Cheeseburger in Paradise: Jimmy Buffett's new restaurant chain launches in Indiana.

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Opener

It's one of those rare trends to start not on the coasts but in the Hoosier state. The first Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant--a venture involving singer! songwriter Jimmy Buffett and Outback Steakhouse Inc--is 1,385 miles from Buffett's beloved Florida Keys in a place that averages nearly 50 degrees colder in the winter.

But that meteorological disparity is one of the things that made Southport an attractive location for the first Cheeseburger in PARADISE, according to the chain's big cheese, president Debbie Eybers. Buffett already operates restaurants called Margaritaville in such locales as Key West, Orlando and New Orleans, but Eybers says Midwesterners on a cold winter evening will appreciate Cheeseburger in Paradise. "I would like to be in a place that feels like it's in the Keys when it's 10 below."

It didn't hurt that Outback owned some extra land at the Southport exit of Interstate 65, next door to another new Outback venture, Carrabba's Italian Grill. But Eybers also can cite strong demographic reasons for opening Cheeseburger in Paradise in Indiana. "The Midwest is a huge area for Parrotheads," she says, referring to the loyal fans of Buffett.

Though Cincinnati is reputed to be the world's Parrothead capital, Indianapolis is a strong contender as well, home to lots of sold-out Buffett shows and an organization known as the Church of Buffett, Orthodox, a fan club and Web retailer operated by local physician Chris Wilson and a loose affiliation of people who have an obsession with Buffett that borders on the extreme ("the alburris of Buffett constitute the Church's holy writ," according to the group's Web site, cobo.org)/

In any case, Cincinnati didn't get the new restaurant, Indiana did, Parrot-head eyes from across the country were on Southport in late August when...