Now hiring a general manager

Could do well pending their location. Have any clue where they intend to place it?

Personally, you couldn't pay me to open up a new business in the M/O area but good luck to the owner!

DadsanAg, why wouldn't you open a business in Midland? Just curious because I've been looking into bringing a franchise restaurant into Midland. I'm a 4th gen Midlander and decent restaurants seem to do well here through good and bad times. When oil was down through the mid-late 90s restaurants did not suffer. The theory was that people were staying in Midland and eating out instead of going out of town.

I suppose I may be jumping the gun on what I said but, the economy in Midland does rely on the O&G industry quite a bit.

During the lows, you may not go out of business but get damn close. Granted, opening a business, at all, is a risky venture that most often ends in failure.

I suppose it all depends on what kind of franchise you're looking to bring. Midland would definitely be the place to build between the two cities as most of the folks with more "permanent" positions likely live there.

Wish I could have been the fella to open the Chic-fil-A off the loop! That thing never seems slow.

Edit: In short, opening a business is risky enough as it is. To open one up in a city that thrives off the peaks and troughs of a single industry is just an added risk I'd rather not take myself

[This message has been edited by DadsanAG (edited 7/19/2010 1:58p).]

Regarding Freebirds, post seems to indicate location would be in new shopping center behind Northside Wal-mart, as I understand it. Please let this come to pass.

I'd prefer a Chipotle.

I don't see sustainability being a problem. Seems like nobody in this town eats at home.

Pretty cool that they're turning the old Bennigan's into a Genghis Grill also.

I'm not implying that it's impossible for any new business to find success in Midland, I just think the city comes with inherent, added risks to new business.

Go drive around a few of the newer neighborhoods. For quite some time, my dad's house was the only one occupied on a street that used to have ~20 or so inhabitants.

Anyhow, good to see they're doing something with that Bennigans.

chipotle, me too, but they won't franchise.

That's pretty cool but I don't know if I would drive from Odessa just to eat there.

I used to work with their real estate guy...I'll check..

only problem with Midland is finding help, oilfield pays alot more which can make it hard to find help

Absolutely. In 2008 there were restaurants closing on Sundays and cordoning off half of the restaurant because they couldn't find enough staff.

slowmach, you've got it. I was looking into opening a franchise restaurant here in Midland, but finding help is unbelievably tough. There are staffing companies that will bring in Eastern Europeans to work in your restaurant for a cut of the immigrants pay. Also, I don't want to run a restaurant and it's not easy to find a good restaurant manager.

Its happening:

http://www.freebirds.com/slow/home_slow.htm

slowmach NAILED it! Finding help, even bad help, at these food places is a killer! And the help is usually what kills the place.

Location: Did they give one?

Gig'em, Ole Army Class of '70

I heard recently that the new Freebirds will be built by Academy directly across from the new Community National Bank. Have any of you heard this?



[This message has been edited by WW99 (edited 12/14/2010 9:49a).]

Thats what I heard as well.

not nearly as cool as fish pond manager or aggiegrant for breaking news, but I'd like to take credit for finding this first

That's what I pegged as the probable location. Can't wait. Big ups to OP.

For those of us West Texans who've heard about Freebirds forever but never eaten there ...

What is so great about it?

What do you like to order?

Prices on their online menu look reasonable but I can see a meal price getting up there if you pile on extras ... what extras do you usually order with your burrito?

If they ever do open up a Midland location, I'll be sure to try it out.

My usual: Cayenne Tortilla, beef,black beans, pico, red onions, Monterrey Jack, sliced avocados. Then get BBQ sauce and mix it with the Hot sauce. Don't get rice, it's just filler. Burrito is such you def get money's worth.