Red Lobster, Jose?s Top Fayetteville Restaurants

As usual, Red Lobster is Fayetteville’s No. 1 restaurant.

The seafood restaurant in north Fayetteville had $3.37 million in sales in fiscal 2000, a 12 percent increase from $2.95 million in fiscal 1999, according to city sales tax records.

Following closely behind was locally owned Jose Inc. with $3.30 million in sales, a 13 percent increase from $2.86 million in 1999.

Jose’s ranked as Fayetteville’s No. 1 restaurant in 1996 and 1997 after climbing up the ranks. The next three years, Red Lobster has held the No. 1 position and Jose’s was No. 2.

The numbers are based on Fayetteville’s fiscal year for sales tax collections (December 1999 through November 2000). That means the actual sales occurred for the 12-month period from November 1999 through October 2000. The same months were used for our fiscal 1999 comparison.

Jose Inc. consists of Jose’s Mexican Restaurant and Bordino’s. Joe Fennel, the owner of Jose Inc., refuses to break down sales between the two, saying they are one restaurant operating under one roof.

Fennel attributes the sales growth to the “revitalization” of Fayetteville’s Dickson Street (where Jose’s and Bordino’s are located), efforts by the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown/Dickson Enhancement Project to bring festivals to the area, and moving “quality football games” to Fayetteville in 2000.

Area restaurant owners say sales slowed in November, coinciding with talk of a nationwide economic slowdown. As a result, Fennel is predicting a 5 percent sales growth for his restaurant in 2001, a considerable drop from the 13 percent growth he had this year.

For all restaurants in the city combined, sales totaled $105.8 million, breaking the $100 million threshold for the first time. The 2000 number is a 6.7 percent increase over $98.7 million in fiscal 1999.

The top eight restaurants remained the same in 2000 as the previous year except that Chili’s and Ryan’s Family Steakhouse swapped places at No. 3 and No. 4. Rio Bravo Cantina and the McDonald’s at 1641 College Ave. dropped out of the Top 10 this year. They were replaced by Chick-Fil-A at Northwest Village, across from the Northwest Arkansas Mall, and Powerhouse Seafood Restaurant.

Four locally owned restaurants were in the Top 10 this year: Jose’s, owned by Fennel, at No. 2; Ozark Brewing Co., owned by John Gilliam, at No. 5; Powerhouse Seafood, at No. 10, owned by Layne Caudle and Trish Heckathorn; and AQ Chicken at No. 6, owned by Dick Bradley.

The only Fayetteville restaurants in the Top 10 to show a decline in sales from 1999 to 2000 were the Ozark Brewing Co. with a 1.8 percent decrease from $2.12 million to $2.09 million and AQ Chicken House with a 6 percent decline from $2.05 million to $1.93 million. AQ also has locations in Springdale and Bentonville.

Red Lobster, which has remained No. 1 on our list for the past two years, is a chain owned by Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando, Fla.

(Bill Bowden may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].)