Noodles to Open in September

Construction began in April on an 8,700-SF Noodles Italian Kitchen at 3748 N. Mall Ave. in Fayetteville’s CMN Business Park.

Owner Kirby Walker said the building should be completed by the end of September, and he will move Noodles from its current location at 3155 N. College Ave. to the new one. Walker said the restaurant will be closed for about a week during the transition.

At the new location, Walker will have about 240 seats inside, including 50 in the 500-SF Nik’s Martini & Wine Bar. (Nik’s stands for Noodles Italian Kitchen).

“It’s a business within a business,” Walker said of Nik’s. “It’s an old-school approach to mixology. We’re doing our own mixes with fresh juice.”

Outside, he will have about 50 seats in a covered area on the south side of the building and 100 uncovered seats. The current Noodles location has about 190 total seats.

Walker said the CMN location will have an Italian theme and look similar to the location he was leasing from Tracy Hoskins.

Walker said about 1.6 acres of the 7.5-acre lot behind the Old Navy retail store is usable land. The rest butts up against Mud Creek. Ben Israel, the principal in Mud Creek LLC, bought the lot in December from Nanchar Inc. for $350,000. Israel also owns Dixie Development of Fayetteville.

Walker said he will expand the menu slightly at the new location, mostly adding steaks and seafood. He will have about 60 employees at the new Noodles, compared to 50 at the old location.

Walker said the entire restaurant project will cost about $2 million.

He will be moving Noodles to one of the area’s busiest restaurant zones. His new restaurant will be about a quarter-mile down Mall Avenue from one of his primary competitors, Olive Garden, which led the city’s restaurants in gross sales for the first half of 2005 with $1.96 million.

Walker opened a smaller restaurant, Bizys Burger Paradise, in 2002 in Fayetteville’s Crossroads Shopping Center. Noodles and Bizys together brought in $1.08 million in sales during the first six months of this year, according to city tax records. Noodles and Bizys had sales of $2.19 million for 2004. Olive Garden had sales of $3.96 million for that year.

Walker has a long history as a Fayetteville restaurant owner. He previously owned Hoffbrau Steaks (beginning in 1983) and Kirby’s Grill and Bakery.