Fast-Casual Blows Up in DFW
New fast-casual restaurant concepts are popping up all over the Metroplex. ("What do you want for lunch?" is about to get a heckuva lot harder.) Colorado-based Modmarket is preparing to put down two dozen stores in the next few years.
Falcon Realty Advisors restaurant and entertainment group prez Michael Walters (on the right), who reps Modmarket locally with Falcon principal Tim Hughes, tells us the farm-to-table healthy eating concept selected DFW as its first expansion market outside of Colorado where the firm has eight existing locations and two more coming to the Denver International Airport. Five deals have been inked including a site at 3651 Justin Rd in Flower Mound in September and 8400 Preston Rd in Plano just last week. A Preston Hollow location is coming next, and sites are locked down in Southlake and Richardson.
Modmarket (Flower Mound location pictured) should have between 20 and 30 DFW locationswithin the next five years. The chain likes to be near concepts like Whole Foods (the Preston Hollow site will be near a Trader Joe’s), Michael tells us. A big daytime population near a mid- to high-income, educated population is also desirable. Michael tells us DFW is a proven breeding ground for new restaurant concepts. They want to be here because it’s one of the highest growth markets in the country with 6.8 million people in our MSA, which ranks us fourth in the nation and No. 1 in Texas.
Other new chains that Michael is helping expand into DFW include Spin! Neopolitan Pizza, Grub Burger Bar, 54th St Grill & Drafthouse, Thirsty Lion of Portland and The Rock Wood-Fired Kitchen. Penn Station East Coast Subs (Southlake location pictured) opened its first three Texas locations in Flower Mound, Southlake, and Plano and will be aggressively rolling out 18 more stores in the next three to four years. The challenge, Michael tells us, is being creative and digging for ideal locations. “There’s no low-hanging fruit in good trade areas in today's market,” he says. Fun Michael fact: by the end of the year, he’ll have completed his 100th restaurant deal since 2009. When he’s not working, he and his wife are chasing around their two kids, ages 3 and 10 months.
