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July 2006 • Volume 3, Issue 7 This issue home | Past issues | Chamber home Texas Palominas Buffet: Much More Than You'd Expect
In the Heights Shopping Center, on the southwest corner of Beltline and Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas Palominas Buffet is the third of its kind in the Metroplex. The others are in Arlington (opened in April 2005) and Sherman (launched last December). Shafer Properties are their landlords in the other sites as well. “Richardson has the right demographics for us,” according to Nabil Dimassi, whose family also operates several Fadi’s Mediterranean Grills across DFW. “All my life, at least for the last 17 years, I’ve been in the restaurant business,” said this experienced restaurateur. “For this kind of operation, a Texas-size, Las Vegas-style buffet, we expect to attract professionals, middle and upper income people, senior citizens and many others. “It’s a volume business — we expect about 15,000-17,000 diners a week. But the food is totally different – in quality, variety and presentation – than other buffets. Since we’re not a big chain franchise like those buffets, we don’t have to pay any franchise fees or cooperative advertising costs so we can put that money into better food for our customers. “Everything is made from scratch – there’s a bakery on the premises; the Grill and carving area are part of an open kitchen area; our display is more lavish and with a humongous amount of food; and the menu changes daily with 200 different items. There are regular menu themes – Monday and Thursday are barbecue nights (along with all kinds of other choices); Tuesday and Saturday is Tex-Mex and authentic Mexican dishes, plus lots of other selections; Wednesday and Friday, it’s seafood, with fried and baked fish, shrimp, crab, baked salmon, seafood pasta; Sunday, the biggest day of the week, there’s everything. And the variety even on those theme days is never the same because, when it keeps changing, the customers keep coming back.” Prices are excellent -- $7 for lunch and $8 for dinner during the week; $9 over the weekend. There’ll be breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays to start; maybe after three months, they’ll introduce breakfast on weekdays, too. Texas Palaminos is bringing about 80-85 new jobs – 50 kitchen staff, 30 busers, plus 5 managers -- to Richardson and with projected revenues of $5 million a year, this will be a welcome stream of sales tax revenues to the city, too. The restaurant also has a semi-enclosed area available for large groups and special occasion parties – except on Saturday night and Sundays. Desserts? Plenty. Cobblers. Cakes. Banana pudding. Sugar-free desserts. Cookies. Muffins. And more. “With the interior and exterior renovations. we’re proud of what we’ve done to enhance the shopping center, increasing the property values for everybody. We pretty much had to re-do everything within the space from scratch, providing an open, clean and fresh dining environment,” said Dimassi. “I think that Richardson residents, workers and visitors are going to be in for a big surprise because this is not your usual buffet; the food and the operation will speak for themselves with their quality. After the first three months, we may also introduce catering services. “We expect to participate in the community in many ways, supporting fundraising events with food, donations, gift certificates, sponsorships. We’ll be pleased to help the city and be a part of the community. For instance, Texas Palominas Buffet will be offering discounts to senior citizens and to church groups,” he concluded.Action News is a monthly publication of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce Communications Department. To unsubscribe, e-mail administrator@telecomcorridor.com. Please provide your name, company, phone number and e-mail address. |
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