Top 9 chain restaurants you’d love to see come to Charlotte, ranked

Sure, we love local, but national chains can also thrive in Charlotte. Here’s what we want.

In 2017, we got Potbelly in Uptown. They debuted to huge lunch crowds and have maintained their success. Soon, you’ll see Potbelly restaurants in SouthPark and Ballantyne. B.Good, another national chain, also opened in Uptown and put up top-5 sales results for the chain.

In early 2018, two national chains will open in Park Road Shopping Center. Shake Shack will open next to Burton’s Grill in March. Cava Grill will replace the space formerly occupied by Fuel Pizza. Both will be hits and I’m expecting Shake Shack to set Records.

In summary, Charlotte is now on the radar of national chain restaurants.

Recently, the Agenda reached out to our 31,000 daily Agenda newsletter subscribers with the question, “Which restaurant chain would you most like to come to Charlotte?” Below are the results.

#9 Pollo Tropical

• Footprint: Headquartered in Miami, FL, most of their 160 stores in Florida.
• Concept: Caribbean flavors fused with chicken, rice, plantains, and veggies.

#8 White Castle

• Footprint: Headquartered in Columbus, OH, most of their 420 stores are in the Midwest.
• Concept: Burgers.

#7 Skyline Chili

• Footprint: Headquartered in Fairfield, OH, most of their 130 stores in Ohio.
• Concept: Chili served with spaghetti, coney dogs, and burritos.

#6 Wawa

• Footprint: Headquartered in Media, PA, most of their 750 stores are located along the East Coast.
• Concept: Convenience store/gas station with tasty sandwiches, hoagies, salads, breakfast and beverages.

#5 Portillo’s

• Footprint: Headquartered in Villa Park, IL, most of their 49 stores in Chicago.

• Concept: Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef, burgers, salads and chocolate cake.

#4 Wegman’s

• Footprint: Headquartered in Rochester, NY, most of their 94 stores are in the Northeast.
• Concept: Supermarket.

#3 Sweet Green

• Footprint: Headquartered in Washington, D.C., stores are in DC, MD and VA (but also a few in LA and NYC).
• Concept: Healthy salad and grain bowls made from scratch.

#2 Whataburger

• Footprint: Headquartered in San Antonio, TX, most of their 809 stores in Texas.
• Concept: Southern fixings of biscuits, Texas toast, patty melts, and burgers.

#1 In-N-Out

• Footprint: Headquartered in Irvine, CA, most of their 313 stores populate SoCal.
• Concept: A not-so-secret menu boasts animal style burgers and fries, milkshakes and floats.

Cover photo via vagueonthehow/flickr, CC