Pita Pit Expands Nationally

NEW YORK CITY-The Pita Pit, a Canadian-based restaurant chain specializing in pita sandwiches, is trying to expand here as well as other parts of the country, targeting a US store count goal of 500 units. The company currently has one unit, in the West Village, that it opened earlier this year, and executives, along with brokers William B. May Retail Leasing, are looking for about 10 units in Manhattan and plan to have restaurants throughout the Tri-State area.

Pita Pit, founded in 1995 in Kingston, Ontario, now has about 200 units here and in Canada. Most of the US stores are in college towns, but Ryan Wilkinson, who is heading up the New York-area’s franchising efforts, says that the city is a good fit for the chain because of the many high-traffic areas with large lunch and late-night crowds.

Though Wilkinson is looking for 1,000-sf spaces throughout Manhattan, he says that he, and his two franchisee partners, Brian Armstrong and Joe Mergie, don’t want to expand too quickly. “We’re kind of taking a conservative approach,” he says. Adds Pamela LaDew, William B. May’s senior managing director of retail leasing, “We’re going to do it right. We’re not going to just open to open.”