But as Lee broker Duncan Lemmon explains, Kahala also is looking for a host of other types of locations for its restaurants, including some new types of venues that it hasn't entered previously. The North L.A. office in Sherman Oaks will work with Lee's 23 offices nationwide, explains Lemmon, who is a Lee retail specialist and a 20-year industry vet.

"We have been named to cover all the ground that isn't in malls: neighborhood centers and other types of retail developments, mixed-use developments, office buildings and other locations exclusive of malls, hospitals and airports," Lemmon says. Along with the many traditional types of locations, Kahala will be looking "creative solutions and opportunities for concept locations," he adds, explaining that the phrase "means that we are open to put concepts into locations where the demand is there but the location is different from any of the traditional locations that we've identified. We don't have any specific examples at this time, which is why we're leaving it open and calling it creative solutions. We are trying to think beyond what has already been done."