Bobby Flay Launching Burger Chain

NEW YORK CITY-Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is launching an upscale hamburger chain called Bobby’s Burger Palace, his business partner revealed here at the International Council of Shopping Centers New York National Conference. So far Flay has signed three deals and has plans for five more units in the pipeline, said partner Lawrence Kretchmer,

Flay, who also owns Mesa Grill restaurants here, in Las Vegas and the Bahamas, is planning five to 10 new Burger Palaces a year. Kretchmer did not give specific locations where the three leases have been signed so far, but said that there is one under development in New Jersey and another will go into a Long Island mall.

Architecture firm Rockwell Group is designing the stores, which are planned for spaces between 3,500 sf and 4,000 sf. Kretchmer said that Flay “will create its own market the same way Starbucks did with coffee,” in the burger arena.