First Watch pops up in Cornhusker State

MANATEE COUNTY — First Watch, the east Manatee County-based breakfast, brunch and lunch chain, will make its debut in Nebraska by the end of the year.

The chain, according to a release, signed a multiunit franchise agreement with Omaha-based Cutchall Management Co. to open three restaurants over the next three years in Omaha. The first location, a 4,200-square-foot restaurant formerly occupied by a Burger Star and a Donut Professor, is expected to open by the end of the year, First Watch says.

Cutchall operates eight other restaurant concepts spread through more than 50 locations in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Utah and Texas. “The First Watch brand really fits our strategy of 'Best in Class,'” Cutchall Management Co. President and CEO Greg Cutchall says in the statement. “We are excited to be chosen as the developer for the metro Omaha and Lincoln markets.”