Posted on: Friday, January 21, 2005
P.F. Chang's to open 3 sites
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| An artist's rendering offers a preview glimpse of the new P.F. Chang's China Bistro, a 282-seat restaurant planned for Victoria Ward Centers.
Courtesy of Café Hawaii |
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Competition among restaurants featuring Chinese cuisine is about to heat up like a hot wok, with one of the country's fast-growing chains expanding to Hawai'i.
P.F. Chang's China Bistro, an Arizona-based company with roughly 150 restaurants in about 35 states, has partnered with the local operator of Starbucks and Jamba Juice to develop the P.F. Chang's brand here.
P.F. Chang's also will add a new twist to the category of Chinese restaurants in Hawai'i. The company describes its food as traditional Chinese cuisine and innovative dishes influenced by Southeast Asia prepared with Mandarin-style wok cooking.
The dining atmosphere, however, is a contemporary American bistro setting. Entree prices range from $10 to $19, putting it in the upper end of casual dining.
Local retail consultant Stephany Sofos, who has been to P.F. Chang's in Las Vegas, said the company is one of the hottest restaurant chains on the Mainland.
"You have to wait in line to get in," she said. But Sofos questioned how successful P.F. Chang's would be in a market with heavy saturation of Chinese and Pacific Rim restaurants. "Here in Hawai'i, pan-Asian cuisine has been kind of a common thing," she said.
Dennis Forst, a managing director of investment banking firm KeyBanc Capital Markets in California, said P.F. Chang's is well operated and has been very successful, but hasn't entered many markets with strongholds of Asian cuisine like San Francisco or New York City.
"It'll be interesting to see how they do on O'ahu," he said.
Duncan MacNaughton, a principal in the local partnership to operate P.F. Chang's, said he believes that the restaurant will be well received and appeal to residents as well as visitors.
"Our group has a lot of valuable experience in introducing and operating highly respected and well-known retail and restaurant brands in the Islands, and we are honored that P.F. Chang's has entrusted us with the opportunity to bring their bistro concept to Hawai'i," he said.
Sherri Rigg, marketing director for Café Hawaii Partners, the local partner of P.F. Chang's, said the partnership is committed to opening at least three P.F. Chang's here, though the number will depend on such things as customer demand and the availability of suitable real estate.
Forst, the analyst, said that if the first location is successful, he would expect that additional locations might include the P.F. Chang's limited-service, fast-casual restaurant concept Pei Wei Asian Diner.
Rigg did not say whether that is a possibility. P.F. Chang's expects to open 18 to 20 bistro locations this year nationally.
P.F. Chang's was established in 1993. The company sold stock to the public in 1998 to help pay for expansion. For the first three quarters of last year the company reported $508 million in sales and net income of $16.2 million.
Typically, P.F. Chang's owns its restaurants. In Hawai'i the company partnered with Café Hawaii, an affiliate of the local real estate development firm The MacNaughton Group.
The MacNaughton Group through a joint-venture is developing Hokua, and through another partnership operates Starbucks and Jamba Juice. The real estate development firm also helped develop Waikele Center and Maui Marketplace, and plans to build a regional mall in Kapolei.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
The first restaurant, a 282-seat establishment expected to cost about $3 million, is scheduled to open in summer of 2006 on the ground level of the Hokua luxury residential high-rise under construction at the edge of Victoria Ward Centers in Kaka'ako. The expansion would add to the mix of eateries at Victoria Ward and integrate the tower with the live-work-play neighborhood concept that Victoria Ward intends to create at its primarily retail complex.
