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Restaurant Development in NW Arkansas


mcheiss

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Hi all, new here. Well, longtime reader. Now that I had to register, I might as well chime in.

I ate a burger from Feltner's this afternoon. It was good stuff. Just a good ole fashioned greasy burger, great fries, the same as in Russellville. I'll be going back.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The former Smoky Bones in Steele Crossing south of the NWA Mall is being reused. The NWA Business Journal reports that it will be named the Grand Tetons. No word on what type of cuisine although they have applied for a liquor license. With a name like Grand Tetons one might expect some buffalo or elk steaks :P

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The former Smoky Bones in Steele Crossing south of the NWA Mall is being reused. The NWA Business Journal reports that it will be named the Grand Tetons. No word on what type of cuisine although they have applied for a liquor license. With a name like Grand Tetons one might expect some buffalo or elk steaks :P

Thanks for the update. Nice seeing that space finally getting reused.

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The former Smoky Bones in Steele Crossing south of the NWA Mall is being reused. The NWA Business Journal reports that it will be named the Grand Tetons. No word on what type of cuisine although they have applied for a liquor license. With a name like Grand Tetons one might expect some buffalo or elk steaks :P

Excellent News! I am really hoping for the buffalo burgers at least now!

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Just had Greenhouse Grille for lunch today. I hadn't been to their new Mill District digs yet.

I'm happy to report that it was slam packed at around 12:45. I had a great Greenhouse salad. It was just fantastic.

If you like good food, good clean healthy, whole-food, do yourself a favor and get some GG.

I was really encouraged by the number of people there. I can really see this place being a big shot in the arm to the Mill District. A nice coffee shop would be great for the Mill District. Maybe Baba Boudan's can open one down there.

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Just had Greenhouse Grille for lunch today. I hadn't been to their new Mill District digs yet.

I'm happy to report that it was slam packed at around 12:45. I had a great Greenhouse salad. It was just fantastic.

If you like good food, good clean healthy, whole-food, do yourself a favor and get some GG.

I was really encouraged by the number of people there. I can really see this place being a big shot in the arm to the Mill District. A nice coffee shop would be great for the Mill District. Maybe Baba Boudan's can open one down there.

Thanks for the news. Like you I'd also like to see more things in the Mill District. I'm hoping eventually the Mill District turns into a nice alternative to Dickson St. Nothing wrong with Dickson St mind you. I'd just like to see another entertainment district develop. Over the years as Dickson St has developed into what it is, it's becoming harder for some to afford rents along Dickson St. It would be great to have a cheaper alternative for people wanting to start up some restaurants/retail space. A distinct area and not have it scattered all about town.

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Just had Greenhouse Grille for lunch today. I hadn't been to their new Mill District digs yet.

I'm happy to report that it was slam packed at around 12:45. I had a great Greenhouse salad. It was just fantastic.

If you like good food, good clean healthy, whole-food, do yourself a favor and get some GG.

I was really encouraged by the number of people there. I can really see this place being a big shot in the arm to the Mill District. A nice coffee shop would be great for the Mill District. Maybe Baba Boudan's can open one down there.

We're lucky to have the one Baba's. I don't see Stan and Jennifer doing a second one--ever. They aren't even open on weekends because they want to have a life. I am there Monday through Friday, tho!

Mark

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Thanks for the news. Like you I'd also like to see more things in the Mill District. I'm hoping eventually the Mill District turns into a nice alternative to Dickson St. Nothing wrong with Dickson St mind you. I'd just like to see another entertainment district develop. Over the years as Dickson St has developed into what it is, it's becoming harder for some to afford rents along Dickson St. It would be great to have a cheaper alternative for people wanting to start up some restaurants/retail space. A distinct area and not have it scattered all about town.

I understand what you are saying and definitely agree. Kind of make it the "poor artist" style of place. The area where unique and new things are built and created. If that is what it becomes, it won't compete with Dickson St, but compliment it. This would allow the neighborhoods in between to be opened up to a very urban demographic that would go quite well so close to the university as well as making a great bookend for any light rail possibilities.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Dickson Street is getting 3 NEW BUSINESSES in the Spring! Wonderful news....

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=118796.54928.130934&cID=i

Spiedini Italian Grill, Big Momma's Coffee and Espresso Bar - actually will be located on the lower level of Underwood Plaza, which exits onto Powerhouse Avenue.

Orange Tree, a self-serve frozen yogurt operation, meanwhile, will be located on the second floor of the building and have its storefront facing Dickson Street. Orange Tree touts itself as the fastest-growing yogurt chain in the country.

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Dickson Street is getting 3 NEW BUSINESSES in the Spring! Wonderful news....

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=118796.54928.130934&cID=i

Spiedini Italian Grill, Big Momma's Coffee and Espresso Bar - actually will be located on the lower level of Underwood Plaza, which exits onto Powerhouse Avenue.

Orange Tree, a self-serve frozen yogurt operation, meanwhile, will be located on the second floor of the building and have its storefront facing Dickson Street. Orange Tree touts itself as the fastest-growing yogurt chain in the country.

Cool, thanks for the info and the link. Nice to see some of the new retail space around Underwoods finally getting used. I'll have to look more into some of those. Haven't heard of any of them. Spiedini Italian Grill is apparently relocating from Rogers. And Big Momma's is some sort of regional chain. While there seems to be a number of ice cream/custard/frozen yogurt to have popped up in recent years, it will be nice to have something on Dickson.

Okay looking more into it apparently Big Momma's is a small chain located around Springfield.

Orange Tree does seem to be growing quickly with a lot of new locations popping up. Right now ironically they seem to be big in Hawaii, California and Oklahoma.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Apparently the TGI Friday's in Fayetteville has closed? Can anyone confirm this. I'm hoping it is just for a short time or something. I'm really getting sick of losing restaurants even if it is a chain! :angry:

It looked closed when I went by today- that does suck. I went there often and it always seemed busy to me. It seems like no place is safe these days.

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Yeah I heard about that. Sorta weird and caught a lot of people by surprise. I got the impression TGIF Corporate wasn't happy about the closure either. Not sure if the franchise was having problems or what. Just seems like that area in general has a hard time with restaurants. Although the Olive Garden is certainly the exception.

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Yeah I heard about that. Sorta weird and caught a lot of people by surprise. I got the impression TGIF Corporate wasn't happy about the closure either. Not sure if the franchise was having problems or what. Just seems like that area in general has a hard time with restaurants. Although the Olive Garden is certainly the exception.

Yeah, this closure was done very shadily. The employees weren't notified, Carlson Corporate wasn't notified (which is a breach of the franchise agreement apparently), and it was done overnight. I don't know what the local franchise company or owner was thinking, but they did this in the worst possible way, and I can't say I understand it. Fridays, although down recently (every where was pretty much down recently though), is one of the busier chain restaurants in Fayetteville, so I can't help wondering if the local management/franchise didn't partly cause their own demise. I certainly hope it and the franchise are put up for sale soon though, Carlson was pretty distinct about the issue that troubled franchise locations have a process to go through and apparently they can normally sell the franchise and work something out without closing the restaurant, so I'd like to see it reopen in the near future. I also don't buy that it was just doing so badly it had to close, there are Fridays locations in smaller areas that do well and I always had to wait when I'd go there for dinner so I know they weren't struggling as bad as some others might have been. You're right about that Olive Garden though, that is the highest grossing restaurant in NWA.

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Yeah, this closure was done very shadily. The employees weren't notified, Carlson Corporate wasn't notified (which is a breach of the franchise agreement apparently), and it was done overnight. I don't know what the local franchise company or owner was thinking, but they did this in the worst possible way, and I can't say I understand it. Fridays, although down recently (every where was pretty much down recently though), is one of the busier chain restaurants in Fayetteville, so I can't help wondering if the local management/franchise didn't partly cause their own demise. I certainly hope it and the franchise are put up for sale soon though, Carlson was pretty distinct about the issue that troubled franchise locations have a process to go through and apparently they can normally sell the franchise and work something out without closing the restaurant, so I'd like to see it reopen in the near future. I also don't buy that it was just doing so badly it had to close, there are Fridays locations in smaller areas that do well and I always had to wait when I'd go there for dinner so I know they weren't struggling as bad as some others might have been. You're right about that Olive Garden though, that is the highest grossing restaurant in NWA.

Yeah the whole thing is just odd. The franchise finally started talking a bit about the whole thing. The run a number of other restaurants including TGIFs around the region. According to them the Fayetteville location was their worst restaurant they had. But it still doesn't explain why the sudden closure with no warnings to employees or corporate. I know restaurants often complain about that particular area not having good access. I do think that could certainly be improved. But as I mentioned before it certainly doesn't stop Olive Garden at all. So I just can't see the road access problem argument being used effectively. But maybe we should question why do restaurants in that area of 'Uptown' seem to have so many problems? I know the economy certainly has hurt most restaurants. But that area seemed to have problems even before the economy went down. That's been a big area for chain restaurants for Fayetteville. Could it be that Fayetteville or a particular part of it is just going to be somewhat resistant to chain restaurants compared to other NWA cities? Had TGIF located to Rogers or Bentonville instead of Fayetteville would they have done better? While all the NWA cities have had a lot of population growth and new people move in over the past decade or two. Fayetteville still has that element where a number of people would be more likely to visit local restaurants over chains. I don't think any of the other NWA cities have that element. For that matter maybe I should point out the Ft Smith still has their TGIF.

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Kind of off the beaten path, but there is a new restaurant in - wait for it - ELM SPRINGS, that is just FABULOUS. It is called J's Bistro, and has a very eclectic menu. So far I have tried the Texas Burger (awesome) deli turkey sandwich (fantastic) and gyro (AMAZING). They also serve asian-fusion dishes, some italian dishes, and . So far the place is always clean, food is always fresh, and service is top-notch. It's in the old dairy freeze building (also formerly Elm Springs Cafe, El Centenario mexican restaurant, and some others) just north of the intersection of Elm Springs Rd. and Hwy 112 on the west side of the road. All I can say is, it is WELL worth the trip. And if your thing is antiques, make sure you stop in the downtown shops. Lots of hidden treasures there too.

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Kind of off the beaten path, but there is a new restaurant in - wait for it - ELM SPRINGS, that is just FABULOUS. It is called J's Bistro, and has a very eclectic menu. So far I have tried the Texas Burger (awesome) deli turkey sandwich (fantastic) and gyro (AMAZING). They also serve asian-fusion dishes, some italian dishes, and . So far the place is always clean, food is always fresh, and service is top-notch. It's in the old dairy freeze building (also formerly Elm Springs Cafe, El Centenario mexican restaurant, and some others) just north of the intersection of Elm Springs Rd. and Hwy 112 on the west side of the road. All I can say is, it is WELL worth the trip. And if your thing is antiques, make sure you stop in the downtown shops. Lots of hidden treasures there too.

Yeah a bit off the beaten path, but thanks for the info anyway. :D

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Yeah the whole thing is just odd. The franchise finally started talking a bit about the whole thing. The run a number of other restaurants including TGIFs around the region. According to them the Fayetteville location was their worst restaurant they had. But it still doesn't explain why the sudden closure with no warnings to employees or corporate. I know restaurants often complain about that particular area not having good access. I do think that could certainly be improved. But as I mentioned before it certainly doesn't stop Olive Garden at all. So I just can't see the road access problem argument being used effectively. But maybe we should question why do restaurants in that area of 'Uptown' seem to have so many problems? I know the economy certainly has hurt most restaurants. But that area seemed to have problems even before the economy went down. That's been a big area for chain restaurants for Fayetteville. Could it be that Fayetteville or a particular part of it is just going to be somewhat resistant to chain restaurants compared to other NWA cities? Had TGIF located to Rogers or Bentonville instead of Fayetteville would they have done better? While all the NWA cities have had a lot of population growth and new people move in over the past decade or two. Fayetteville still has that element where a number of people would be more likely to visit local restaurants over chains. I don't think any of the other NWA cities have that element. For that matter maybe I should point out the Ft Smith still has their TGIF.

I put it down to many factors....likely bad management on the part of the franchisee, the overall economy, TGIF being very generic even for a chain, Fayetteville having more people than usual who dislike chain restaurants, density of chain restaurants in the immediate area, and god-awful access from Milsap to Shiloh. There's a bunch of office workers in that area, I used to be one of them, and when going out to lunch that lack of convenience often meant we'd go to Colton's or Chili's for lunch instead. What should be a three-minute drive is often ten or more. Olive Garden, for whatever reason, is popular and nichey enough to overcome all of that.

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I put it down to many factors....likely bad management on the part of the franchisee, the overall economy, TGIF being very generic even for a chain, Fayetteville having more people than usual who dislike chain restaurants, density of chain restaurants in the immediate area, and god-awful access from Milsap to Shiloh. There's a bunch of office workers in that area, I used to be one of them, and when going out to lunch that lack of convenience often meant we'd go to Colton's or Chili's for lunch instead. What should be a three-minute drive is often ten or more. Olive Garden, for whatever reason, is popular and nichey enough to overcome all of that.

Good points. I do admit better access to that area would certainly help. But I think some people tend to use that reason too much. As you pointed out there's got to be other reasons. In this case all of the above probably did them in. I always wondered what if Noodles had picked a location further away. While their current building is nicer than the old one. I can't help but wonder if they could draw some people away from the Olive Garden if they had picked a location away from it and might be more accessible. You can't really take people away from the Olive Garden if your restaurant is pretty much right next to it. I'm sure Noodles does alright for itself. But might be able to do more if they had managed another location. Outside of Bordino's is there any other location in Fayetteville for Italian food?

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Good points. I do admit better access to that area would certainly help. But I think some people tend to use that reason too much. As you pointed out there's got to be other reasons. In this case all of the above probably did them in. I always wondered what if Noodles had picked a location further away. While their current building is nicer than the old one. I can't help but wonder if they could draw some people away from the Olive Garden if they had picked a location away from it and might be more accessible. You can't really take people away from the Olive Garden if your restaurant is pretty much right next to it. I'm sure Noodles does alright for itself. But might be able to do more if they had managed another location. Outside of Bordino's is there any other location in Fayetteville for Italian food?

A new Italian restaurant is going in to the old Bizzy's location. It is owned by the group that owns Theo's.

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Good points. I do admit better access to that area would certainly help. But I think some people tend to use that reason too much. As you pointed out there's got to be other reasons. In this case all of the above probably did them in. I always wondered what if Noodles had picked a location further away. While their current building is nicer than the old one. I can't help but wonder if they could draw some people away from the Olive Garden if they had picked a location away from it and might be more accessible. You can't really take people away from the Olive Garden if your restaurant is pretty much right next to it. I'm sure Noodles does alright for itself. But might be able to do more if they had managed another location. Outside of Bordino's is there any other location in Fayetteville for Italian food?

Pesto Cafe- best in town IMO.

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