Rubio’s Restaurants, a popular fast casual chain known well to the west coast of the United States, is preparing to head cross-country.
According to a company announcement, Rubio’s has signed an agreement with Ruby Tuesday to acquire eight restaurant locations in Florida. If all goes well, the chain intends to convert each property to Rubio’s Coastal Grill settings and cement the chain’s first ever expansion to the East Coast in 30 years.
The deal signed between Rubio’s and Ruby’s is to the tune of USD 6.3 million (EUR 5.9 million), and involves eight corporate-owned Lime Fresh Mexican Grill facilities.
As the San Diego Union-Tribune points out, the addition of the eight restaurants will up the Rubio’s inventory to more than 200 stores; the closest restaurants to the Atlantic coast to this point were storefronts in Denver and Salt Lake City.
“We've been contemplating a new market for a while in conjunction with the success we've had, and it helps to have new markets we can grow into,” said Ralph Rubio, co-founder of the chain, to the Tribune. “We had been looking at Texas for a while and then this opportunity came up with Ruby Tuesday.”
“This could be a springboard to other markets on the East coast, but we have no direct plans at this point. We are looking at new real estate in Florida, like Miami, Tampa, Sarasota, to complement the eight we're taking over,” he added.
Both parties expect their transactions to culminate next year, with the new Rubio’s locations ready to open their doors by Q1 in 2016. The new outlets would be located in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg and Orlando.