In This Section:
Elevation Burger Spreading Wings
P.F. Chang's Expands To Mexico
Join FER On New Facebook, LinkedIn Pages
Industry Mourns Brinker Founder's Loss
Excell's Flores Passes
This issue's Economic Report Sponsor: FETCO Corp.
Regulatory ReportSponsor: Manitowoc Foodservice
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Elevation Burger Spreading Wings
Elevation Burger is, well, on the rise. The four-year-old Arlington, Va., chain, known for serving burgers that are organic and fries cooked in olive oil, began franchising last year and has signed a number of multiunit deals in the past few months.
The chain has two locations open in the Washington, D.C, area, another in Baltimore, and more than 40 new locations in varying stages of development across Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., as well as New York City and south Florida. Fransmart, the company that helped launch the Five Guys Burgers & Fries chain, is leading franchise development.
Of those 40, two separate franchise deals will bring a total of eight Elevation Burger restaurants to Philadelphia. The area will see the first of five slated Elevation Burger restaurants in June. The franchisee is seeking LEED certification for the restaurant, located in suburban Wynnewood, and built with bamboo flooring, recycled tiles and energy-efficient equipment and water heater/cooling system.
Also, Elevation Burger in late March linked a multiunit franchising deal to open the first of at least three Florida locations by the end of 2009.
The chain, focusing on an organic, sustainable approach to foodservice, was founded by husband and wife entrepreneurs Hans and April Hess in '05. The 1,800- to 2,500-sq.-ft. restaurants are outfitted with recycled, recyclable and rapidly renewable finishes, and seat 50 to 150 diners. The open kitchens feature a streamlined equipment package—deep fryers, conveyor oven, steam-heated griddles and spindle milkshake mixers. With the popularity of Elevation Burger's olive-oil cooked fries, the new stores will have five frypots rather than the standard three. The chain is popular among vegetarians; Elevation Burger cooks veggie burgers in the conveyor oven, separately from the beef patties on the griddles.
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P.F. Chang's Expands To Mexico
P.F. Chang's China Bistro, which recently announced its expansion into the Middle East, is now moving south, too—to Mexico. The company will develop 30 restaurants there over the next decade via a license agreement with Alsea SAB de CV, an operator of fast-food and casual restaurants in Mexico. The first location will open in Mexico City in the fourth quarter.
P.F. Chang's operates restaurants under the P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Pei Wei Asian Diner names.
Join FER On New Facebook, LinkedIn Pages
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users.
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Industry Mourns Brinker Founder's Loss
A true industry icon, Norman Brinker, the founder and chairman emeritus of Brinker Int'l., died June 8 in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he had been hospitalized with pneumonia. He was 78.
Brinker's career in foodservice began in the late 1950s with a job at Jack In the Box. In '64 he relocated to Dallas and opened Brink's Coffee Shop. Just two years later, he purchased the Steak & Ale concept and grew the chain to more than 100 units before selling it and became famous for introducing the idea of the salad bar to casual dining.
In '76 he opened the first Bennigan's Tavern, thus launching what would be not just a major chain, but the beginning of the singles-oriented brass-and-fern genre.
In the early '80s he acquired a 23-unit concept known as Chili's, reshaped and grew it, took it public and by '90 renamed the corporate entity Brinker Int'l.
Today the namesake corporation numbers more than 1,700 owned or franchised Chili's Grill & Bar, Maggiano's Little Italy and On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina restaurants in more than two dozen countries.
Excell's Flores Passes
James Flores, v.p. of Excell Marketing & Procurement Group, died April 30 after a 15-month battle with cancer. He was 52.
Flores' foodservice career began in Dallas at H&K Norwood, a large supplier of equipment to McDonald's Corp. In 1986, Flores joined Watson Food Service Co., one of the largest independent foodservice dealers in Texas, as purchasing manager. Ten years later he moved to another Texas dealership, Gernsbacher's, also as purchasing manager. In '97 Flores moved to Denver to work for Excell.
Flores is survived by his mother, sister and two brothers.
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