For a city that prides itself on its independent, homegrown restaurants, Tucson is a magnet for national chains.
Since last summer, at least seven national chains opened their first Tucson locations, including four since January — two of which selected Tucson for their first ventures outside their Midwest home bases.
They join nearly a dozen national fast-food chains that have set up shop in Tucson in the past decade or so, including the Oregon-based Dutch Bros. Coffee, Kansas's popular Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Wisconsin's Culvers, Louisiana's Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers and the Phoenix chain Salad and Go.
"The restaurant industry in Tucson is booming for obvious reasons," said Terry Kyte, president of Tucson Originals, whose family owns the Bisbee Breakfast Club restaurant, which has five locations in the Tucson area. "If I had to guess, a lot of the chains are looking at us with new eyes under (the 2015 UNESCO City of Gastronomy) designation. Independents created the vibrant scene we have now — a literal City of Gastronomy — and it’s not surprising that national chains are coming in to try to get a piece of it."
"Whenever something new opens up, Tucson just flocks to it," said Jeramy Price, a commercial real estate broker with Volk Company who specializes in national brands.
Tucson is no stranger to national chains, from our fascination with burgers that heralded the arrival of In 'N Out Burger, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Blake's Lottaburger and Smashburger starting in 2007, to our fleeting love affair beginning in 2014 with fast-casual pizza including Pieology, Fired Pie and several other brands that have long since moved on.
But what makes the recent surge in new chains interesting is the pace at which they are expanding, opening multiple locations one after another, with no signs of slowing down.
Dutch Bros. went from its single location at 120 S. Wilmot Road in fall 2018 to a dozen today. Raising Cane's has expanded to four locations after opening its first here in late 2015 at 6352 E. Broadway. And both Freddy's and Culver's, which introduced their takes on burgers and frozen custard in 2011, are each sitting at five Tucson area locations; Culver's also has a restaurant in Green Valley.
Customers roll through the Salad and Go location recently opened at 1730 E Tucson Marketplace Blvd., Tucson, Ariz., June 14.
Arguably the fastest-growing chain is Salad and Go, which launched in Phoenix in 2013 and opened its first Tucson restaurant at 5501 E. Speedway in August 2021. Before 2021 was history, the salad and wraps concept had opened its second location at West River Road and North La Cholla Boulevard. It added two more locations in 2022 and a fifth this year, with No. 6 expected to open later this summer.
Tucson could see another four locations open in 2024, said Salad and Go's Chief Development Officer Matt Copenhaver.
"We’ve always been confident that we’d do well in the Tucson market," Copenhaver said in an email interview. "Looking long-term, we believe the market can support 15 or more Salad and Go locations."
Price, who works closely with national chains, said Tucson became attractive to national brands once its metro population hit 1 million in 2015, but it was the makeup of the population that prompted Boise, Idaho's Gyro Shack to make inroads into the market this spring.
Seth Brink said he and his partners, Mark Urness and Matt Jeffries, honed in on Tucson because of its diverse population including the large influx of Midwest and East Coast winter visitors and college students, and Urness's family ties to the city; he has relatives here and he has operated businesses in Tucson.
The partners opened Tucson's first Gyro Shack at 5755 E. Broadway in mid-April and already have plans for a second. It is the first location for the fast-casual Greek restaurant outside Idaho.
"For us, the sales are great. They are better than we expected," said Brink, who with his partners bought Gyro Shack from its founder in 2015. "We’re excited to see what happens when it cools off a little and people are ready to eat outside again."
Joshua Sampson, middle, enjoys a tasting of dishes with his kids, Gwendolyn, right, and Sebastian, during the grand-opening of Chick-in Waffle on May 19.
Tucson also landed the first Chick-In Waffle restaurant outside of its Kansas City, Missouri, home base. Oro Valley businessman Sunny Patel and several family members opened the chicken-and-waffles restaurant on May 19 at 5524 E. Grant Road. Two locations in the Phoenix area also are slated to open soon.
Volk's Price said the new chains are doing well in part because "there’s just people that are gonna go to chains because it may be slightly more convenient."
"They know what they are going to get each and every time," he added. "I think no matter who comes in, the people of Tucson are going to be receptive and want to try something new. It's not a Tucson thing; it's a human desire to try out new foods, to try out new concepts."
But Tucson Originals' Kyte said he worries that Tucson might be on the verge of becoming oversaturated between local restaurants and the national chains.
"I’m all for choice, and living in Tucson, I want more options and more choices in restaurants," he said. "But at a certain point — and I don't know if we've reached that point yet — there’s going to be saturation."
"I think it comes down to my belief in independents to persevere and Tucson diners to continue to support them as they have done for at least as long as I’ve been in operation," Kyte added. "I think folks in Tucson understand the power of their spending."
