McAlister’s Expanding Southeast, Southwest Footprint

McAlister’s Deli has a five-year plan to open another 10 locations throughout Colorado, North and South Carolina and Wyoming. Three stores—in Charlotte and Fayetteville, N.C., and Florence, S.C.—will open later this year. The franchise group leading the expansion, Southern Deli Holdings, currently operates 47 locations in those states as well as Missouri, where it recently acquired seven existing St. Louis locations.

Late next year, another franchisee, Southwest Deli, will open the first of eight stores in three Arizona cities: Flagstaff, Tucson and Yuma. McAlister’s currently has one unit open in Scottsdale; a second location is scheduled to open in Peoria in November. Southwest Deli has a development strategy in place for five states; it plans to continue growing in Texas and New Mexico—where it operates 19 McAlister’s units—as well as expanding into new markets such as Arizona, Idaho and Utah.

McAlister’s has more than 325 restaurants in 24 states; it has corporate offices in Alpharetta, Ga., and Ridgeland, Miss.