Orlando Mexican restaurant chain Agave Azul cooks up new location. See where.

Feb 6, 2023, 11:03am EST

Agave Azul will open a new location in Maitland.

A popular, local chain of Mexican restaurants has inked a deal for its newest metro Orlando location — and locked in an opening date for a previously revealed location that has been undergoing its
buildout.

 

Winter Park-based Agave Azul Cocina Mexicana, which currently has four locations and 150 employees, has signed a lease for space at the under-construction Trelago Market in Maitland, Orlando. Business Journal has learned.

 

Why this matters: Trelago Market now has six announced tenants, per its marketing materials, and three remaining slots for lease — in addition to the unannounced specialty anchor grocer believed to be an Amazon Fresh location. The buildout of the new restaurant space will create opportunities for contractors and vendors during construction, as well as new full-time jobs once open.

 

Bobby Palta, a senior vice president in the Orlando office of Atlanta-based The Shopping Center Group who works with Agave Azul on site selection, confirmed the lease to OBJ and represented the chain in the deal.

Palta also said the chain’s 5,000-square-foot restaurant at 5475  Gateway Village Circle, just north of Orlando International Airport, will open March 1.

 

Gavin Walsh, a senior adviser with The Shopping Center Group, is handling leasing for Trelago Market at 601 Trelago Way on behalf of its developer, North Carolina-based Harbour Real Estate Partner, and represented the landlord in the deal.

 

Agave Azul will occupy the Trelago Market‘s 3,200-square-foot southern endcap space. Palta indicated the space may see a slightly different take on the chain’s concept, but declined to elaborate further.

 

Previously, Agave Azul CEO Juan Rios indicated to OBJ that the chain was considering a fast-casual take on its concept, which typically has been a more traditional sit-down restaurant format.

 

Rios and Walsh were not available for comment. A timeline for the Maitland restaurant’s opening was not available.

 

The Trelago Market development includes it 65,000-square-foot anchor, 14,000 square feet of in-line space adjacent the anchor and two outparcels.

 

Per its recently-updated marketing materials, other tenants signed on include The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, Sport Clips, Noire Nails, Mandola’s Italian Kitchen and Foxtail Coffee.

 

The anchor tenant is expected to be an Amazon Fresh grocery store, though that has not been confirmed by the landlord or by Amazon.

 

However, there has been some concern about the status of Amazon Fresh’s national rollout, amid reports of a pause in store openings and “zombie” stores that appear ready to open but have sat idle for months.

 

Nevertheless, the addition of a well-known local restaurant brand such as Agave Azul figures to benefit the soon-to-be-completed project in terms of foot traffic.

 

Meanwhile, U.S. restaurant operators are preparing for a mixed economic environment, according to the most recent National Restaurant Association Business Conditions survey. Higher prices have roughly 50% of those surveyed expecting to make less money in 2023 than in 2022.

 

“The restaurant industry is ending the year in an environment that’s the most typical since 2019,” Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of Research for the National Restaurant Association, said in a prepared statement. “Moderate but positive employment growth across the economy and elevated consumer spending in restaurants will allow the restaurant industry to kick off 2023 on a more optimistic note than the last few years, but operators remain braced for potential challenges in the new year.”

 

Full Orlando Business Journal Article Here