Qdoba Comes to Queens

Unlike the generally proscribed format established by the Denver-based restaurant chain, this unit will occupy just 850 sf. There will be no waiters or waitresses, and it does not have the ability to serve beer or wine. Meanwhile, the trio that formed Madalex LLC to obtain and operate Qdobas here is in the process of negotiating leases for additional units. "The others will be more like standard Qdobas," says Scott Edelstein, president of Madalex.

While attending the wedding of his friend and now Madalex partner, Andrew Morgenstern, Edelstein says, "I stumbled into a Qdoba in Philadelphia, which had been open for just three weeks. I loved the food and the concept, and spent the next year and a half developing a business plan to obtain the Queens franchise." It is fitting that Morgenstern became a partner along with Bob Feldman, the partner with the most restaurant experience.

"My family has been in the restaurant business for 30 years," Feldman tells GSR. "My mother owns a Ritz diner in Livingston, NJ, and my father ran several fast-food restaurants and delis in Manhattan." Feldman himself now has two Verizon Wireless franchise units in New Jersey. Morgenstern is an options trader, and Edelstein concedes that his only restaurant experience was as a waiter in Downtown Manhattan's Mesa Grill before he began exercising his penchant for ownership by opening three car wash units.

While their Qdoba agreement currently calls for 12 units within five years, the three believe, and Qdoba management agrees, that Queens County can accommodate between 18 and 24 units. And these partners make it clear that their ultimate horizon reaches beyond this New York City borough.

For now, however, they are negotiating leases and scouting Queens locations. The Queens Center Mall location fits within the "exception basis" of Qdoba's site guidelines, based on its high traffic and strong co-tenancy and high-density demographics. It also offers exclusivity in the Mexican, fast casual category.

While free-standing locations of approximately 2,300 sf are a prime location in the parent company's guidelines, "there's very little opportunity for freestanding units in Queens," Edelstein says. Madalex will open Qdoba units primarily in malls or in-line locations with high concentrations of daytime and residential population.

Qdoba opened in Denver in 1995 and has since grown to more than 220 units in 31 states nationwide. In 2003, it was acquired by Jack in the Box, but continues to operate as an independent subsidiary. Its menu centers around large signature burritos in a range of flavors. All entrees are prepared in front of the customer and topped with the customer's choice of five proprietary Qdoba salsas.