Union Kitchen's owner dishes on sweet success, plus the hottest Houston openings

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On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," Gr8 Plate Hospitalityowner Paul Miller joins CultureMap food editor to discuss his growing business. Miller traces his rise in the restaurant business from its roots in the Pappas organization to its current point, which includes five locations of The Union Kitchen, two locations of Jax Grill, a food truck, and a thriving catering business. 

The Union Kitchen has thrived based on two primary strategies. The first is a broad menu that truly offers something for everyone, and the second is finding opportunities in underserved neighborhoods like Bellaire, where Miller opened his first restaurant almost 10 years ago, Memorial, Kingwood, and Garden Oaks. Gr8 Plate has also grown through acquisitions, as Miller did when he purchased the burger-oriented Jax Grill concept a few years ago. Miller explains why he might be interested in acquiring other restaurants in the future.

There's a lot of stuff that is, I don't want to say in peril, but there's a lot of question marks around town. People are looking to make some moves. If somebody came to me and said, 'I've got these three restaurants that are doing just ok. I would sell them to you for X number of dollars.' I would buy them and bring them under our umbrella. Use our buying power from our broadline distributors and liquor distributors to take costs down. Fortunately, in that situation, we could be making money within a month, whereas the other restaurateur doesn't have that buying power . . . That's really what we're talking about with some of these other concepts that we're looking at. Can I take their P-and-L and bring it into our system and put more money to towards the bottom line? If the answer is yes, we'll talk about it. If it's a no, let move on down the road. 

Prior to Miller's interview, local bartender and beverage consultant Linda Salinasjoins Sandler to discuss the news of the week. Their topics include: the sale of State Fare to the owner of Star Cinema Grill; the prospects for Savoir, the wine-driven new restaurant coming to the Heights later this year; L'Olivier's plans to reconcept as Avondale Food & Wine; and the imminent opening of State of Grace owner Ford Fry's two new restaurants, La Lucha and Superica. In the restaurants of the week segment, the duo share some first impressions of Saint Arnold Brewing Company's new restaurant and beer garden and Kau Ba Kitchen, the new Vietnamese restaurant in Montrose.  

Source: Houston Culture Map

Retail wrap: Fortress BeerWorks heading to Spring; Flying Biscuit Café to make Houston debut

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Fortress BeerWorks has leased a 6,620-square-foot space at 2606 Spring Cypress Road in Spring for a craft brewery to open this fall. The brewery, co-owned by head brewer Dion Billard, expects to be open Thursday through Sunday at the outset, and will partner with local food trucks. Chris Caudill of NAI Partners represented the brewery. Thomas Leger and Chase Cribbs of Lee & Associates represented landlords Blake Vincent and Richard Werner.

Flying Biscuit Café has leased 3,087 square feet in The Shops at Memorial City, 12389 Kingsride Drive, for its first Houston location. Brett Levinson with Weitzman represented the landlord. David J. Littwitz with Littwitz Investments represented the restaurant, which will open later this year. A second Houston location is set for 2019. Founded in Atlanta in 1993, there are 17 Flying Biscuit locations.

A private investor purchased a 3,850-square-foot building leased by Mercantil Bank at 3200 S. Shepherd Drive. JLL’s Pierce Owens, Donna Kolius and Kaylie Walker represented the seller. Ethan Offenbecher with TREK Investment Group represented the buyer.

Sozo Japanese Steakhouse has leased 2,625 square feet at the Crossing at Telfair at Texas 6 and U.S. 90 in Sugar Land. Hampton Inn Hotel and three more retail buildings are being built in the center, which will house Wingstop, Decadent Dessert and Coffee Bar, 20/20 & Beyond Eyecare, Nails of America, Lash Studio and other tenants. Eddie Lang of Quenby Commercial represented the tenant. Inna Gallagher of Rubicon Realty represented the landlord.

Shaka Power Yoga has leased 2,396 square feet at 10611 Fry Road, Cypress. Feysal Edris of Lee & Associates represented the tenant. Grant Gold with Howard Hughes Corp. represented the landlord.

Wingstop has leased 2,235 square feet at 11092 Fondren for a store to open this fall. Jason Gaines of NAI Partners represented the tenant. Austen Baldridge of New Quest Properties represented the landlord.

Hummingbird Montessori has leased 10,000 square feet at the Shops in Riverstone on the northeast corner of University Boulevard and W. Avalon Drive, Sugar Land. Jesse Hernandez represented the landlord, Hunington Properties.

Honeybee Foods has subleased 4,087 square feet at 6127 Texas 6, Missouri City. Benny Nguyen of Retail Solutions represented the sublessor. Hal Colbert of Colliers International represented the subtenant.

Full story: Houston Chronicle

Local restaurant group to expand 2 concepts to Katy lifestyle center

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Gr8 Plate Hospitality is heading west — west Houston, that is. 

The locally based restaurant group inked leases for two of its concepts at Houston-based NewQuest Properties’ Stableside at Falcon Landing in Katy in the Cinco Ranch area, according to a press release. The Union Kitchen will open its sixth location in a 5,000-square-foot space with seating for 450 guests, while the third storefront of Jax Grill will be 4,000 square feet with seating for 350. 

The restaurants are scheduled to break ground this summer, and the construction is expected to finish by early 2019, per the release. Both locations will feature large patios with outdoor seating and views of a shared green space. Click through the gallery above to see renderings of the concepts and the lifestyle retail center.

Total investment costs for the new storefronts are estimated to be $2.2 million, a spokesperson said. The Union Kitchen, at 9920 Gaston Road, suite 100, will hire about 60 employees, while Jax Grill, at 9910 Gaston Road, suite 200, will need about 40 people to work in the restaurant. 

Owners Paul and Doris Miller tapped two Houston-based firms as the designer and general contractor: Mark Boucher of Houston-based Boucher Design Groupis doing the design, while Charles Chapman of Corinthian Contracting is overseeing the build-out. Chapman also constructed The Union Kitchen’s Ella Boulevard and Washington Avenue locations, per the release.

David Littwitz of Littwitz Investments Inc. represented Gr8 Plate in the lease negotiations, a spokesperson said.  

Stableside is on 34.4 acres at the intersection of Gaston Road and Falcon Landing Boulevard in the Cinco Ranch area. The restaurants’ neighbors at the lifestyle retail center will be the 121,000-square-foot VillaSport Athletic Club and Spa, whose lease kicked off phase II of Stableside, and the 102,473-square-foot Kroger Signature store, which anchored the first phase of Stableside. That first phase was announced in September 2015 and completed in late 2016.

Across Gr8 Plate's three concepts — The Union Kitchen, Jax Grill and The Rollin’ Kitchen, which is an events and catering concept — the company has more than 400 employees, per the release. The Union Kitchen has locations in Bellaire, the Memorial area, Kingwood, Ella Plaza and on the ground floor of a new luxury apartment complex, Elan Memorial Park, off Washington Avenue. Jax Grill has stores in Bellaire and on Shepherd Drive just south of Katy Freeway. 

The Millers recently won the Texas Restaurant Association's Outstanding Restaurateur award, per the release. In January, they were recognized as the Greater Houston Restaurant Association Restaurateur of the Year.

Full story: Houston Business Journal