For restaurateurs and chefs considering opening a restaurant in greater Baton Rouge, certain neighborhoods stand out as “A” locations.
As part of Business Report’s new cover package on the city’s growing restaurant scene, the magazine notes national chains that can afford higher rents are scooping up sites in pricier parts of town. Meanwhile, eclectic eateries are gravitating toward neighborhoods where residents are keenly interested in the next food trend.
In downtown, lunch spots that cater to area’s 55,000 workers are still the neighborhood’s bread and butter, but the dinner business has been building steam. Developer Derek Fitch, part of the team that opened trendy oyster bar Jolie Pearl last fall, says downtown still has plenty of upside, especially with so much residential development underway.
“We’ve got 300 to 400 units coming online in next 18 months,” Fitch says. “These are all announced and they each have a different demographic.”
Meanwhile, over on Perkins Road, restaurants are attracted to the area between Acadian Thruway and College Drive because of its visibility and the general lack of restaurants there at present, says Jonathan Walker of the Maestri-Murrell commercial real estate brokerage. Where there is synergy, there are restaurants, Walker says. And there’s plenty of synergy near the Mall of Louisiana.
“The mall area is an ‘A’ location. You have hospitals, a lot of retail and a lot of cars,” he says. Prime locations mean top-dollar rents, which makes the area more in reach of national chains than local spots. In 2014, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Grimaldi’s Coal Wood-Fired Pizzeria opened right outside the mall.
Other hot areas for restaurants include the Perkins Road Overpass neighborhood, Mid City and the recently opened Jubans Crossing mixed-use development in Livingston Parish. Read the full feature.
Highlighting how important location can be for a fledgling restaurant, chef Steve Diehl and his wife Kristin Songy Diehl also tell Business Report about Twine as part of the new cover package. The two hope to open the boutique butcher shop and eatery in Mid City later this year. Along the way, the Diehls have experienced the challenges of searching for the perfect location in a city where commercial property rates are rising fast.
“Our first spot in the area did not turn out to be a good fit,” Songy Diehl says. “We were set back pretty significantly on our timeline, but we really wanted to be in Mid City. Now we have a new spot identified we’ll be announcing soon, and we’re actively working on a design and build-out.”
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