News

Salsarita's working its way through Carolinas, Kentucky

April 23, 2013

Salsarita's has acquired five franchisee-owned locations in the Charlotte, N.C., area as part of its long-term plan to corporately own 10 to 15 percent of its restaurants nationwide, said Phil Friedman, CEO of Salsarita's.

"Corporate expansion is incredibly important for us here at Salsarita's," he said. "By expanding our restaurant ownership in our home market, we can continue to build an industry-leading franchise support team more effectively, test new products and strategies and most importantly, better understand the needs of our franchisees by facing the same operational challenges they do."

With this acquisition, the corporation now owns seven of Salsarita's more than 80 existing locations, and plans to develop several additional sites over the next few years. Eight corporately owned restaurants are planned in North Carolina's Research Triangle area (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) by 2018, and two to three each will open in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, N.C. Another two to three are planned for Columbia, S.C., and four to six will open in Charlotte, N.C., where the brand is headquartered.

"Salsarita's has proven to be highly successful across the Carolinas, and we are eager to continue the brand's growth in its home region and beyond," said the company's president, Larry Reinstein. "By adding new corporate locations, we will be able to target new development and real estate opportunities that were previously unexplored."

Invading Lexington

The chain has also signed a development agreement that will bring three new restaurants to Lexington, Ky., by the end of 2016. Long-time local residents Bill and Holli Gibson are the entrepreneurs behind the deal, and the couple plans to open the first restaurant in early 2014 in Lexington's Hamburg Place neighborhood.

"Salsarita's has been operating in Kentucky for more than 10 years and our restaurants, two in Louisville and one in Owensboro, have been very successful," said Chris Bailey, vice president of franchise development for Salsarita's. "We plan to open at least a dozen locations across the state over the next five years with five to seven of those planned for the greater Lexington metropolitan area."

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