Cornelius, NC Restaurant Business News

Cowboy Restaurant in Cornelius, NC – Now Open!!

Restaurant owner and developer is combining real estate with new eatery near Charlotte

Cowboy-Restaurant-in-Cornelius-NC-North-Carolina

**Applications; go to: www.cowboyrestaurant.com/**

Now Open!

BY: ELY PORTILLO
elyportillo@charlotteobserver.com
November 10, 2017

Joe Douglas has spent much of his career combining his enthusiasm for real estate development with his appreciation of food.

Now, he’s developing another new restaurant concept in Cornelius, NC Real Estate: “Cowboy Restaurant”, a fast-casual eatery that will serve steak, house-made bread, ribs and rotisserie chicken. Douglas is also developing the building at Statesville and Bailey Roads, adjacent from another set of retail and office buildings he developed and owns, where one of his 131 Main Restaurants is located.

A company affiliated with Douglas bought the vacant land in 2015 for $804,000, property records show. Once Cowboy Restaurant is developed, he plans to build more retail space with offices above shops and restaurants on the remaining land, which could accommodate two more buildings.

Douglas’s development of his own space, rather than leasing space from an owner, allows him more control over the future of his restaurants. He said he plans to try new concepts in his buildings, which will also include a test kitchen for developing new recipes.

There are three 131 Main locations, in Cornelius, Asheville and Blakeney (Douglas shuttered the East Boulevard location in Dilworth last year after a series of fires in the kitchen). Another 131 Main location is opening in the coming months in SouthPark, at 5970 Fairview Road.

Douglas said Cowboy Restaurant, set to open in early part of 2018, will offer a bar, take-away food (with big platters of brisket and bottles of wine, for example) and sit-down dining.

The building design is meant to evoke mid-century California, Douglas said.

“We’re not a yee-haw kind of place,” despite the Cowboy name, Douglas said. Prices will be around $8 to $18, with a sandwich or lunch plate with tacos going for around $10.

“We can differentiate ourselves with service and quality,” he said.

Douglas has had previous success building and selling a fast-casual chain. Tenders Fresh Restaurant, a chicken chain that became the prototype for PDQ, was started in 2009 by 131 Main’s owners.

If you happen to be interested in purchasing a Cornelius, NC Home for Sale or a Townhome or Waterfront Condo, please Contact Us!!! The Martin Real Estate Team of Lake Norman