First Watch chain plans its first Monmouth restaurant
EATONTOWN – First Watch, a breakfast and brunch restaurant chain, has set its eyes on Eatontown for its first restaurant in Monmouth County.
Monmouth Plaza, the shopping center at the corner of Route 35 and Wyckoff Road, has filed paperwork with the Planning Board to turn a 3,950-squarefoot retail building, now under construction at the front of the shopping center, into a First Watch restaurant.
The proposal also includes space for outdoor seating. The board is tentatively scheduled to hear the application on
March 4. A First Watch spokesperson did not have a comment on the proposal.
If approved, it will join Hackensack Meridian Health and Wellness Center. Amazon has not given an update on its Amazon Fresh store expected to come to Monmouth Plaza.
With more than 480 locations in 29 states, First Watch, a daytime dining restaurant serving breakfast, brunch and lunch, has five restaurants in New Jersey, but none in Monmouth or Ocean counties.
Its menu features items including a Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, Farm Stand Breakfast Tacos, Spiked Lavender Lemonade and Million Dollar Bacon.
Last year, First Watch said it will open a restaurant at the Brick Commons shopping center, which sits at the corner of Route 70 and Chambers Bridge Road.
That restaurant is expected to open in the summer of 2025, a spokesperson said Tuesday.
David P. Willis, an award-winning business writer, has covered business, retail, real estate and consumer news at the Asbury Park Press for 25 years. He writes APP.com’s What’s Going There column and can be reached at dwillis@gannettnj.com. Please sign up for his weekly newsletter and join his What’s Going There page on Facebook for updates.