Restaurants Serving Growth

Growth is not waning in the case of Panera. The 1,027-unit chain plans 170 to 180 new restaurants this year, up from 155 in 2006. About 60% of the St. Louis-based company's units are run by franchisees.

Panera might have a large unit count, but the company still has yet to rapidly expand in many West Coast markets, and until the pending purchase of a 44-unit chain called Paradise Café, didn't even have a presence in Phoenix. Plus, in many markets where there is a Panera presence, the chain has room for more density, stresses Neal Yanofsky, its president. "We're not seeing significant cannibalization," he says. "We're not feeling we're at saturation."

Kona Grill, based in Scottsdale, AZ, is on the other end of the spectrum. The company operates 14 restaurants across the country, but executives have big plans, seeing the potential for 100-plus units across the country in regional malls as well as lifestyle and power centers for the Asian- and American-themed chain.

Another concept looking to considerably ramp up is BJ's Restaurants, based in Huntington Beach, CA. Of the brewery-pizza chain's 55 restaurants 35 are in California, so there is room for more – over 300 – across the country, says Jerry Deitchle, BJ's president and chief executive officer. The company has about 13 units planned for this year, up from 11 in 2006.

Executives at the 136-unit, Emeryville, CA-based Peet's Coffee & Tea, also have a high California concentration, with 110 of its stores in the state. Though the company plans to focus its immediate expansion plans on the West Coast, the rest of the country presents other options, says Pat O'Dea, Peet's president and chief executive officer.

And a behemoth competitor like Starbucks isn't going to deter the chain's expansion plans. "We're always across the street; it's hard not to be," he says. "But that doesn't affect us either way." Peet's has 30 to 35 new units on tap for the coming year.