Fast food may have taken some knocks lately, but that hasn't kept several new quick-serve concepts from knocking on the doors of Tampa Bay area shopping centers.
"It's looks like we're going to have a burrito war," said Andrew Carlson, a leasing agent with Sembler Co., a St. Petersburg shopping center developer.
An array of new fast food dining options eager to rent their first spaces in the bay area were introduced to developers last week at the International Council of Shopping Centers' Florida West Coast Idea Exchange.
A flock of Mexican quick and casual restaurants are angling to compete with Moe's Southwest Grille, an Atlanta chain franchised locally by Richard Gonzmart of Columbia Restaurant fame, which recently opened the first of several bay locations at Clearwater Mall. Chipotle (say it shih-poat-lay) Mexican Grill, a unit of McDonald's Corp., is looking to open six stores in Pinellas County. Baja Fresh, a similar fresh-made-while-you-watch Mexican restaurant chain owned by Wendy's International, is also scouting for sites in the area.
Gonzmart and his partners also are opening their first franchised Mamma Fu's Noodle House in Clearwater Mall this spring.
There's also a juice bar war on the horizon, to be waged by two California chains.
Jamba Juice, a chain of 270 stores that specializes in smoothies and 16-ounce juices blended from three to six fruits, wants to open three stores in the area in 2004. The chain, which hails from San Luis Obispo, Calif., is steered by a former Burger King executive.
Robeks, which started in Ventura County near Los Angeles, wants to make landfall in the bay area, too. Compared to Jamba Juice, Robeks' fare is a bit more New Age/exotic. The latest featured items there are juices made from pomegranate and an Amazonian palm berry called acai. The chain also sells 1-ounce shots of green tea or organic wheatgrass for those on the run.
