The 155-unit On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina chain will be launching a program in September that aims to reimage the 30-year-old casual-dining brand.

Early signs of the new On the Border look and feel debuted in July at a rebuilt unit in Bedford, Texas, with a quieter color palate, a large screened-in patio, and a more open kitchen.

Stephen Clark, chief executive of Irving, Texas-based On the Border, said the 10-unit “Border Evolution” test over the next year will tackle all aspects of the restaurant.

“We’re trying to break away from that ‘sea of sameness’ in casual dining,” Clark said, pointing to elements such as Austin stone, wood accents and expanded bar offerings. “If we want to be a leader in the Mexican casual-dining segment,” he added, “we can’t stand pat.”

The 155-unit On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina chain will be launching a program in September that aims to reimage the 30-year-old casual-dining brand.

The new Bedford store, which was already under construction after being moved to make way for a highway expansion, provided a laboratory for many of the new ideas when it opened in July, he said. “It’s a hybrid. I’d say it’s maybe 70 percent of the way toward the new look and feel,” Clark said.

On the Border, which San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital bought for $180 million in July 2010 from Dallas-based Brinker International, made its formal split in June, moving off the Brinker campus to its own 21,000-square-foot offices in the Las Colinas area of Irving. With the transition agreement done, On the Border has set out on its “Border Evolution” program, said Clark, who in the past has worked with the Taco Cabana and Taco Bueno brands.

“It’s meant to enhance the overall guest experience and perceptions of the brand,” Clark said. “We’ll be looking at music and uniforms, plateware, glassware, and the menu look, feel and design, in addition to culinary enhancements to core items and the addition of new menu items as we go forward.” Expanded beer and tequila offerings are also planned, he said.

The first phase of the reimaging program is set to begin in mid-September with a five-restaurant test in Dallas that will include full as well as partial reimaging. “And that will be followed up by five additional restaurants that we will be testing on the East Coast and the New England area,” Clark said.

The concept does very well in the Northeast, he said, where there is less competition in the Mexican casual-dining segment. “It’s not unusual to see us have 15 to 20 percent higher average unit sales in those markets,” Clark said.

A new On the Border, converted from a former Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse, is scheduled to open in November in Holtsville, N.Y., Clark said, and it also will include “another layer” of the prototype elements.

The company is also looking for sites in the Upper Midwest, New England and the East Coast. “When the pipeline has been dry,” he said, “it takes a little while to build it.” The company hasn’t built a new restaurant in more than four years, but it is using a unit near its Irving headquarters as a laboratory for menu changes.

On the Border, which was founded in Dallas in 1982 and sold to Brinker in 1994, is approaching the re-imaging as an “evolution not a revolution,” Clark added. Many of the bright lime green and purple elements in the store and on signage have been turned into “more earth tones with sands, browns. Our inspiration was kind of Marfa, Texas,” Clark said.

The company has created a full prototype designed with Dallas-based firm Plan B, known for popular local spots Whiskey Cake, Oak, Bolsa Mercado and Bolsa. Future stores will include whimsical elements, such as old washtubs turned into couches.

The Bedford location, which replaced a unit built in 1997, incorporates many of the new elements. The unit, which Clark said is a “low-slung building with a cantina feel,” expanded from 6,200 to 6,500 square feet. Seating remains at about 235, excluding the 50-seat patio.

The company is trying to keep a seating mix of about 60 percent booths and 40 percent tables.

Of On the Border’s 155 restaurants in 34 states, 121 are company-owned. Nine units are franchised restaurants in four other nations.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the correct name of the company that acquired On the Border from Brinker International.

Contact Ron Ruggless at ronald.ruggless@penton.com.
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