More chains coming to Memorial Rd. suburbia!
I'm personally glad all of these chains are coming to Memorial Rd. and not Bricktown. Memorial Rd. is becoming another strip of chain restaurants. Nothing special there.
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"More Chain Links in Metro: Number of chain restaurants new to Oklahoma City area preparing to launch into market
By Shelly Hickman and Pamela Grady
Oklahoma City residents shouldn’t be offended Denver-based Red Robin International Inc. considered Tulsa a safer site to locate its first restaurant in Oklahoma.
A year after the chain opened locations in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, it is eager to get its first metro-area restaurant opened in Norman next month, and it has big plans for even more growth in the Oklahoma City area in the very near future.
“Routinely, Tulsa ranks as one of the fastest growing cities for restaurants,” said Scott Allen, general manager for the soon-to-be Red Robin in Norman off Lindsay and Ed Noble Parkway. “P.F. Changs went to Tulsa first and was there for a while before coming here. We were there first, too. I see that quite a bit.”
Allen said the deference to Tulsa has more to do with its population density and of it being confined to a smaller geographic area than anything else.
“The difference between Tulsa and Oklahoma City is that Tulsa is one big area whereas Oklahoma City is spread out into a lot of smaller areas,” he said.
Still, Red Robin believes the metro has much potential, so much so it will open its Norman location July 11 and will break ground in the Penn and Memorial area and open a restaurant there in November.
“Norman is a booming area. It’s right in the thick of things,” Allen said. “Our real estate people are really good at finding areas. When I saw the site, it was obvious to me that, wow, what a great location.”
The Norman operation will consume between 5,000 and 7,000 square feet, have an occupancy of about 220 people and require about 175 hourly and six management positions. The restaurant began accepting applications for both types of positions last Monday.
Allen doubted Red Robin’s expansion to the metro would be limited to Norman and the metro’s far north reaches.
“Red Robin goes in and saturates the market in order to get the name recognition out there,” he said.
The chain began in 1969 in Seattle and moved its headquarters to Denver in 2001 shortly after its public offering. Today, it has 275 locations, lacking a presence in only “a few states,” Allen said.
Billing itself first and foremost as a maker of “gourmet hamburgers,” Red Robin also includes other casual-faire menu items such as sandwiches and various appetizers. And, according to the chain’s Web site, it will introduce many new items beginning June 6 which feature chili.
While all of its locations include a bar, Red Robin, which is routinely cited in the press as a “Best Restaurant” for children, doesn’t call its bars ‘bars’ per se.
“We call it our refreshment center because 80 percent or more [of what we make at the bar] is milkshakes or lemonade versus alcohol drinks,” Allen said.
Hal Smith group to build Mahogany
Red Robin won’t be the only new chain in town. Hal Smith Restaurant Group has just broken ground on its first metro-area Mahogany Prime Steak House.
Introduced in Tulsa off South Yale in 2000 and Omaha, Neb., three years later, Hal Smith’s Mahogany will open in early fall off Memorial Road, just west of Amerisuites and east of the FBI building.
“We call it a classic premiere steakhouse,” said Hank Kraft, chief operating officer for the restaurant group. “It has a cosmopolitan feel of New York to it just like some of the finer steakhouses in New York City.”
The price point for Mahogany is well above most of the restaurant group’s other restaurants, including Charleston’s and the Louie’s brand restaurants. While Kraft said the per-person price range will be between $18 and $35, the Tulsa location features menu items ala carte and the per-person price can easily exceed $35. The restaurant also has an impressive wine list.
Ironically, though, Mahogany in Tulsa is located adjacent to Charleston’s and, despite being pricier and more upscale, has nonetheless flourished in the market.
The Oklahoma City location will require about 60 to 65 employees and seat about 160 people. Three separate dining rooms of various sizes will house 35 to 40 tables and reservations will be strongly encouraged, Kraft said.
“We picked the location because of the northern exposure to Gaillardia, Quail Creek and Nichols Hills can come from the other direction,” he said. “That turnpike is picking up more traffic every day plus [the location] is just on the edge of the north side so we’ll pick up Edmond.”
He added with the rumors circulating that other chains new to the metro also will be building in the near vicinity, the Hal Smith Restaurant Group was excited with its decision to expand to Oklahoma City.
“We see tremendous growth out there with these three other restaurants going in. We’ve seen a big boom in the last year and half and I think it will continue to grow,” he said.
Kraft shared the land on which Mahogany is being built, which is owned by Stonegate Hogan, but that the Hal Smith Restaurant Group will retain ownership of the actual building.
Jeff Parker with TAParchitecture is the lead architect for the project, but the restaurant group is using its own in-house talent to fill the role as general contractor. "
Originally Posted by fromdust
Re: More chains coming to Memorial Rd. suburbia!
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