West Fayetteville Adds Food Options

While restaurants shut down elsewhere, the market in west Fayetteville continues to grow. Three restaurants have enjoyed successful debuts since April and there are no signs the Wedington Drive area is saturated yet.

Penguin Ed’s, Hunan Manor and Taco Bell make 10 dining options for the burgeoning area characterized by sprouting bank branches, subdivision development and a major road project under way to widen Wedington to five lanes to the city limits at Double Springs Road.

The area added Guido’s Pizza in 2003, Boar’s Nest BBQ and IHOP in 2005. Wedington seems primed for more growth as the three new restaurants added more than $617,000 to the local economy without sucking away much from their competitors.

The only restaurant that’s lost business since April is Boar’s Nest, which has seen sales decline since Penguin Ed’s opened at the corner of Double Springs and Wedington on April 18.

Boar’s Nest sales were down 43 percent in June compared to March.

McDonald’s, the area’s top earner, has enjoyed two of its best three months of the year since Taco Bell opened. McDonald’s sales were down 10 percent in April but rebounded in May and June to more than $157,000, near the year-best in March of $159,000.

IHOP, also a popular choice for late night eats, had its best month of the year in May with more than $139,000 in sales.

The biggest splash has been Hunan Manor, which made nearly as much in its first two months on Wedington ($152,800) as it did in the previous five months ($159,385) at its old North College Avenue location.