Mac Haik Enterprises and First Watch will develop up to 18 restaurants in Southern Texas and Southwest Louisiana.

First Watch director of communications Eleni Kouvatsos tells us the company plans to open six restaurants in Houston, but there's no firm opening date yet. The company hasn’t yet found the perfect real estate for the first Houston restaurant, but Eleni says First Watch has had success both with freestanding buildings and endcaps. The typical First Watch restaurant is about 3,500 SF and the Houston restaurants are likely to be about that size.

Mac Haik formerly franchised 31 The Egg & I restaurants before selling them to First Watch when it acquired the brand in 2015.

Haik’s restaurants will feature First Watch’s fresh design and revamped menu, which offers creative and traditional breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes such as farmstand breakfast tacos and lemon ricotta pancakes. First Watch will debut in College Station this summer.

Mac, a former wide receiver for the Houston Oilers, is something of a Houston institution. He's got his fingerprints all over the city, with auto dealerships, construction, healthcare, hotels, outdoor media advertising and real estate development.

His firm is very active in the Energy Corridor, most recently signing BASF to his Energy IV building, the fourth and final tower of his 2M SF Energy Plaza.