Out to Eat: New restaurant franchises are staking a claim in Utah.

• Author: Stewart, Heather
• Position: Business Trends

Retail follows rooftops--it's a tried-and-true real estate maxim. When population in an area grows, new shops and restaurants soon follow. In Utah, population growth has led to a boom in multi-family housing and that, in combination with several flourishing new office parks, has drawn an extensive menu of chain restaurants that are new to the Utah market.

Just since the beginning of 2018, Tampa-based PDQ, a fast-casual chicken tender chain, opened in Lehi, and California-based Chop Salad announced it's looking to expand into the Utah market.

The state's fast-growing areas--like Lehi, Draper and Pleasant Grove--have drawn the attention of national chain restaurants, says Melva Sine, president and CEO of the Utah Restaurant Association. When evaluating a new location, she says, most restaurants look within a 10-mile radius of the location to ensure there's enough people to support it. And Utah County is ground zero for a population boom.

"The Silicon Slopes area is one of the hottest markets around because of all the housing that's going in, all the office construction--they're building 300,000 square foot office buildings that are preleased," explains Heather Bogden, vice president of retail for Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors. "So that area is one of the hottest, and it's also one of the fastest-growing counties in the U.S."

Fresh fare

While sheer population growth is one reason new chains are opening here, evolving food trends are also dictating what kinds of restaurants will be successful in any given market. Utah, with its youthful, active population, is drawing several restaurants with fresher, healthier options.

For instance, MAD Greens first came to Utah in late 2016. The fast-casual eatery offers customizable salads with a full palate of fresh toppings, like artichoke hearts, edamame, quinoa, Kalamata olives, feta cheese and avocado. The restaurant proved successful in its Lehi location and soon opened another location in Farmington.

Utah is home to "active-lifestyle people who are interested in taking care of their bodies," says Rick Timmons, who brought CoreLife Eatery to Utah in the summer of 2017.

CoreLife offers greens, grains and slow-simmered bone broth dishes. Timmons, who first moved to Utah 12 years ago, discovered the New York-based chain just a couple of short years ago, when it only had five total locations. "We looked over the brand and over the menu and thought it would be a good fit for Utah," he says.

So Timmons...