Moe’s Inks Deal for 25 Stores in D.C. Metro Area

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Moe’s Southwest Grill has signed a deal that will bring an additional 25 restaurants to the Washington, D.C., metro area over the next six years.

Leading the growth will be three existing Moe’s franchise partners–Brad Chasteen, Steve Taylor, and Frank Maresca–who will oversee the surge of Moe’s locations in Washington under the trio’s newly formed entity, Guac N’ Roll.

Chasteen owns 19 Moe’s in northeast Florida, and Taylor owns nine Moe’s throughout Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Including Maresca’s two restaurants owned in northern Virginia, the group recently acquired seven existing locations. Maresca will serve as the local operating partner for the company.

“The demographics of the Washington marketplace are a perfect match for the Moe’s brand. You have a mix of families and professionals,” says Chasteen, who was born and raised in Washington. “We’re really excited to take our experience from some of the top Moe’s markets like Jacksonville, Florida, and Columbia, South Carolina, and apply that here.”

The restaurants will open throughout Maryland, D.C., and northern Virginia. The group is scouting locations and expects the first new Moe’s to open by the end of 2012. The announcement also means that 500 new jobs will be brought to the metro area.

The company has grown to more than 440 locations in just 10 years.

“Putting three of our most aggressive and smart franchise partners together in one market is really exciting,” says Moe’s President Paul Damico. “The fact that we have three best of class Moe’s operators behind these restaurants in D.C. is really going to make us stand out.”

The deal is part of Moe’s strategic growth plan to double its existing presence to a total of 800 locations nationwide by the end of 2015.