Hungry for unique options
Family-owned restaurants gain in chain-heavy Surprise
Sitting in Tom Yum Thai Restaurant, Surprise retirees Ron Blankenship and Dick Annibal were enjoying a recent boys night out.
Annibal, who moved to Surprise from Seattle nine years ago, was pleased with the spicy meal served at the family-owned restaurant near Bell Road and Grand Avenue. The friends said they wanted to avoid the big chain restaurants that dominate the city.
“When we first started coming to Surprise, it was pretty thin,” Annibal said of the city’s restaurant scene. “Now we’re getting more choices. This is welcomed.”
While chains still dominate the city, there are signs that more family-owned restaurants are cropping up in Surprise, diners and industry experts say.
The new spots face some challenges, but restaurant owners say Surprise has fewer family-owned competitors and offers opportunities to reach customers.
Many Surprise residents are hungry for more dining choices.
At the top of every city-sponsored survey, residents ask for more independent restaurants, city officials say. Families and retirees want unique options in addition to the national chains that sink early roots in growing communities.
It’s no accident that chains are plentiful in many West Valley communities, said Margaree Bigler, the local food representative for the non-profit Local First Arizona advocacy group.
“What we have seen is that developers tend to get better financing options if they have chains signed on,” Bigler said. “Often they can’t get funding from banks if they have smaller, independent restaurants.”
Gradually, the assortment of Surprise restaurants is changing, said Al DeAngelis, Surprise’s small-business developer.
DeAngelis said he is fielding more calls from family-owned restaurant owners who seek a toehold in the city.
The entrepreneurs are drawn to Surprise because there is less competition, compared with Phoenix and the East Valley, DeAngelis said. They also like the demographics of the city, which has many young residents with families and will be expanding for decades to come.
“We have a population of 120,000 people, and one-third of them are kids,” DeAngelis added.
Restaurants follow socio-economic trends closely, and the West Valley was one of the fastest-growing regions during the boom years of the 2000s, said Steve Chucri, president and CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association.
Arizona has 8,500 restaurants, ranging from McDonald’s to the fanciest dining
rooms, Chucri said. More than 65 percent of them are independent, a term that includes locally based chains such as Wildflower Bread Co.
Restaurant owners consider many factors when choosing a location, Chucri added, and the density of established restaurants is a factor.
“There absolutely is an advantage to getting in early,” he said. “We’re one of the most competitive industries out there.”
That competitive factor influenced Dennis Tran when he opened Saigon Kitchen at Bell and Litchfield roads in Surprise two years ago. Driving around the area, he did not spot one independent Asian restaurant. Now the city has five.
“My friends who have restaurants never talk about the West Valley,” Tran said. “People don’t realize that the West Valley is booming.”
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