Japanese teppanyaki restaurant Pepper Lunch plans to open six restaurants in the Austin metro and is already halfway to its goal.
Sizzling Hospitality LLC., a Texas franchisee for Pepper Lunch, plans to open 20 units across Austin, Houston and San Antonio. The franchisee already has three leases signed in the Austin metro and another three in Houston, according to Bobby Shaw, chief business officer of Leander-based Sizzling Hospitality. The restaurant is scalable because it offers a speedy option that’s customizable. The concept is simple but provides an experiential element.
Irvine-based Pepper Lunch, founded in Tokyo, brings out sizzling, 500-degree plates assembled with rice or noodles, different meats and toppings. The customer then adds the sauce and spices, and cooks the meat in the hot plate, completing the dish at the table. The experience on average lasts about 25 minutes.
"We see Austin is the right launch platform for our concept because it has the right mix of population growth, food curiosity — Austin's really a foodie town — it's got significant employment, it's got a suburban expansion and I think that the consumer is open to new experiences, and so that's why we are looking at Austin first," Shaw said.
Pepper Lunch plans to open an approximately 1,800-square-foot location at 516 E. San Gabriel Parkway at Northline in Leander. That location is slated to open by the end of this year.
The franchisee has also signed a lease at NewQuest Properties' Kyle Park, located at the northwest corner of Interstate 35 and BeBee Road in Kyle. The 1,950-square-foot restaurant is expecting the shell delivery in September 2027, priming it to open in February 2028. More than 20 retailers and eateries have already signed leases at Kyle Park including Dick’s Sporting Goods, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Barnes & Noble, and several others.
The third Pepper Lunch lease is at Endeavor’s Hutto Shopping Center, located at the northeast corner of SH-130 and Highway 79. The landlord is expected to turn that property over in August 2027, which would mean a December 2027 opening. Hutto Shopping Center will have a Sprouts Farmers Market, Longhorn Steakhouse and more.
There are a few more locations in negotiations, including places in Central and South Austin, Shaw said. If more than six locations make sense for the Austin area, the franchise is open to doing more, Shaw said. Each location costs a high six-figure investment to bring online, Shaw said.
Sizzling Hospitality is working with Retell Advisors for its Austin leasing.
A separate franchisee recently opened a Pepper Lunch in Frisco, Texas. The restaurant, founded in 1994, has 570 locations across 17 countries.