The hot-topic “fast-casual” restaurant sector debuts a new Wilmington player this month when Cabo Fresh Mexican Grill opens near Harris Teeter at the College Road/Wilshire Boulevard intersection.
Similar to wildly popular Chipotle chain, 75-seat Cabo specializes in customized Mexican standards such as burritos, tacos, nachos and quesadillas. Patrons order at a counter and then take seats at booths, tables, bar tables or on the patio.
“Our style is a little more authentic,” Cabo owner Jorge Villa said, explaining the menu leans West Coast/Baja fare. “There’s a little more Mexican kick in it, a little more spice in it, more flavor.”
Expect fresh vegetables; vibrant sauces such as mango pico de gallo; tender, spiced “Mexican ground beef” containing roasted diced potatoes; and housemade churros fried daily, Villa said.
The bar brings beer and margaritas, including the made-to-order Cabo Wabo Margarita with Cabo Wabo tequila and agave nectar, Villa said.
Cabo caps the new, three-unit shopping center adjoining Harris Teeter, 820 College Road. The strip is the first Wilmington project by owner Will Dickson of Legacy Properties-College Road Investments LLC, Dickson said.
Dickson, also development manager for Raleigh’s Chartwell Property Group, said he purchased the property in 2011 after noticing it was an underutilized section of the Harris Teeter parking lot. Dickson’s 5,800-square-foot shopping center is fully occupied. Cabo neighbors are Electra Vapor and ManiQ spa and nail salon.
“I would love to do more deals in Wilmington,” Dickson said. “These bigger grocery stores sure do seem to have their eyes set on Charleston (S.C.) and Wilmington, areas like that, that are being more of a focus for people to reside in.”
Villa, in the Cabo business with his wife, brother and father-in-law, operates two sit-down Mexican restaurants – Camino Real in Surf City and Cancun Mexican Restaurant in Sneads Ferry. Cabo is his first venture into fast-casual, a segment Villa said his family plans to pursue.
“What we’re thinking about is instead of restaurants in the future, maybe replicating, maybe making more than one of these (Cabo),” Villa said. “People are looking more into really nice fast food. They’re looking for something different than just burgers…Not expensive but nice.”
Somewhere between fast food and casual sit-down restaurants, fast-casual spots don’t offer table service but still focus on fresh ingredients and high-quality preparations.
Fast-casual sales grew by 11 percent in 2013; the unit count by nearly 8 percent, market research firm Technomic reported at FastCasual.com. The largest fast casual concepts — Panera, Chipotle and Panda Express — had sales gains of 12, 17 and 11 percent, respectively, Technomic found.
During this week’s National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, nationally known fine-dining restaurateurs, including celebrity chef Rick Bayless, extolled their successful fast-casual units, Nation’s Restaurant News reported. During a panel discussion, Bayless joked that he was “dragged kicking and screaming” from his Chicago fine-dining restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo into his now-growing fast-casual concepts including Xoco and Tortas Frontera at O’Hare International Airport and two college campuses.
Don’t think that fast-casual is scaling back fine-dining or other sit-down concepts, NRA show panelists warned. Fast-casual requires more time on operations, ingredient sourcing and staff training, Nation’s Restaurant News reported from the panel discussion.
