Twenty units a year. Concepts and new food ideas distinguish this group. Customers at Mississippi-based McAlister's Gourmet Deli order food at the counter and await service at the table. The company plants itself in university towns because of the ample employment pool and bustling population of young families. Pretzels are hardly new.
Home delivery is kick-starting more than one chain.
Owners of juice bars across the nation hope market growth for blended fruit drinks will match specialty coffee's. San Francisco-based Jamba Juice, with 45 stores, intends to be in 1,000 more locations within five years. By the end of 1997, Smoothie King projects 450 units sold and more than 160 in operation. The first Culver's Frozen Custard restaurant was started by George and Ruth Culver and their son Craig and his wife in 1984 in Sauk City. First franchise opened in Baraboo, Wis. in 1988.