Rumbi Island Grill to open up to 35 Southern California outlets
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Southern California had better get ready for the pineapple-bedecked Kahuna Burger.
A deal between two local land developers and the Salt Lake City-based Rumbi Island Grill restaurant chain could bring as many as 35 new outlets to the region.
Ron Brown and Michael Hamilton, president and chief executive, respectively, of the newly created Rumbi-LCW in Torrance, will be the franchise owners of the California locations as well as the up to 24 sites set to open in Texas next year.
Similar chains charge an average fee of $20,000 to $30,000 per store for new franchise owners, and ‘let’s just say we’re average,’ said Rumbi Island Grill CEO Stuart Gee.
At least 20 of the restaurants, which specialize in Asian-Pacific ‘fast casual’ cuisine, are already planned to launch in Southern California over the next five years, with the potential for 15 more to open.
The first two California stores are scheduled to start up in Irvine in July, with several more Orange County locations slated for this year.
An earlier attempt to enter the Southern California market fell through in the fall, when a deal with another developer collapsed.
Privately-held Rumbi Island Grill was founded in 2000 and has 24 outlets in Utah, Colorado and Arizona.
-- Tiffany Hsu
