AUSTIN, TX-Chuy’s Holdings Inc., which wants to raise up to $75 million through an initial public offering of its shares, plans to use part of the proceeds to expand its Tex-Mex restaurant concept in Texas as well as the Southeast and Midwest. Papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission note that Chuy’s concept, as well as a “strong unit economics and flexible real estate strategy,” will lend itself nicely to such expansion.

According to the filing, Chuy’s was founded in Austin in 1982 and officially incorporated in late 2006. The casual dining restaurant offers a menu focused on Mexican food with definite Southwestern America components. The SEC paperwork says that, in 2009, the company opened five new restaurants in Texas and in 2010, opened six new restaurants; three of which are located outside of Texas. The growth has continued in 2011, with the opening of four new restaurants during the first half of the year. Immediate plans are to open four more units by year-end. In the long-term, Chuy’s Holdings goal is to open 35 to 40 more units during the next five years.

Planned locations include Texas, its contiguous states, the Southeast and Midwest. Chuy’s existing restaurants are in Kentucky, Alabama and Indiana in addition to Texas.

According to the SEC paperwork, the typical Chuy’s restaurant ranges from 5,300 square feet to 12,500 square feet and has an “unchained” look to allow “our restaurants to establish their own identity and provide us with a flexible real estate model.” The site selection ranges from existing restaurant conversions, to ground-up prototypes and are located in high-trafficked, high-quality locations.  

The filing also indicated that the capital raise would be used to pay down debt.