Mooyah burger chain looking to expand in Houston area
Houston’s burger scene could get more competitive with Dallas-Fort Worth chain Mooyah seeking to open locations.
The company is recruiting franchisees in the Houston area, company President Doug Willmarth said. It is Mooyah’s latest push to gain ground in its home state; nationally, the chain has 90 locations.
“We have a situation where both Houston and San Antonio, right now, we don’t have a presence,” Willmarth said. “So as we sit down and we look at the footprint of the brand and where we think the best places to operate are, of course, we look at Texas as being home ground for us.”
The brand’s closest location to the Houston region is College Station. It is looking to work with five to seven franchisees, each with enough territory to have three to five restaurants. A timeline for opening sites in the area hasn’t been set.
Mooyah’s quest to expand comes as Austin burger brand P. Terry’s aims to arrive in Houston this year. San Antonio-based Whataburger has been making strides in its national expansion, with an upcoming location in Fulshear.
The brand opened locations in the Houston area in 2016 and sought, in 2019, to open 26 more in the region by the end of 2021. Willmarth said that Mooyah, coming out of the pandemic, decided to revisit its restaurant design to accommodate changing consumer habits, and so slowed its expansion. A company spokesperson said the restaurant’s updated design includes high-top seating and larger tables. The brand also plans to launch a drive-thru.
Founded in Plano in 2007, Mooyah is owned by California-based private investment firms Balmoral Funds and Gala Capital Partners. It has 13 restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and two in the Austin area.