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The competitive market for family-friendly joints on the Gulf Coast to grab a burger will have a new entry in 2012.
In fact, Frisco, Texas-based Mooyah Burgers, Fries and Shakes has a big Sunshine State expansion strategy. The chain, with 22 stores in three states, plans to smother the region, first with Tampa, then the rest of the Gulf Coast.
Justin Church, Mooyah's lead franchise developer for the Gulf Coast, has sought a restaurant franchise opportunity in the area for a few years.
Church's family has been in the restaurant franchise business for 10 years in the Knoxville, Tenn., area.
“We looked at other concepts,” Church tells Coffee Talk, “and nothing blew us away like Mooyah.”
A pair of Texas entrepreneurs founded Mooyah in 2007. The model is a simple menu of burgers, fries made in trans-free fat and milkshakes. The no-fuss menu and family-friendly concept is similar to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, sans the milkshakes. Five Guys has also embarked on an expansion on the Gulf Coast recently.
Mooyah, meanwhile, has locations in Texas, Tennessee and Connecticut. Fast Casual magazine ranked the chain in the top five of its Top 100 Movers and Shakers list the past two years.
Church is currently scouting locations in Tampa for the first Gulf Coast Mooyah. He hopes to open two to three more stores in Tampa soon after the first one. And his development area includes the entire Gulf Coast, down through Naples. “We will be very aggressive,” Church says.
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