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First Watch to debut new prototype

Menu at forthcoming Phoenix restaurant to source produce locally when possible

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

June 11, 2015

3 Min Read
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First Watch will introduce a new menu, including a juice bar, and a farm-themed design at its 133rd location, slated to open Monday in Phoenix.  

The restaurant, which will be in Phoenix’s Camelback East Village, will feature a new “Urban Farm” interior from the Bradenton, Fla.-based chain that specializes in breakfast, brunch and lunch.

“The design combines farm-inspired finishes with a high-energy, urban vibe, creating a warm, familiar space,” parent company First Watch Restaurants Inc. said in a press release. That includes free newspapers and Wi-Fi.

The new location will include a juice bar, which First Watch introduced in January, and use locally sourced fruits and vegetables whenever possible.

Corporate chef Shane Schaibly has spearheaded local sourcing at First Watch, an initiative he also helped drive in his previous job at Front Burner Brands Inc., parent company of fondue chain The Melting Pot.

First Watch has offered juices as limited-time offers in the past, including Day Glow, made with carrots, oranges, lemon and ginger, and Kale Tonic, a blend of kale, apple, cucumber and lemon. Both of those juices will be on the opening menu at the new location.

New food items include previous limited-time offers, such as the Elevated Egg Sandwich, an over-easy egg with bacon, Gruyère cheese, smashed avocado, lemon crema and arugula on a brioche bun; Avocado Toast, a trendy item in independent restaurants that First Watch makes with thick-cut whole grain toast, smashed avocado, extra virgin olive oil, lemon and Maldon sea salt; and the Power Breakfast Quinoa Bowl, an extension of the chain’s award-winning lunch item, made with two basted eggs over quinoa, Italian sausage, roasted cremini mushrooms and tomatoes, kale, Parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil.

Other former limited-time offers that are permanent additions to the new menu are Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, two multigrain pancakes with ricotta cheese topped with strawberries, lemon curd and mint, and a Smoked Salmon and Roasted Vegetable Frittata with a chive cream drizzle.

A Mediterranean quinoa wrap, chile chorizo omelet and breakfast tacos will also be on the new menu.

“The opening of this new First Watch represents the realization of our evolution efforts from a culinary perspective and brings it to life in an atmosphere that is warm, inviting and differentiated,” First Watch chief marketing officer Chris Tomasso said in a statement. “The new prototype combines a more contemporary approach to our menu and atmosphere with all the elements our friends in Phoenix have told us they love about First Watch.”

The new location will be the fourth First Watch restaurant in the Phoenix area.

This story has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: June 11, 2015  An earlier version of this story misstated the debut of First Watch's juice bars. The chain introduced juice bars in January.

Contact Bret Thorn: bret.thorn@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications. 

He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: bret.thorn@informa.com

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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