Lexington is welcoming another player to the growing fast-casual market: Taziki’s Mediterranean Café, which focuses on fresh and healthy Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, is opening its doors at 117 Southland Drive.
This will be the 54th location for the Birmingham, Alabama-based franchise. Franchisee Mike Scanlon, 61, has signed on to open 12 Taziki’s restaurants in Kentucky over the next four years, all of them targeting northern Kentucky between Richmond and the Ohio River.
“Fast-casual is where the world’s going to be for quite some time,” Scanlon said.
Taziki’s was founded in 1998 by Keith and Amy Richards, inspired by travels to Greece. Menu items include hummus, grape leaves, chicken, soups and salads, gyros, pork tenderloin, beef tenderloin, grilled lamb and shrimp, among others. It also serves beer, wine and cocktails. The beer lineup will consist of 16 craft beers, including some local favorites such as West Sixth Brewing and Country Boy.
The restaurant boasts 30 tables supported by 35 parking spots for customers.
Scanlon says he was drawn to the concept because of its emphasis on fresh and healthy food – Taziki’s has no freezers, microwaves, heat lamps or fryers.
“These cooks are high-paid,” he said. “These are not fast-food cooks. They want to serve food they’re proud of. We didn’t come here to be average.”
Scanlon is no stranger to the franchise business. In 1988, at age 33, Scanlon opened an Applebee’s when there were fewer than 60 of the restaurants. That franchise now has more
than 2,000 stores. The Richmond Road restaurant was the franchise’s busiest in the country for a number of years, Scanlon said.
Through the years, Scanlons company Thomas & King owned 140 Applebee’s locations, owning 110 at the peak. In 2013, Scanlon sold his remain- ing 90 restaurants.
He currently owns six Johnny Ca- rino’s Italian Restaurants with locations in Fayette Mall, Hamburg, Frankfort and three in Indiana.
Scanlon said he is interested in focusing on a smaller set of stores with Taziki’s, saying that opening 12 stores in four years is “taking it easy” on himself.
“The object, even though we are a chain, is really to not feel like a chain,” he said. “This is not a commodity. When you have 100 restau- rants, they wind up being commodities.”
One way to avoid that, he said, is to avoid pushing price reductions.
“You don’t have to buy it on sale to feel good about what you’re paying for,” said Scanlon. “You’re going to come in to get some really good food at a good price and feel good while you’re here.”
Scanlon said he grew up as a “corporate brat,” never staying at the same school for more than two years in a row.
He’s now lived in Lexington for almost 30 years. His time here includes a stint as vice mayor from 2002-06. He says he couldn’t live anywhere else.
“I have a sense of place now,” he said. “I didn’t really have a sense of place when I was a kid. This is home.”
Taziki’s, under Scanlon’s The Zenith Co., has partnered with Habitat for Humanity and pledged to build one home per year. Scanlon said he wants to work with other nonprofits as well.
“There’s a food operation and then there’s a company where humans work, and the quality of life that we provide for ourselves, the quality of life that we provide for the employees, and the effect we have on the community, are all the three things that we’re chasing,” he said.