Cafe Santa Fe to Open in Chimi?s Building

CSF Franchise Group of Fayetteville has leased a Rogers building that housed a Chimi’s Mexican Food for four years before that restaurant closed in summer 2001.

Tom Flores, president of CSF, said the 8,000-SF building at 2850 W. Walnut St. will be converted into a Cafe Santa Fe restaurant and Santa Fe Sports Bar. Flores said CSF has leased the building with the option to purchase.

Flores said the business will have about 250 seats, 125 for the restaurant and 125 for the sports bar.

The business is scheduled to open sometime in October after renovation is completed.

CSF struggled through the past year as a recession hit the restaurant industry and a franchisee filed for bankruptcy.

But on Aug. 26, the corporation reopened its original restaurant at 25 Center St. in Fayetteville. The Rogers eatery will bring the total number of Cafe Santa Fe restaurants to eight.

Flores said there are “more to come.”