these proven industry pros recognize the potential of Twin Peaks and want to be a part of that growth speaks volumes about the foundation we have put in place.
“There is no doubt that this will have a major impact on our expansion plans,” DeWitt said.
Twin Peaks, which earned a Hot Concept award from Nation’s Restaurant News in 2010 has units in Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Six additional restaurants are scheduled to open later this year in the Texas cities of Houston, Odessa and San Antonio as well as Baton Rouge, La., Denver, Colo., and Scottsdale, Ariz.
DeWitt and partner Scott Gordon opened the first Twin Peaks in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, Texas, in 2005.
Watch a video with Coby Brooks and Randy DeWitt on their plans for Twin Peaks
Contact Ron Ruggless at ronald.ruggless@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless
Growing create-your-own stir-fry brands are setting their sights on new markets around the country, particularly the Southeast.
Midwestern stir-fry concepts, like bd’s Mongolian Grill, and Stir Crazy and Flat Top Stir Fry Grill from Chicago-based Flat Out Crazy Restaurant Group, are targeting growth markets in the Southeast because they are rich with the brands’ core customers, officials said.
Tom Ragan, vice president of franchising for Burnsville, Minn.-based bd’s, said the 34-unit chain’s reasons for looking to the South are more about demographics than geography.
“The Southeast is a great market,” Ragan said. “The population we go after is 16 to 40 years old — that’s the Southeast. We have inquiries in Atlanta right now, and it’s just an awareness issue. It’s a wide-open territory, and our competitors are helping us build awareness.”
Since opening a location in Hampton, Va., last December has opened up the whole Southeast and East Coast up to Philadelphia, Ragan said. But getting potential operators access to funding is slowing the pace of growth, he added.
bd’s will open three locations in the fourth quarter of 2011 and plans to open another nine over the next two years, Ragan said. The next franchised bd’s location to begin construction will be in Pittsburgh and the company looks to expand in Ohio and Louisville, Ky., Atlanta, and Florida in the near future.
Flat Out Crazy is on track to open eight restaurants in 2011, including two in Texas and single units in Alabama and Georgia, said president Greg Carey. The company expanded Stir Crazy this year to The Woodlands and Southlake, Texas, and Atlanta. A Flat Top Stir Fry Grill is slated to open soon in Alabama.
So far, Stir Crazy has performed well at its three South Florida locations, Carey said, but the rest of the Southeast also has opportunities for both Stir Crazy and Flat Top.
“When I ran Buckhead Life [Restaurant Group], I got to know the Atlanta market,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to bring a full-service Asian concept back to Atlanta. They love eating out and enjoy good food. The can be picky, but if you deliver food and service optimally, they’ll embrace that.”
The company just opened a Stir Crazy restaurant in the Brookhaven Center development in Atlanta, which is an “underserved” area with dense housing near the Buckhead neighborhood, he said. Flat Out Crazy also is anticipating a Flat Top location opening this month at The Summit lifestyle center in Birmingham, Ala., a piece of real estate Carey has wanted to develop for a while.
“It’s not so much driven by the desire to go to the Southeast as it is that we look at the project and surrounding demographics,” Carey said. “I’m comfortable that Asian is a crossover food. I don’t think there’s one area that doesn’t have the demographic profile we’d need for it to work, so I have no real regional concerns.”
Carey doesn’t worry about growing in markets competitors already have established in their backyard, such as in Texas, near Genghis Grill headquarters, or in Michigan, where bd’s was founded and has most of its restaurants.
“We feel like there’s room for all players,” he said. “They have their market share and have been around a long time, but we’re comfortable with how we execute and our style difference. There are lots of areas the big guys haven’t gotten to yet, and we look for those at the same time, but there’s something comforting about a market already proven for a create-your-own stir-fry concept. bd’s got people to understand in Michigan and got them comfortable with this way of dining.”
Dallas-based Genghis Grill has the most market share in the Southeast, with nearly 40 locations in Texas, seven units in Tennessee and three restaurants in Georgia. The chain also has two locations apiece in Florida, Virginia and North Carolina, as well as single units in Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Earlier this year, Flat Out Crazy opened a Flat Top in South Bend, Ind., and will open additional Flat Top units in Rochester Hills, Mich., in September and Noblesville, Ind., in October. A new Stir Crazy location is scheduled to debut at Minnesota’s Mall of America in October.
“We’ll continue to grow, and if there’s a change for 2012, it’s that we’ll be über-conservative with locations we finalize,” Carey said. “When we open a restaurant, we want to be real sure we open in a strong market, making sure real estate plays out appropriately. The goal to get to 100 restaurants is still very much in our sights.”
Contact Mark Brandau at mark.brandau@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @Mark_from_NRN
AFC Enterprises Inc., the franchisor and operator of 2,000 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen quick-service restaurants, is moving to a new corporate headquarters in Dunwoody, Ga., later this year.
After 10 years in Sandy Springs, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, AFC Enterprises has signed a new lease to occupy about 55,000 square feet at 400 Perimeter Center Terrace in Dunwoody, about three miles away from the company’s former home.
“We needed to accommodate our growth. We started on one floor and now we’re on parts of three floors. We have outgrown our space,” said Alicia Thompson, AFC Enterprises vice president of corporate communications.
The move is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011 when the company’s current lease expires.
“As we prepare to celebrate our 40th year, we are excited to expand our support center to accommodate the company’s continued global growth and to create a new corporate headquarters that appropriately reflects the distinctive Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen brand,” Cheryl A. Bachelder, AFC Enterprises chief executive and Popeyes president, said in a statement.
“It was important to us to select a location with a wealth of amenities for our team members, franchisees and our many visitors and business associates, and Dunwoody provided the perfect solution for our needs,” she added.
Joel & Granot Real Estate LLC represented the company in its office relocation, while architectural firm KPS Group is designing the new space.
“We want to design a space that reflects our brand. We have a new logo and color palette. We have to re-invent the space to reflect the Popeyes brand,” Thompson said.
Financial terms of the lease were not disclosed.
Contact Alan Snel at alan.snel@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @AlansnelNRN
Atlanta-based Taqueria del Sol is expanding in the fast-casual Mexican category by signing franchisee agreements for new stores in Philadelphia and in Orlando, Jacksonville and Gainesville in Florida.
The 11-year-old concept’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Taqueria del Sol Development LLC, signed its first two franchisee agreements to develop and open stores in those two markets, building on the brand’s current four stores in Georgia. Three are in core-market Atlanta and one is in Athens.
The franchisee group in Philadelphia, called TAQ NE, will develop up to a dozen Taqueria del Sol units in the Philadelphia area during the next five years.
In Florida, Taqueria del Sol Development cut a deal with Calloway Consolidated Group to develop seven to 10 restaurants in Jacksonville, Gainesville and Orlando during the next five years. Consolidated Group is a Five Guys Burgers and Fries franchisee developing 14 Five Guys units in Florida.
“We’re looking for great operators who can execute the brand and who are in a great market,” said Bill Burnett, Taqueria del Sol president and chief operating officer.
Burnett said the principal owner of the Philadelphia group is a local native who knows the Philly market well, while the Five Guys operators picked for the Taqueria del Sol stores in Florida are running that burger chain’s “higher volume stores” in the Sunshine State.
Added Burnett: “We think Florida is a great area for what we do.”
Taqueria is also negotiating with franchisees for potential new stores in Charlotte, N.C., the Greenville, S.C.-Asheville, N.C. area, Baltimore and the Naples-Fort Myers area in southwest Florida, Burnett said.
Burnett acknowledged that the fast-casual Mexican category is getting crowded and more competitive, with the likes of Chipotle, Qdoba and many others. Phil Friedman, former McAllister’s chief executive, even entered the fray by announcing this week that he bought Charlotte-based Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina, an 11-year-old fast-casual Mexican chain with 82 locations.
EARLIER: Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina purchased
Burnett said Taqueria del Sol’s menu, which includes items that have elements of southern comfort food infused into the traditional Mexican dishes such as tacos and burritos, sets it apart from competitors.
Taqueria del Sol also has a 12-seat full-service bar and customers are given a written menu to order their items. There is no menu board. Staffers bring food to customers’ tables.
The current Taqueria stores are doing respectable volumes as the three Atlanta-area restaurants each have average sales volume of just under $2 million, while the Athens store has a sales volume of about $1.2 million, Burnett said. The stores are closed Sunday and half of Monday.
The average lunch check is just shy of $9, while dinner is just over $12.
Taqueria del Sol’s founder and chief executive, Mike Klank, will remain in control of the four company-owned restaurants. The brand made a splash in 2010 when Klank and corporate chef Eddie Hernandez were nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award of Excellence for Outstanding Restaurateur 2011.
Contact Alan Snel at alan.snel@nrn.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @Alansnelnrn
Event: ServSafe Food Manager Certification Class When Saturday, June 11, 2011 9:00am – Click on class for more information & register – All Ages Where Rock Hill/Fort Mill, SC – HRBAudit Training Center (map) Rock Hill/Fort Mill, SC Other InfoServSafe® delivers high-quality training options for every manager. From the classroom to online, and in a [...]
Event: ServSafe Food Manager Certification Class When Friday, June 10, 2011 9:00am – Click on class for more information & register – All Ages Where Rock Hill/Fort Mill, SC – HRBAudit Training Center (map) Rock Hill/Fort Mill, SC Other InfoServSafe® delivers high-quality training options for every manager. From the classroom to online, and in a [...]
