Large-scale, limited-service chain opens 50th location as it eyes more markets
A steady stream of customers walked past Dick Portillo at a pre-opening event for Portillo’s 50th restaurant, in the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury, Minn., on Thursday.
“You have to open one South!” a woman wearing a Cubs shirt said.
Portillo attends all of the chain’s openings, even though he sold the eponymous company he founded to the private-equity firm Berkshire Partners in 2014.
“I never miss one,” he said. “My name is on the sign.”
Portillo has been coming to a lot more openings lately. The chain has opened 12 locations since the sale, and the Woodbury restaurant will be the chain’s 50th unit when it officially opens next week. Portillo’s is on track to open seven restaurants this year.
“We have so much white space,” CEO Keith Kinsey sa...
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