The Qdoba Mexican Grill presence in the Consol Energy Center likely owes something to a lucky connection between the Mexican restaurant chain and Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. What good marketer wouldn't want to get a little play out of the coach's taste for its burritos?
But that's not the only reason franchisee Chad Brooks recently opened a new location at Settlers Ridge, is putting two inside vendor stations and a street-level restaurant at the new Uptown arena and is talking to the Pirates about a Federal Street location that could be ready for opening day 2011.
"Financing has opened up some," said Mr. Brooks, who hadn't built anything new since 2008, when consumer spending slowed and bank lending stopped as the financial crisis hit hard.
Much of the restaurant industry has been starving for the past two to three years, waiting for a return of the consumers who had decided dining out was a luxury they couldn't afford. In 2009, the worst year of the industry downturn, a net 8,000 restaurants were closed nationwide, compared with about 3,000 the year before, according to Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based food consulting group.
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