Restaurateur Plans Upscale Eateries

The restaurants will operate in the 615,000-square-foot Uptown Village at Cedar Hill in suburban Cedar Hill, TX and the 3-million-square-foot Village at Fairview in Fairview and Allen, TX. Both centers are being developed by MGHerring Group. The restaurants will also open in Cypress Equities' 950,000-million-square-foot West 7th in Fort Worth. In addition, a Bailey's Prime Plus will open in Harvest Partner's 700,000-square-foot Park Lane on Dallas' north side.

And there could be more to come. "We looking at more sites right now, one in Southlake (TX) and in north Fort Worth," Bailey tells GlobeSt.com. "We haven't signed anything yet, but those sites have been presented to us. We're receiving the proposals next week."

Bailey's concepts of high-end ambience with good value will put him head-to-head against steak houses and Italian restaurants, both of which are plentiful throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He says Bailey's Prime Plus is different from standard steak houses with that more to be open, with a lot of windows and natural light. Furthermore, the menu offers smaller portions that will appeal to women.

"A lot of women aren't Fred Flintstone," Bailey remarks. "They don't want a 20-ounce, in-bone rib eye. But a lot of steakhouses don't offer the option of smaller portions." Patrizio, which is already open in Uptown Village at Cedar Hill, will provide the same ambience, value and well-lighted interiors as its meatier Bailey's Prime Plus, but with Italian food.

Bailey is opening, and planning to expand, these restaurants during a time in which many mid-to-high-end dining establishments are closing. But Bailey contends it's economics that determines the success or failure of a restaurant. Key among the economics, he explains, is getting decent lease deals. It helps that quoted rates per square foot in retail centers are less today than a couple of years ago. What also helps is that landlords are more flexible.

Bailey points out he obtained a great lease deal for space at Uptown Village because the development is new and somewhat unique to the area. Cedar Hill doesn't have another upscale mixed-use retail project. With the Village at Fairview, Bailey says MGHerring was amenable to combining the Prime Plus and Patrizio leases into a single, more economical package.

Added to that, of course, are the demographics. The centers in which the restaurants will operate are targeted to higher-end consumers. "In Cedar Hill, the trade area is somewhere around 300,000 people, and to my knowledge, we're the only upscale steakhouse in the area," Bailey adds.

As a result of what he dubs "Darwinism economics," in which the fittest restaurants survive because of a solid economic base, Bailey is confident his concepts will succeed and capture a good chunk of market share. "Based on our projections, even in today's economic climate, if we end up with 15% less than we projected, we'll still experience a positive cash flow," he says.