This Phoenix-based restaurant chain is expanding to California and beyond
Culinary Dropout, an Arizona-born restaurant chain originally opened by Fox Restaurant Concepts in 2010, is moving into California.
The Cheesecake Factory acquired Fox Restaurant Concepts in 2019, and began expanding brands Flower Child and North Italia with new locations of Flower Child planned for multiple states, as well as at the redevelopment of Paradise Valley mall and in the upcoming Novus Innovation Corridor in Tempe, which will also welcome a new location of North Italia.
The Cheesecake Factory ownership now is setting its sights on expanding the Culinary Dropout brand.
The Scottsdale-based restaurant chain already has locations in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. The planned expansion would introduce the restaurant to even more states, including California and yet to be disclosed locations in the southeastern United States, as well as additional locations in Georgia and Texas.
2023 was a big year for Arizona restaurateurs
Other Valley restaurateurs have launched expansions in the last year. Joey Maggiore and The Maggiore Group announced plans to take The Sicilian Butcher and The Sicilian Baker to Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Nevada and Colorado, which will be the restaurants' first outposts outside Arizona.
It seems like Sam Fox is taking a different approach to expansion, handing off his more popular chains like Culinary Dropout and Flower Child to The Cheesecake Factory and shifting his focus to an entirely new venture with The Global Ambassador hotel. Set to open in December, the highly anticipated Phoenix resort and will include five new restaurants.
Pizza, brunch, coffee and sports bars: 23 new restaurants are now open in metro Phoenix
Reach the reporter at endia.fontanez@gannett.com. Follow @EndiaFontanez on X, formerly Twitter.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix restaurant chain Culinary Dropout is expanding to California
