Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/753030
60 S C T / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 years. The target investment is about $4.5 million per location, net of tenant allowances and preopening costs. The restaurants will measure between 8,500 and 12,000 square feet (the Lincoln Square site, set to open early this coming year, will be at the lower end), and seating capacity ranges from 200 to 475. The chain, owned by private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, now operates 42 company-owned U.S. restaurants and 10 in Brazil, and management has plans to expand in Mexico and to enter Saudi Arabia. The restaurants are located at shopping centers or mixed-use developments, or they operate as stand-alones We are always interested in expanding our international footprint and continue to look outside of our current countries of operation" " E L S E W H E R E O N T H E M E N U Omaha Steaks introduced a store concept at Town & Country Village, in Houston, that features a center for cooking and grilling demonstrations. Fast-food conglomerate Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, wants to own fewer stores and rely more on franchising. The company has decided to sell most of its 2,000 company-owned restaurants to franchisees in a bid to cut $300 million from its expenses by 2019. Food trucks continue to incubate tenants for shopping center landlords. Quick-service restaurant Serial Grillers recently signed a lease for its second location, a 2,274-square-foot unit with a 45-seat dining room, in Tucson, Ariz.'s River Crossing shopping center. Tucson local Travis Miller started Serial Grillers in 2012 out of a food truck. In 2013 he opened his first brick-and-mortar location. Kono USA is opening five kiosks at malls around the country. The franchise purveys an "on-the-go" snacking experience with customizable pizza and dessert options, all served in freshly baked dough cones baked in just three minutes in the brand's proprietary oven. With existing locations in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Philadelphia and South Carolina, Kono To-Go is expanding in California; Washington, D.C.; Texas and Idaho this year. Suburban mall mainstay Cheesecake Factory opened its first New York City store in November at Macerich's Queens Center, in Elmhurst, N.Y. The company says it took years to find real estate in the city cheap enough to maintain its low prices. Cheesecake factory has operated stores in New Jersey and Long Island for a while. near malls. Fogo de Chão's restaurant in Saudi Arabia — its first in the Middle East — will open through a joint venture with Enany Group, while the company's second restaurant in Mexico is to open as part of a venture with Lacador Group. "We are always interested in expanding our international footprint and continue to look at space outside of our current countries of operation," said CEO Lawrence Johnson. The company seeks venture partners with proven records in unfamiliar territories, he says. But management at all the restaurants, regardless of ownership, is done through a Fogo de Chão team. The chain is also setting up company-owned units at a stand-alone location near Perimeter Mall, in Dunwoody, Ga., and in an office building near Tysons Galleria, in McLean, Va. Construction is under way, meanwhile, at the Legacy West mixed-use project, in Plano, Texas, and also at Millcraft Investments' mixed-use development at a former Saks Fifth Avenue department store site in Pittsburgh. All the delectable meaty experiences aside, vegetarians never need to feel left out. Indeed, they may graze happily at the Market Table, a huge spread of seasonal salads, cheese, vegetables and soup — any of which may be ordered separately or, for the meat eaters, as part of a carnivorous feast. n S T O R E F R O N T S