Dallas Business Journal – July 16-22, 2004

McAlister’s Deli has eye on Metroplex expansion
Sandra Zaragoza
Staff Writer

Another fast-casual restaurant, Mississippi-based McAlister’s Deli, which hopes to hook the lunch crowd, is being thrown into the Metroplex mix.

 

McAlister’s franchise owner, Chandler Buie, has plans to dot North Texas with 20 deli shops in the next four years.  Buie has exclusive rights in the North Texas market, and he anticipates his second shop will arrive by spring.

 

Buie has one deli in Texarkana and recently opened his second shop at a 20,000-square-foot strip center at 3432 E. Hebron Pkwy. in Carrollton.  The 3,700-square-foot shop is near the 300-acre International Business Park and the Shops at Willow Bend, said Calvin Hull, a partner representing The Billingsley Co. in the transaction.

 

“It has the ideal mix of business, retail and home sites.  We are doing a lot of business during the lunch hours so we wanted to be close to offices,” Buie said.

 

Glacier Commercial Realty L.P. is handling the real estate search for Buie, who said his is looking for 3,500-4,000-square-foot spaces in areas with high-density residential and commercial space.  Denton, McKinney, Dallas, Plano and Lewisville are among the areas he is considering.

 

“What separates us is our service.” Buie said.  “We want to be the one hour in the day where you don’t have to do anything.”