The Short Version

• The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill is on pace to open its 100th restaurant by year-end 2026 and has roughly 250 additional restaurants in its pipeline. Brand president Bob Andersen said finding suitable real estate is the biggest obstacle to expansion.
• The fast-casual chain targets spaces of 1,800 to 2,200 square feet, favoring high-visibility locations with strong national co-tenants, ample parking and convenient access.
• Existing franchisees are driving much of the growth, accounting for roughly half the chain’s new restaurants in 2026.
• As catering becomes a larger part of its business, The Great Greek is placing greater emphasis on nearby employment centers while exploring freestanding restaurants, pickup windows and nontraditional venues.

The Great Greek Has Franchisees Ready To Grow. Now It Needs the Real Estate

The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill has franchisees ready to grow. Now it needs more places to put them. The fast-casual chain is on pace to open its 100th restaurant by year-end. President Bob Andersen said the brand has roughly 250 additional restaurants in its pipeline.

No longer is the biggest obstacle finding operators interested in the concept, he said. “What is the No. 1 headwind against our growth? It’s obtaining suitable sites, sites that fit our brand that are in nice centers and really great vibrant neighborhoods.”

Fast-Casual Convenience Meets Full-Service Hospitality

Andersen joined The Great Greek in 2021, 10 years after its first location opened in Henderson, Nevada. He had spent decades on both sides of the franchise business, including as CEO of Jimboy’s Tacos, president of Mooyah Burgers and owner and operator of multiple Cowboy Chicken restaurants. The Great Greek appeals to him because it combines some hallmarks of fast casual — counter ordering, relatively quick service and approachable price points — with elements of full-service dining, including steak and lamb prepared to customers’ preferred temperatures and dishes served by course on porcelain plates and flatware.

“We’re the closest thing to a full-service restaurant in a limited-service environment,” Andersen said. A typical order may take six or seven minutes, while a well-done lamb souvlaki could take 12 or 13. The trade-off is intentional. “Everyone wanted to be the next Chipotle. We don’t want to be that,” he said. “The speed of our service is important, but it’s not the driving force of our experience.” Instead, Andersen described The Great Greek customer as someone willing “to pay a little bit more for something a lot better.”

Existing Franchisees Drive the Next Phase of Growth

That positioning has helped convince existing franchisees to add more Great Greeks. The chain owns about 10% of its restaurants, most located in greater Las Vegas, while franchisees drive the bulk of growth. Andersen said roughly half of this year’s new restaurants are owned by existing operators adding units. “As our franchise operators go, we go,” he said.

Scott Willis is one of them. A finance and insurance veteran with no previous restaurant experience, Willis and his wife were looking for an established franchise system that could support first-time operators. He believed The Great Greek’s broad menu would fit Charleston, South Carolina. He opened his first location in February 2022, now operates three and plans to expand to eight. He and his wife also have partnered with other investors to develop five additional Great Greek restaurants in South Carolina’s Upstate region. The first is expected to open in 2027.

Name Recognition Helped Position the Brand for Growth

When Willis was searching for a site for his second Charleston-area location, one developer turned him down because The Great Greek was not well-known enough. After seeing how busy his restaurants have become, Willis said, the same developer is trying to bring The Great Greek into another of its properties.

Solange Bryan — director of real estate for United Franchise Group, which represents The Great Greek and other brands — has watched that perception change on a broader scale. After 13 years in real estate at 7-Eleven, she joined The Great Greek about four years ago, when the restaurant chain had roughly 30 locations. “At the beginning it was ‘Great Greek who?’ and now it’s ‘Oh, The Great Greek, would love to have you,’” she said.

The Great Greek’s Site-Selection Checklist

For The Great Greek, growth starts with the trade area. Bryan said the company is not willing to compromise on location quality. “We want the A, A-plus location,” she said.

The sweet spot is 1,800 to 2,200 square feet with about 50 seats, strong visibility, easy ingress and egress, ample parking and prominent signage. The company looks for at least 30,000 vehicles per day, 80,000 residents within three miles and household incomes of $100,000 or more. It finds shopping centers anchored by national grocers like Whole Foods and Sprouts Farmers Market and located near national big boxes like Target and Costco to be especially attractive.

Bryan also doesn’t mind proximity to other fast-casual restaurants. The Great Greek locations with the strongest sales tend to be larger, have better traffic and visibility and sit near higher-performing national tenants, she said. In other words, a busy Chipotle can signal that the center already attracts the volume and type of customer The Great Greek wants. Bryan believes The Great Greek’s cooked-to-order food and different dining experience then give customers a reason to favor it.

But the right center is only part of the equation. The specific space also matters. The concept can work in-line, on an endcap or on an outparcel, but the brand won’t take any old space. “You could have a great center that has all of the right co-tenants, but they’re all in the front of the center and they offer me the unit that is behind the dumpster,” she said. A Whole Foods-anchored center, in other words, has limited value to the brand if The Great Greek is tucked into a low-visibility corner that doesn’t benefit from the property’s overall traffic.

Catering Influences The Great Greek’s Real Estate Strategy

Catering is becoming an increasingly important consideration in The Great Greek’s real estate strategy. Its share of sales has nearly doubled annually and now accounts for 8% to 8.5%, said Andersen said, who believes it could reach 20%. “As good as [catering] is for a revenue and profit driver, it’s really good marketing,” he said. The menu helps, he noted, as a single catering order can accommodate vegetarian, gluten-free and protein-heavy diners.

The catering opportunity makes daytime population increasingly important. Bryan likes to see about 10,000 employees within 3 miles and looks for demand generators like offices, hospitals, schools and dealerships. In Las Vegas, the brand has catered for the Raiders’ NFL training camp and for performers at the Electric Daisy Carnival music festival.

New Formats Open More Real Estate Possibilities

As the chain expands, its restaurants are evolving, too. The Great Greek 2.0 prototype is brighter and more polished, with lighter wood, sandstone finishes, blue and green tones, and comfier seating. Andersen said the goal is to create a restaurant that feels “simple yet elegant, high quality and comfortable,” matching the quality of the food and hospitality.

But every location isn’t identical. The chain also is expanding into more formats and environments. It operates at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and in a University of Michigan campus food court, for example, and is adding freestanding locations and pickup windows for digital orders. It sees airports, universities, stadiums and other high-traffic venues as opportunities. “We can accommodate almost any environment,” Andersen said.

Markets Where The Great Greek Is Looking for Space

The company wants both new markets and greater density in places where it already operates. Andersen pointed to Florida, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, California and Washington, D.C. Bryan also said the chain is interested in Chicago and its suburbs, Indiana, New York, Utah and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

In some of those markets, franchisees already are waiting for sites. And when the right property appears, Bryan said, The Great Greek can move quickly. In Pennsylvania, the company recently completed most of the letter-of-intent process for a prospective site in a week-and-a-half.

For Andersen, the path is straightforward: The operators are there, and now the company needs the real estate to match their appetite for growth.