Corner Bakery targeting Jacksonville for new restaurants
Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Jacksonville Business Journal
Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2013, 6:24pm EDT
A new fast-casual restaurant is scouting out sites in Northeast Florida, with Downtown Jacksonville at the top of the franchisee's list.
Corner Bakery Cafe on Wednesday announced plans for up to 10 locations between Tallahassee and Daytona Beach. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and specializes in seasonal dishes featuring fresh ingredients.
Lee-Wesley Group LLC has entered a franchise agreement with Dallas-based Corner Bakery but has yet to sign any leases, said Camille Lee-Johnson, executive vice president of Lee-Wesley Group.
Lee-Wesley operates a number of restaurant franchises, including five Burger King stores in Jacksonville.
Lee-Johnson wouldn't commit to any specific sites but said the company is targeting Downtown Jacksonville, Five Points and River City Marketplace, among other locations. The typical Corner Bakery store is 3,800 to 4,200 square feet and employs 40 to 50 people.
She said the company is drawn to Northeast Florida by the recent buzz surrounding the revitalization of Downtown Jacksonville.
"Jacksonville has put a lot of effort into developing itself into its own metropolitan area," Lee-Wesley said.
I think this is great news. Corner Bakery is a great franchise chain; I got many a breakfast and lunch in one when I worked in Buckhead in Atlanta. I totally get all three areas they mention they are targeting - Corner Bakery would fit well in Five Points and bring a national name to a generally local and underserved area close to DT and on the R-A-Ortega commute path. A DT location makes obvious sense because Corner Bakery is such a standard DT business crowd establishment. A RCM location confused me at first, but perhaps that area is also underserved and you have the business traffic that comes through the airport or up that way, facing very limited choices to dine with associates in an appropriate setting. I can see one at the beach as well as at SJTC.
Although they rattled off 3 areas and I just added 2, I went and looked at the Atlanta market - 3 in the city and 2 in close-in suburbs: 2 in Buckhead, 1 downtown, 1 in the Galleria area, which is also a large office submarket, and 1 on the eastside in an area that could considered similar to San Jose/Lakewood. DC has 5 in its metro, all near the District or in office areas. Metro Chicago has 5 in CBD areas. 10 between Jax and Daytona is very optimistic, but such is the nature of franchises...reality will set in.
Didn't realize they were a chain. Always hit the one in Buckhead when we are in Atlanta visiting my younger brother who lives in Morningside. Thought it was the only one. Great place; always crowded.
From the website this sounds like a Panera clone. Nothing wrong with that but not my cup of tea. 10 locations sounds optimistic but not too outrageous. 1-2 in Tallahassee, 1 in Gainesville, 3-5 in Jacksonville, and 1 in Daytona.
Although totally unrelated, for some reason when I first saw this Brooklyn retail rendering Corner Bakery popped in my head.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/2628318908_Wt6NScH-M.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Transit/Bus-Shelter-Advertising/i-vwqWpgH/0/M/P1230394-M.jpg)
I was taking a picture of this Chicago bus shelter a few years back but Corner Bakery ended up being in the background.
They just announced another one.
http://jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=542740 (http://jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=542740)
They are leasing out part of the Edwin Watts Golf center at Bonneval & JTB.
Heard they were giving free coffee for a year to the first 100 customers in line tomorrow. Can anyone confirm?
Yes, this is true. The first 100 customers get free copy for the year.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Development/Shoppes-on-Riverside/i-5pDHsT5/0/L/DSCF4170-L.jpg)
On 12/6/14 Corner Bakery was giving away an entree, desert, side and a drink all for free to anyone who walked in. It was a practice run to prepare them for their grand opening. I just hapened to be at the right place at the right time. The food was pretty good, especially their lemon bars.
Can't wait for the grand opening at 6 am. I plan on being one of the first 100 for the free coffee and hopefully I can win those free panini's for a year :D