March 9, 2005
National Restaurant Designers lands design contract
with Mexico’s largest restaurant company
Cancun-based Grupo Anderson’s hires NRD to design their new United States locations, including flagship brand, Señor Frog’s.
Durham, NC – As the nation’s only architectural firm exclusively dedicated to restaurant design, National Restaurant Designers (www.restaurant-designer.com)
has crafted a niche in the hospitality industry. This unique
specialization attracted the attention of the nation’s largest
restaurant company in Mexico, Grupo Anderson’s, which recently
announced it has hired NRD to design the Cancun-based organization’s
new restaurants in the United States.
Formed as a division of
Lehmann Mehler Hirst Thornton Associates, PA (LMHT) – an architectural
and engineering firm that was founded in 1978 – NRD’s niche has helped
the company achieve record sales growth in the last year. The agreement
with Grupo Anderson’s will contribute to another record-setting year,
NRD officials project.
“We are excited about the opportunity to
have an integral role in introducing a prominent restaurant company
like Grupo Anderson’s to the United States market,” said Tony Hirst, a
partner with NRD. “With our expertise in restaurant design, we are
confident that we will help Señor Frog’s make a tremendous impact right
away. We look forward to a long relationship with Grupo Anderson’s, a
company for which we have tremendous respect.”
Operating
restaurants across Mexico and the Caribbean - and known worldwide for
its flagship brand, Señor Frog's - Grupo Anderson’s is expanding into
the United States this year with a $25 million investment and locations
in Myrtle Beach, Honolulu and Las Vegas. The restaurant company’s
officials project that each store will generate $8-$20 million in
annual sales – mirroring figures of their existing locations in Mexico
and the Caribbean.
“We are especially excited about working with
NRD because the company has experience in all of the markets we are
targeting,” said Jorge Hinojosa, director of development for Grupo
Anderson’s. “Their knowledge of the restaurant industry was very
appealing to us. We are looking to them to make necessary changes to
the prototype store to accommodate for the differences found between
the United States and Mexico.”
NRD was formed in March 2004 as a
result of a strategic planning session held to reestablish the focus of
the firm, which was originally established in 1978 and was experiencing
a marked decrease in revenues. Company officials recognized that about
95 percent of their client base was already restaurant-specific, and a
bulk of the projects LMHT gained was the result of poorly-designed
restaurants completed by generalist architectural and engineering
firms. With this in mind, LMHT decided to capitalize on its
expertise by creating a niche in the industry.
NRD’s sales
escalated swiftly with accounts like Hooter’s, Sonic, D.L. Roger’s,
R.J. Gator’s, McDonald’s, TGI Friday’s, Boston Market, Golden Corral
and International House of Pancakes (IHOP).
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Media Contact:
Quantified Marketing Group
407.936.1010
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