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Local restaurants make national list
Photo courtesy of El Fenix: El Fenix was one of five Plano restaurants that made Restaurant Business’ Future 50 list of the fast-growing restaurant chains in the country.
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@acnpapers.com
PLANO -- Five restaurant chains with locations in Plano are among the fastest growing in the nation.
Fuzzy's Tacos, El Fenix, Pizza Patron, Brick House Tavern + Tap and Twin Peaks all made Restaurant Business' Future 50 list, which tracks the growth of chains with sales in the $25 million to $50 million range.
"We consider the chains on the Future 50 list as the chains that are on their way up the ranks," said Darren Tristano of Technomics, the food industry consulting group that compiled the list. "We try to identify the chains early. It doesn't mean the restaurants will succeed, but generally a good percentage of those restaurants continue to grow."
"The good news about the list is that they are all very different and successful for different reasons," he said. "They are a good example of regional chains that have found a way to succeed and to grow, especially now during a difficult economic climate."
Two of the local restaurants, Brick House Tavern + Tap (No. 1) and Twin Peaks (No. 41), are what Tristano refers to as "breastaurants" due to the outfits worn by the waitresses.
"The chains that you see on the Future 50 are representatives of either bigger trends or emerging trends," he said. "Another breastaurant, Tilted Kilt, was on a previous list and their sales are now nearly $100 million. These restaurants represent a trend that is growing."
The other restaurants from Plano on the list represent trends that are already fully emerged.
"Fuzzy's is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant, a trend that was started with Chipotle," he said. "That is the main trend now among Mexican restaurants as opposed to full-service chains."
The first Fuzzy's (No. 22) was opened near the campus of Texas Christian University in 2003 and has expanded to 38 locations. Linda Veatch, the chain's director of marketing, said there should be about 50 Fuzzy's by the end of this year and more than 100 over the next three or four years.
"We are real popular with college kids and we are going into a lot of college towns," Veatch said. "We have locations in Tempe, Madison, Baton Rouge and Fort Collins and are opening a location in Athens, Ga."
Fuzzy's specializes in fish tacos but offers a full menu including nachos, taco salads and burritos. Veatch said she feels the fun atmosphere and low prices at Fuzzy's are some of the main factors for the chain's growth.
While Fuzzy's is a newcomer on the Mexican food scene, El Fenix (No. 28) has been around since 1918.
"When chains mature like El Fenix has, they either find the fountain of youth or fade away into nowhere land," Tristano said. "The trend is toward fast-casual Mexican, but the economy has shown that providing good-quality food at an affordable price is a business model that will work. That is what El Fenix has done. As other restaurants are closing, they are expanding."
Even though the chain is nearly 100 years old, recent expansions by the new ownership group have increased the total number of restaurants to 20.
"We had 15 locations until 2008 when the Firebird Restaurant Group purchased the chain from the Martinez family," said Michael Dailey, vice president of construction and development for El Fenix. "Since then we have added five new restaurants and plan to add more. We have also begun remodeling the older locations."
Pizza Patron (No. 31) has been on the list before, most recently ranking 16th in 2010. A sixth Metroplex restaurant, Rosa's Café, made the list in the 45th spot. The chain is headquartered in Fort Worth but has only three Metroplex locations. A large number of Rosa's are located in West Texas, where the chain was founded.
For the complete Future 50 list, visit www.monkeydish.com/growth/future-50.
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