The Portsmouth-based Margaritas Mexican Restaurant chain is launching a franchising program that the firm hopes will spread its fajitas and eponymous cocktails across the Eastern Seaboard over the next decade.
Margaritas’ current roster of 19 restaurants in New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts are all corporate-owned. But “in times like this, companies that have a strong foundation tend to grow,” said Bob Hoffmeister, Margaritas president and chief operating officer.
“Last year, for every restaurant that opened, seven closed — there’s so much opportunity.” While the restaurant plans to expand from Pennsylvania to beyond the Carolinas and eventually Florida, that doesn’t mean locations will be popping up like Mexican jumping beans.
“We’re opening a location in Lexington (Mass.) on March 23 and another in Medford 2-1/2 months after that. That’s it for this year,” he said. “We’re looking at three to five locations per year.”
