Texas Team Now Picking Sites for Gourmet Burger Franchise Roll-Out

SAN ANTONIO-The local franchisee for Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. is close to signing leases for its first two restaurant locations in San Antonio and is working with brokers to find other spots in San Antonio, Austin and places in between.

Roger Shipp, a partner in Red Robin’s franchisee, Centex Red Bird LLC, tells GlobeSt.com that the ink on the San Antonio deals isn’t 100% dry, but the locations are “very recognized areas.” Shipp of Austin and partner Agustin Zurita Soto of San Antonio are to open seven Red Robin restaurants in Central Texas through 2007. They are working with Jack Weiss of Quick and Co, in Austin and Rick Carduner of Carduner and Associates in San Antonio.

The Red Robin restaurants are about 6,500 sf usually in freestanding buildings on shopping center pad sites, Shipp says. Based in Greenwood Village, CO, Red Robin owns and operates 99 restaurants and has 99 others through franchise or operating agreements. Shipp says there are commitments for about 30 in Texas. “You’ll see quite an expansion here pretty soon,” he says.