But as Lee broker Duncan Lemmon explains, Scottsdale-basedKahala also is looking for a host of other types of locations forits restaurants, including some new types of venues that it hasn'tentered previously. The North L.A. office in Sherman Oaks will workwith Lee's 23 offices nationwide, explains Lemmon, who is a Leeretail specialist and a 20-year industry vet.

"We have been named to cover all the ground that isn't in malls:neighborhood centers and other types of retail developments,mixed-use developments, office buildings and other locationsexclusive of malls, hospitals and airports," Lemmon says. Alongwith the many traditional types of locations, Kahala will belooking "creative solutions and opportunities for conceptlocations," he adds, explaining that the phrase "means that we areopen to put concepts into locations where the demand is there butthe location is different from any of the traditional locationsthat we've identified. We don't have any specific examples at thistime, which is why we're leaving it open and calling it creativesolutions. We are trying to think beyond what has already beendone."

Kahala already operates about 1,000 stores generating $450million in annual sales in a variety of formats in restaurants thatrange from about 700 sf to 3,000 sf, sometimes as a single Kahalarestaurant and sometimes as a co-branded location including two ormore of the Kahala concepts. Kevin Blackwell, the company'schairman and CEO, says its goal is to open more than 1,000 newrestaurants in the next three years "in high-profile markets on anational basis."