Rosa Mexicano Goes Beyond Its Borders
One of New York City’s most popular restaurants has expanded to the Southeast, and its expansion will continue across the country over the next few years.
Randall Shearin

A staple in New York City for more than 20 years, Rosa Mexicano is expanding beyond its borders to bring its unique take on Mexican food to new cities. The restaurant company has opened units in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, and has plans for new units in Florida and farther east coast cities over the next year.

Rosa Mexicano’s latest restaurant opened this winter at Atlantic Station in Atlanta.

The first Rosa Mexicano opened in 1984 in New York City. Founders Dan Hickey, Doug Griebel and Josefina Howard launched the concept. When Howard retired in the 1990s, Griebel and Hickey decided to expand the concept. Howard Greenstone joined the company about 6 years ago as COO and a principal partner. The company’s second location was near Lincoln Center in New York City. Nearly 3 years ago, the company opened its third location in Washington, D.C. The company set its sights on Atlanta next, and signed on to Atlantic Station. Because of the amount of design required and the interior finishes, the opening of the company’s Atlanta restaurant was delayed — occurring in mid-February 2006. Concurrently, the company opened a third restaurant in New York City, on East 18th Street in the Union Square area.

“We really felt that there was a niche for very traditional Mexican cuisine,” says Griebel. “We didn’t want to do the Americanized version or the inexpensive, quick version. We felt committed to the cuisine. When we studied the cuisine, and what the eating habits were in some of the markets around the country, we created a target list of markets where our concept would thrive.”

Rosa Mexicano brings a high-end player to the Mexican restaurant niche. The restaurants are high energy, high design and a culinary experience. The dishes lend themselves to sharing and sampling. You might not go to Rosa Mexicano for a serious business meeting, but you would go with business associates for a relaxing after-work meal or event. The noise level is fairly high, the bright colors increase the energy, and the décor is very well appointed. Rosa Mexicano hired renowned architect David Rockwell to design its restaurants in Washington, D.C., Lincoln Center, Union Square and Atlanta, for instance. The centerpiece of the restaurant is a floor-to-ceiling waterwall, which has water cascading down through the center of the restaurant, dividing the bar from the dining room.  Rockwell is also designing Rosa Mexicano’s sixth restaurant, opening soon at Miami’s Mary Brickell Village.

The bar area at Rosa Mexicano in Atlanta.

Rosa Mexicano strives to be in the middle of the market. The restaurant offers high-quality food, but tries to keep its price point lower than a high-end restaurant. The average per-person food and beverage check at lunch is $16 in Atlanta ($17.50 in New York) while dinner runs an average of $36 in Atlanta, $39 in Washington and $41 in New York.

The company is expanding with the help of restaurant real estate broker Mert Wallen, who also handles real estate for chains like McCormick & Schmick. Wallen has located two other locations for Rosa Mexicano, Menin Development’s Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens (opening late June 2006) and Mary Brickell Village (opening late September 2006). Both restaurants will also be designed by David Rockwell. The company has signed two letters of intent with The Mills Corporation to place Rosa Mexicano units at Riverside Square in Hackensack, New Jersey, and 108 N. State Street in Chicago. The company is also looking at properties in Los Angeles and South Florida. Future expansion plans call for Las Vegas, Houston, Boston and Naples, Florida.

Since most of the company’s restaurants have been built in urban environments, it is most comfortable with those locations. However, its locations in Miami and Palm Beach, as well as Atlanta, are all in quality shopping centers. Rosa Mexicano likes the lifestyle center locations, as long as it is either freestanding or almost freestanding. Its unit at Atlantic Station, for example, is freestanding and is surrounded by other retail, restaurants and an al fresco dining terrace. At Palm Beach Gardens, Menin Development was able to position Rosa Mexicano so that it only joins the center with one common wall.

“We wouldn’t want to go into a center where we didn’t have prominent positioning or prominent signage,” says Griebel. “We do a great job at what we do, but it is always nice to have a few other things working our way, location included.”

Rosa Mexicano’s Lincoln Center restaurant in New York City.

“If we’re coming to a new city, we don’t want them to think that we didn’t create our best design, coupled with our food and service,” says Griebel. “Developers like that we have longevity in the New York market, and we are committed to that in every market that we enter. We believe this is a marathon and not a sprint. It proves the quality of the brand, and the quality of the business entity. ”

Rosa Mexicano employs its own construction manager, Raymond Fischer, to make sure that its restaurants are being developed according to the company’s plans. The company estimates it will expand slowly, at the pace of about two new restaurants per year. From October 2005 to October 2006, the company will have opened four new restaurants, and it must take some time to digest the doubling of its size.

“We feel very strongly that we always need to be in construction on one restaurant while in planning on a restaurant,” says Griebel. “Planning and construction takes 12 to 18 months on a best case scenario. The design elements alone take us about 6 to 9 months. This should take less as we expand more, but we still expect each site to have its own design freshness.”