Updated: Dunkin' Donuts to return to region

After a decade since the last store closed and a three-year franchisee search, Dunkin' Donuts is returning to Huntsville.The company announced today that the Robinson family and Southern Food Services, Inc. have signed on to open four franchises on the north side of the city, with the first opening next year and all stores being open within five years.

When they talk about "North Huntsville," it is important to remember that they probably mean the entire northern half of Madison County. So don't be surprised to see a store in Madison/West Huntsville, or out on 72 East.

An interesting tidbit: Dunkin' Donuts came in #4 on the original Ideas Map in the category of new restaurants, beating out Dave and Busters.

Map of the proposed Dunkin Donuts/Five Guys site. (Click to enlarge.) Image by Google Maps/Labels by James Vandiver

Update (2/12): Dunkin' Donuts will open its first Huntsville location on North Parkway at the intersection of Country Club-- interestingly enough, right across the street from Krispy Kreme. Five Guys (the last to be built in the region for now) will accompany Dunkin' in front of Costco on a site that was once occupied by a gas station and a bank. The restaurants will open in August 2012. Another Dunkin' Donuts will open in Madison by the "end of the year," according to the Times.

Chipotle Coming to Huntsville

Several of you have asked if the construction going on between Cheddar's and Zaxby's on University Drive is for a new Chipotle Mexican Grill. While that is not the case-- what you're seeing is another new entry into the market, Panda Express-- Chipotle will be opening their first Huntsville restaurant in that same corridor.

Site plans for the Earth Fare (former Circuit City/Linens n' Things) shopping center across from Madison Square show a 2,400 sq. ft. Chipotle restaurant going in on the eastern side of the retail strip.

Chipotle's opening should please a lot of Huntsvillians, as it came in second in new restaurants on the original Ideas Map, just behind The Cheesecake Factory.

The Shoppes of Madison Tenants (Official and Rumored)

GBT has a new lease flyer out for Madison's new Target shopping center, with some of the smaller tenants that will join the big-box retailer shown. Ladies and gentlemen, if you were expecting something huge out of this project (and for that $7.5M price tag, you should), prepare to be disappointed.

I think most of the retailers and restaurants are familiar to you guys, with a few exceptions. Kinnucan's is a clothing store with locations in Auburn and Tuscaloosa. Which Wich is a sandwich shop whose closest locations are up in Nashville. Pie in the Sky Pizza is a small Nashville-based restaurant whose Madison location would be their first outside of Middle Tennessee. Zen Berry sounds like a frozen yogurt shop, and it is-- in British Columbia. Somehow I really doubt their first US location will be in Madison, so it may be something else. (UPDATE: Zen Beri is a frozen yogurt shop in Decatur, something I wouldn't have found if it weren't for one of the comments below.)

Update (12/2011): A previous version of this post discussed the possibility of HomeGoods being the junior anchor. With the announcement of Ross, there is no space left for HomeGoods at this shopping center. 

Below is a combined list of rumored and confirmed tenants:

Retail (smaller shops not included):

Target
Ross

Dollar Tree

Petco

Massage Envy

Rack Room Shoes

Maurice's

Kinnucan's*
AT&T

Restaurants:

Which Wich**

Zen Beri

Fulin's Asian Cuisine

Pie in the Sky Pizza**
Panera Bread
Moe's Southwest Grill?
Buenavista Mexican Restaurant

Legend:

* New to Region 

** New to State

? Rumored/Unconfirmed

Mellow Mushroom coming to Jones Valley

Love Mellow Mushroom, but live on the South side and don't want to drive all the way out to Providence? Sometime next year, you won't have to.

Mellow Mushroom is opening its second Huntsville restaurant on Cecil Ashburn, at the base of Huntsville Mountain. "Longtime" readers of the blog may notice that this is on the same site as the proposed St. James Place retail/office development that died early last year. The rest of the site isn't being developed, for now.

Cheddar's, Zaxby's planned for University

The land being cleared in front of the University Place shopping center (where Phil Sandoval's and Nothing but Noodles is) is for a Cheddar's restaurant. A Zaxby's is also planned for another outparcel across University from McDonald's. This will be the ninth Zaxby's in the area, but the first Cheddar's (looks similar to a Ruby Tuesday) in Alabama.

Mellow Mushroom is Open!

Undoubtedly the most anticipated restaurant this year (and last year) had a soft opening this week in the Village of Providence. The "grand opening" for Mellow Mushroom will be June 1st. It seems like a long time since the story broke here that the Atlanta-based restaurant chain was opening a franchise location in Huntsville. It was originally expected to open in August of last year, but was delayed several times. Seeing how many people were already there today at lunch, there is quite a demand; I think I'll wait a couple of weeks before I stop by and get a Mighty Meaty.

Sidewalk dining comes to Southside Square

Longtime local auto dealer Jeff Sikes has stepped into the restaurant business with a new European-themed "contemporary American" restaurant called Cotton Row (not to be confused with Cotton Row Market, which was a short-lived establishment next to Humphrey's a couple of years ago). It is scheduled to open this week on Southside Square downtown, according to the Huntsville Times. So, what's so special about this restaurant? The prospect of it prompted the city to lift a ban on outdoor dining a couple of years ago. The building it is housed in-- renovated by Sikes-- was also part of the first phase of a city "sidewalk revitalization project" that never really went anywhere.

Snappy Tomato Pizza opening its first Huntsville-area restaurant

Snappy Tomato Pizza, a Cincinnati-area-based chain of franchise pizza restaurants, is opening its first Huntsville-area location at the Harvest Square shopping center being built at AL 53 and Jeff Road. It will be the second location in Alabama (the other one is in Tuscaloosa). The news of its opening is the latest of several pizza-chain franchises opening up in the Huntsville area this year, including Marco's Pizza in Madison (already open) and Mellow Mushroom in Providence (opening later this year).

Einstein Bros. Bagels coming soon to Huntsville

On the heels of last month's announcement that Dunkin' Donuts was returning to Alabama, and in competition with Bruegger's, Einstein Brothers Bagels has announced its own plans to expand into Alabama. The Montgomery Advertiser reports that the capitol city will get up to three franchise locations of the chain, which will open in the next 6-18 months, along with other locations in the three other large cities in this state. Expect a similar number of stores for Huntsville.

Einstein Brothers has 600 restaurants in 35 states and DC. Many of the stores are in airports or on college campuses. The closest stand-alone locations are in Atlanta.

Smaller Developments- June 2008

I've found these upcoming projects on my various web searches in the past couple of weeks, but they're just a tad too small to dedicate a whole blog post to them. So here they go:

• A Guthrie's is supposedly coming to Winchester Road, on one of the outparcels of the old Winn-Dixie shopping center.
  
• A CVS/Pharmacy is planned for the northwest corner of Sutton Road and US 431 in Hampton Cove. And, of course, there's Brookestone at Hampton Cove, a 11,250 sq. ft. strip center planned for the northeast corner of the same intersection.
  

Dunkin' Donuts announces Alabama expansion plan

Dunkin' Brands announced today that it plans to open 142 Dunkin' Donuts franchise locations in Alabama in the next few years as part of an aggressive expansion plan to go nationwide and have 15,000 stores by 2020 (it currently has 7,200 worldwide). The company opened franchise development in the "Big 5" metro areas (Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa)- franchisees must agree to build at least 5 locations. If all goes well, the first stores could be open by the end of this year. Currently, there are no Dunkin' Donuts stores in Alabama, though one operated in Huntsville until the early 2000s. Baskin Robbins, which is also owned by Dunkin Brands and planning an expansion, has at least 4 locations in Alabama- 2 each in Huntsville and Mobile.

So, are you going to see a Dunkin' Donuts in your neighborhood? Based on previous announcements, we could see up to 30 Dunkin' and Baskin Robbins stores in the Huntsville metro (including Decatur), which means that if you have a McDonald's in your area, more than likely, a Dunkin' Donuts could be coming soon to you.

Birmingham Business Journal
Boston Globe

Fondue restaurant coming to Bridge Street

The Melting Pot, a chain of fondue restaurants with locations in Birmingham and Nashville, is opening at Bridge Street in the fall. The chain, which opened its first restaurant in Florida in 1975, has approximately 130 restaurants nationwide, with 42 locations "under development" according to its website.

Zoe's Kitchen expanding: Plans include Huntsville

Another Alabama-based restaurant chain could be opening its first locations in Huntsville in the next couple of years. Birmingham-based Zoe's Kitchen, which already has 20 restaurants in six states, is planning a nationwide expansion of 50 more restaurants, with a possibility of up to 180 in the next five years. Huntsville was one of the cities named as part of the expansion. So, where will they locate? Since it is more of a lunch restaurant, their first location will probably be near Research Park. If they decide to open a second one, look for it in the Airport/Whitesburg "restaurant cluster."

Birmingham News article

Momma Goldberg's coming to Huntsville?

According to a Birmingham News article, Momma Goldberg's, an Auburn sandwich shop, is planning to franchise and expand to ten locations across the southeast by the end of this year, including possible locations in Huntsville and Decatur. The restaurant opened a trial franchise in Homewood late last year, which according to restaurant operators, was very successful. "Momma G's" also plans to open locations in Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, and Atlanta.

Mellow Mushroom update

It's confirmed...

Mellow Mushroom is coming to Providence! A sign went up today on the ground floor of a future commercial building in the "town center" announcing that the Atlanta-based pizza chain is "coming shroom" to Huntsville. The restaurant is expected to open in August.

Patriots fullback interested in opening Dunkin Donuts stores here

In honor of the Super Bowl this Sunday, I found this blog post on the National Post (Canada) website. New England Patriots fullback Heath Evans was quoted that he was interested in opening Dunkin Donuts franchises in four Alabama cities: Auburn, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Huntsville. Dunkin Donuts has been looking at opening new stores in Alabama cities as part of its massive nationwide expansion. Their plans for Huntsville haven't been announced, but they are interested in building over 70 Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins locations in the Birmingham area starting later this year.

Too little, too late for Ovation?

The Huntsville Times reported today that a brew pub is lined up to take 6,000 sq.ft. of first-floor space reserved for a restaurant in the Big Spring Summit office building, along with space on the top floor for private parties. This does meet the space requirement to build Ovation; however, it is too late to get building permits approved by next week's deadline. So, in all likelihood, the project is now dead.

UPDATE: Triad Properties said that the first floor would have a "family-oriented, medium price-range restaurant" with an upscale bar on the top level.

Mellow Mushroom coming to Providence? Or Jones Valley, maybe?

Rumors are floating around that the famed Atlanta pizza chain Mellow Mushroom will be opening a restaurant in Huntsville this year. Providence seems the most likely location, but Jones Valley isn't out of the question either. It has been a long time coming- a quick look at their website shows that every major city surrounding Huntsville, along with places like Auburn and Oxford (south of Anniston), has at least one.

By coincidence, I checked out the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Chattanooga last week, and it was darn good. I recommend everyone to try it out when it comes to Huntsville.

Another Broken Egg Cafe Opens

Another Broken Egg Cafe, a familiar restaurant for residents of Louisiana and the Florida panhandle, has opened a restaurant in Jones Valley. It is the first one in Alabama. The restaurant specializes in breakfast. More locations are expected in Birmingham and Atlanta.

Another Broken Egg Cafe Restaurant