Franchising

Fajita Pete's tripling footprint

Provided

August 20, 2020

At a time when many restaurants are closing doors or scrambling to launch off-premise offerings, Fajita Pete's is tripling its locations in the next few years, founder Pedro "Pete" Mora said in a company press release.

Although Mora started in 2002 with a full-service Mexican restaurant in Houston, he quickly realized that a large portion of his orders came from catering and pick-up. Identifying the gap in the market and consumer demand for convenience, Mora closed the restaurant in 2008 to launch Fajita Pete's, built on a model that focuses on catering and delivery. In the years since and continuing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fajita Pete's restaurants have streamlined operations and grown with a focus on pick-up, delivery and catering.

"By listening to customers and communities from the beginning, our innovative focus on delivery and take-away successfully positioned our restaurants to thrive before and throughout the pandemic," Mora said in the release.

The company began franchising in 2015 and has since opened 16 locations across Texas, with four additional locations coming in 2020, and more than 30 in the pipeline across Texas and in Kansas City, Missouri, the company's first market outside of Texas. New franchisees include large restaurant groups and industry veterans.

"We're now seeing strong interest in Fajita Pete's from many longtime, multi-unit franchisees who are looking for concepts that serve current market needs," Kevin Hogan, head of Fajita Pete's franchising efforts, said in the release. "Pete was way ahead of his time when he created Fajita Pete's and its business model is perfectly positioned for the industry's accelerating trends."

The restaurant's footprint of 1,200 to 1,500 square feet means each restaurant only needs space for two to three tables for dine-in service. The brand can operate in highly desirable locations while minimizing rent and construction costs, Hogan said. Similarly, a catering-focused kitchen and streamlined menu of fresh Tex-Mex and to-go margaritas minimize food waste and require fewer employees in the kitchen, he said.

Markets available to qualified franchisees include Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado, Arkansas, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and New Mexico.