Restaurant Expansion Plans

Three restaurant operators have made the following noteworthy announcements about their respective growth plans:

Donatos (Columbus, Ohio) is set to start operating an automated restaurant at its hometown airport. Slated to open in June by a partnership involving Donatos, its sister company Agápe Automation and Appetronix, the robotic-run restaurant will debut in front of the security gates in Concourse B at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport. It will be operated by restaurateur HMS Host.

Though the partners did not detail any future installations of the technology, they did say it can also work in hospitals, college campuses and industrial environments—anywhere a traditional kitchen may not be feasible.

Firehouse Subs (Jacksonville, Fla.) plans a major push in Mexico. The sandwich chain announced it has entered into an agreement to open 100 restaurants in Monterrey and other major Mexican cities in the next five years.

Firehouse Subs is a unit of Restaurant Brands Intl. Inc. and has 1300-plus restaurants across the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Mexico, Albania and the United Arab Emirates. In recent months, the brand has announced plans to open its first restaurants in Brazil and Australia later this year.

Hot Dog! Wienerschnitzel (Irvine, Calif.) will take the wraps off franchise restaurants in six Walmarts in the Western U.S. this fall. The eateries are slated for Puyallup, Wash.; Alamogordo, N.M.; Tempe, Ariz.; Reno, Nev.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Bakersfield, in the chain’s home state of California. “Wienerschnitzel has spent decades building a strong reputation, especially on the West Coast, and this expansion into Walmart stores signifies a new era of growth for the brand,” Shak Turner, Director of Franchise Expansion at Wienerschnitzel, said in a news release.

Beyond Walmart, Wienerschnitzel is pursuing a range of non-traditional venues to broaden its reach, including airports, military bases, theme parks, food courts and convenience stores. Overall, the brand has 340 franchise locations in 13 states, along with 50-plus units in various stages of development across the U.S.