According to Nation’s Restaurant News, “Fazoli’s, the 243-unit Italian quick-service chain, opened its first nontraditional unit at a Walmart Supercenter in St. Louis Tuesday.”
“The smaller-footprint location is the first of what chief executive Carl Howard said would be more Fazoli’s restaurants in on-site formats at retail stores, campuses and travel centers. The 50-seat space is a conversion of a former on-site restaurant at the Walmart, which the Lexington, Ky.-based Fazoli’s said saved money on development costs. ‘This is about 40 percent of what it would cost us to go into a traditional space,’ Howard said. ‘We had to make some minor adjustments, and then off we went.’”
“Howard said the deal with Walmart encouraged current and potential franchisees that nontraditional growth could be a viable expansion mode in retail stores, college campuses, airports, or convenience stores and gas stations. Howard said Fazoli’s and Walmart will begin exploring more on-site units soon.”
