Growing In Grand Style
Al Copeland Investments seeks out locations for newest restaurant venture.

His name has become synonymous with the flavors and spirit of New Orleans. His philosophy is “Be the Best.” And his hospitality businesses are growing across the country. Al Copeland, creator of a chain of casual full-service restaurants, such as Popeye’s Fried Chicken and Copeland’s New Orleans, the only casual dining franchiser serving authentic New Orleans cuisine, now has a new concept in development, Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro. With locations open in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Metairie, Louisiana, the company’s goal is to have 20 new locations in 3 years.

Copeland’s years of expertise in developing and implementing systems gives him a leg up on designing and executing such a grand style café restaurant. When he founded Popeye’s more than 25 years ago, he created a reputation in the quick-service segment as an innovator and entrepreneur who understood what the customer needs and wants. In fact, among many other honors, Copeland was named 1989 Entrepreneur of the Year by The International Franchise Association.

In 1983, Copeland founded Copeland’s of New Orleans and, over the last two decades, the chain has expanded throughout the metropolitan New Orleans area and surrounding Louisiana cities; north to Alexandria and Centreville, Virginia; Rockville and Columbia, Maryland; in the metro area of Washington, D.C.; and west to Dallas, Texas. In June 2001, he opened the latest restaurant in Minneapolis. Copeland created a franchise program that took the concept into major markets around the United States. Now, there are more than 40 stores, both company-owned and franchise operations, in 15 states across the country.

Al Copeland Investments’ newest venture, Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro, is a restaurant, bakery and bar that offers a comprehensive menu, including New Orleans-style cooking, comfort food, Asian flavors, Latin dishes, Southwest-inspired dishes, traditional Italian entrees and American fare, such as wood-fired pizzas, wrap sandwiches and chicken salads. The restaurant has an upscale bar area that’s suitable for coffee during the day and cocktails in the evening. There’s even a bakery that offers between-meal period dining. Entree prices typically run between $9 and $20.

Copeland is currently targeting the following development areas for its new restaurant: Jacksonville, Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Naples, Boca Raton, Pompano and Miami, Florida; Atlanta; the Washington, D.C. area; Arlington, Virginia; Philadelphia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, Texas; Chicago; Mobile, Alabama; Pittsburgh; Cincinnati; and New York.

With Florida a big mark on the radar screen, Copeland hired the Felenstein Koniver Stern Group (FKS), one of South Florida’s dominant retail real estate companies, to begin looking at opportunities throughout the state. Marshall Felenstein and Bruce Koniver bring extensive knowledge and experience in site selection, lease negotiation, brokerage and retail development consulting to Copeland’s development strategy.

“We’re working on sites for them in Naples and Miami, and we’re also diligently looking in Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando — the major markets,” says Lyle Stern, president of FKS. 

Site criteria for Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro are mall locations in high-traffic areas with a population of 250,000-plus. The company likes sites that are in close proximity to other casual theme restaurants and looks for a significant daytime population with predominantly large numbers of office dwellers to drive the lunch business.

“In order to do the kinds of volumes that Copeland’s is capable of and that they’re experiencing, there has to be a significant lunch part,” says Stern. “So the more office space, the better. And it obviously needs to be in an environment and a community that has a good depth of demographics with large numbers of people and other synergistic users around it, which can help drive the business.”

The latest Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro is located at 2001 St. Charles Ave., on the first floor of New Orleans’ Clarion Grand Boutique Hotel, and features a banquet facility and six Internet booths with high-speed Internet connections. Copeland’s looks for a combination of center types for its locations, which typically run between 8,000 and 10,000 square feet. Traditional interior malls are great markets as well as lifestyle centers, says Stern.

“But not all lifestyle centers are necessarily spectacular in terms of a restaurant that should be doing $1,000 a foot or more,” he says. “Some lifestyle centers are perfect depending upon the location of the community, and some aren’t.”

Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro expects to have $900 per square foot of revenues generated annually, 320 seats with $28,000 per seat of annual revenue, and a projected 8,000 to 12,000 guests per week. The projected annual sales volume is $9 million.

— Susan H. Fishman