Moe's Southwest Grill Eating Up Space

ATLANTA-Its individually leased restaurants use only an average 2,800 sf at each location, but the locally based, 79-store Moe’s Southwest Grill plans to open 171 new stores nationally by the end of 2004, totaling an estimated 478,800 sf of space.

In its latest deal, Raving Brands, Moe’s corporate parent, has signed a 25-store deal with Boddie-Noell Enterprises Inc. of Rocky Mount, NC, one of the country’s largest privately held restaurant companies, for new stores totaling an estimated 70,000 sf in Richmond, VA, the Winston-Salem-High Point Triad area and the Newport News-Williamsburg market.

“We are moving at a pace of three store openings a week,” says Matt Andrew, Raving Brands’ vice president of finance. “We anticipate hitting 250 restaurants by the end of 2004, which is 50% faster growth than the category’s leaders.”