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Restaurants Cash in on Untapped Market
Lifestyle businesses getting toe hold in Lake Highlands neighborhoods
Lake Highlands People, by J.D. Sparks
January 28, 2005
Build it and they will come – and they just might stay for dessert.
Two new restaurants specializing in family-style dining are cashing in on a relatively untapped market in Lake Highlands.
Homeowners’ association sources say that quality restaurants top residents’ wish list, and more of these “lifestyle” businesses may soon be the trend in the area.
Foodies such as 41-year-old Anita Siegers, Highlands Café menu developer, say there simply aren’t enough family-style restaurants in the area.
While Lake Highlands has numerous fast-food franchises and a handful of restaurant chains, including the upscale Mi Cocina and Rigatoni’s, she said what it was really missing was a casual restaurant where folks could sit, relax, and spend under $12 a plate.
“Many restaurants have only one flavor and one price point,” she said. “We have several Italian restaurants but none of them are at an intersection. And we have no family dining at an intersection.”
Highlands Café, a 2,300-square-foot restaurant located at the intersection of Audelia and Kingsley roads in White Rock Valley, got its start when 20 investor families, all of whom live within a half-mile of each other, came together to build their dream of the perfect café.
“When the space became available, I can honestly say that just about everyone in the entire community said we should open a restaurant there,” manager and business partner Tommy Steele said.
Highlands Café opened in November to much fanfare. It specializes in casual American cuisine – sandwiches, salads, and burgers – with a few surprises, like the Mediterranean nachos and an Asian salad with crispy noodles.
The café backs up to a 1,400-home development of mostly young professionals and families with children, and it caters to this younger, hipper crowd.
Warm and bright, the décor is a mix of old and new. It features paintings by local artists for sale, and its use of recycled materials is both artful and functional.
“The restaurant is a physical example that the community is very strong and very connected and very loyal,” Terri Woods, Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association (LHAIA) president, said.
The LHAIA, an umbrella organization comprised of all the neighborhood and homeowner associations in District 10, encourages community-driven investment and redevelopment.
A 2001 survey e-mailed to 1,200 area residents reports that the overwhelming majority of respondents expressed disappointment in the quality of retail businesses. A staggering 65% said that restaurants did not meet their standards.
Residents ranked improving the quality of restaurants as fifth on their list of priorities, behind concerns over physical safety and housing.
The message is starting to reach entrepreneurs.
Earlier this month another family-style restaurant opened across town at the Northlake Center Shopping Mall.
The Divine Coffee Shop near Dixon Branch caters to the more mature set with pastel colors, soft music, and simple fare. Owners Rito and Mayela Fuentes also woo people on fixed incomes by keeping meals around $5-$7.
The coffee shop is in the immediate vicinity of about 6,000 residential homes, with predominately retirement-age people to the south and a mixed-age population to the north.
Inspired by the success of Highlands Café in marketing to its neighbors, Mr. Fuentes said he chose the location at Northwest Highway and Ferndale Road for his restaurant because of the number of seniors in the area.
“We saw how well the café was doing and saw that the community could sustain us,” he said.
While both restaurants show early signs of success, Ms. Woods was dubious about investor-owner business ventures, calling them “too labor intensive and maybe too Woodstockish to survive as a model.”
She said it is likely that in the near future Lake Highlands can expect to see new “lifestyle” stores opening – retail businesses such as Crate and Barrel and Starbuck’s, as well as restaurants that are charming but low key.
“Interest is starting to build,” she said. “Everybody’s waiting for the first domino to fall.”
Reprinted with permission of Lake Highlands People.
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