Large Fast Food Burger Franchisee has Developed a Taste for Fast Casual Burritos
One of Burger King’s largest franchisees has taken another bite out of its plan to diversify into fast-casual franchises.
Montgomery, Alabama, based Premier Kings struck a deal with burrito chain Qdoba Mexican Grill to open 20 locations in Atlanta and in Alabama. This comes on the heels of signing a deal with Hummus & Pita Co. for five locations in the Atlanta area.
Premier Kings has more than 170 Burger Kings and 14 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchens throughout Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee.
At the time of the announcement with Hummus & Pita, Premier Kings founders Patrick Sidhu and Jay Gill said in a statement, “We were looking to diversify our restaurant portfolio in the Atlanta area and saw the Mediterranean segment as the next best thing in the Southeast.”
Hummus & Pita is an emerging concept that first opened in New York City in 2011 and has been franchising the past two years. While it has seven locations for now, it recently signed a development agreement for 100 locations throughout California. But it is targeting the 40 largest media markets.
Qdoba has been around since 1995 and has more the 750 locations in the U.S. and Canada. It competes with Chipolte Mexican Grill and Moe’s Southwest Grill.
Premier Kings’ deals with both franchises of course means it will be hunting for real estate. According to Hummus & Pita, that space typically runs between 930 and 1,850 square feet.
Qdoba looks for 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, preferably at the end of a shopping center or in free-standing buildings. CoStar data shows that the chain has signed deals to take over space vacated by another tenant. Qdoba is doing that with a former MattressFirm building in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, a Denver suburb.
