Blue Plate Network's Carter Wilson On Which Restaurants He's Going To In 2017 And Beyond

Blue Plate Network founder Carter Wilson will be the first to tell you the restaurant world has changed in North Texas. With nearly two decades of restaurant leasing experience, Wilson shared which areas of DFW are underserved and what his big-name clients are planning for 2017 and beyond.

The Collin County area now serves as a second center of the universe (DFW universe, that is) and traffic counts aren’t the end-all-be-all of analytics. After cutting his teeth under Mike Geisler at Venture Commercial, Wilson struck out on his own with a firm specializing in tenant representation of restaurants with serious aspirations to open multiple locations. Wilson shared how some of his clients, including Bread Winners, Truck Yard and Asian Mint, are planning to expand their real estate.

Bisnow: You’re already a niche operation. Are you even more specialized than restaurants?

Wilson: I don’t like chains, and I don’t like to do business for restaurants where I don’t like to eat myself. We specialize with local, best-in-class operators. We take great local operators who have real legs under them — that could be one unit or several — and help them grow and increase number of units. We bring a real estate sense to them. Most of the operators think like chefs and restaurateurs. They only make money via cash register, and [we] try to open their eyes to ideas [and] other opportunities to make money, like owning their own real estate, or potentially getting financing opportunities or incentive packages from cities. Our niche is for people who have a desire to have multiple units.

Bisnow: What are you working on in 2017?

Wilson: One of our newest clients is Asian Mint. They’re creating a fast-casual version of their concept. We’re going to aggressively grow that concept to have 15 fast-casual Asian Mints in the next three or four years. 

Idle Rye’s original restaurant is The Table in Flower Mound. When the world discovers them, they’ll blow you away. They have an aggressive growth plan as well. I think Idle Rye will be the growth vehicle going forward. Our goal is to identify a Fort Worth location and Plano/Frisco location as well. Our goal with them is to have four or five locations in the next three years. 

Felipe Armenta’s Cork & Pig is huge in Fort Worth. He has The Tavern, Pacific Table and Press Cafe also. I think he’s the most successful restaurateur in Fort Worth. We’re actively looking for a location in Dallas and growing that concept in small towns in Texas.

Truck Yard has a growth plan. We’re opening a second Truck Yard in Houston this spring. We’re under construction on the Nebraska Furniture Mart land in The Colony. That will be a combination of Truck Yard and Quincy's Chicken Shack. Our goal is to have 10 in seven years. We want to hit major markets with nice climates in up-and-coming cities.

Bisnow: You seem to focus a lot of energy on site selection. Why is that?

Wilson: Times have changed from a real estate selection process. It used to be about traffic counts and average household income. Now [we know] what could be a great site for one concept isn’t a good site for all concepts. You really have to understand who you are, and more importantly who your clientele is. Secondly, there are more important indicators, the most prominent of which would be daytime population. That’s the most important driver for the majority of restaurants. That comes down to who you are as a restaurant and what you’re trying to provide. You have to understand the core of that, and that’s how you determine the sites.

Bisnow: How do restaurants grow differently now?

Wilson: There’s the old saying of location, location, location. Based off that, you had to be in Uptown, or Northwest Highway or on Preston Road someplace. But ... I’ve adopted the big fish/small pond theory. Bread Winners in Trophy Club is a good example of this. Many people thought we’re crazy when we did that, but I know how their business works. They do a large percent of business in breakfast and brunch, and for that it’s a destination. I could put a Bread Winners almost anywhere in the Metroplex and there would still be an hour wait for brunch. If you use that as a strength, you can go find a trade area with less competition and do the same volume. If you go old school, you never would have done that. But we went out on a limb and got logical. It’s proving to be true. We recently had a Sunday at that location that outperformed every other location (pictured is the Uptown location). 

Bisnow: Have we gone overboard on restaurants in certain areas?

Wilson: Yes, sure. The number of restaurants in Plano, Frisco and The Colony are — Let’s just say there is going to be blood in the stream eventually. But I’m still taking my clients there because I think that’s a unique opportunity. There are a ton of restaurants coming online and only the strongest will survive. I would predict that there will be a massive amount of turnover around there in the next 24 months. 

Bisnow: Are there any places that need more restaurants?

Carter: Fort Worth has been underserved. I recognized that about Fort Worth probably four years ago, and shifted my focus there. I have north of 40k SF of restaurant deals for the next 12 months in Tarrant County. It’s a supply and demand thing. If Fort Worth was further away from Dallas, people would pay more attention to it. The quality of food hasn’t been as good and number of restaurants is low. 

Lake Highlands is another area that needs more restaurants. We’re going out to some big small cities like Waco, Lubbock and Tyler with that big fish/small pond theory. 

We’re definitely done in Deep Ellum. I was very hot on Deep Ellum. It’s a reality. I have so many clients in Deep Ellum with Twisted Root, Cane Rosso, Stirr, Filament, Idle Rye and Bread Winners' new concepts ​Harlowe and Trick Pony. I’m a huge fan of it, but it’s full now. 

Bisnow: On what specific real estate are you bullish? 

Wilson: Clearfork and Waterside in Fort Worth, Wade Park and The Star in Frisco, and Grandscape in The Colony. It’s hard to bet against any one of those projects. They’ll all do well.