Two new restaurants opening on north side

Frisco Crossing Café

Downtown eatery Emack & Bolio’s has experienced enough success in its first year of business that owners Steve and Debbie Bingham are expanding.

The Binghams are opening a new restaurant – Frisco Crossing Café – inside the Frisco Building at 3253 E. Chestnut Expressway. They are leasing the old cafeteria space for an undisclosed amount from the Griesemer family, which owns the building.

The new restaurant, while not carrying the Emack & Bolio’s name, will feature some of the same food as the downtown location.

“We’ll be featuring not only the homemade breads and sandwiches but also the ice cream,” Steve Bingham said. “And with the larger kitchen, it will allow us to do a lot more hot entrees that we don’t do here right now.”

A small remodel is under way before Frisco Crossing Café opens this month.

The new restaurant features a significant increase in seating capacity; the downtown location holds 45 to 50 customers while the new café will hold more than 150, including two meeting and banquet rooms.

Bingham said he also is excited about the new amenities and equipment.

“We’ll be renting out those rooms and allowing people to use them for meetings and parties and things like that,” he said. “The kitchen out there is state-of-the-art. It will allow us to serve a sandwich for one person or fried chicken for 3,000 people, if we want to.”

An agreement also is in place for a new Emack & Bolio’s location in the new College Station development. The new restaurant will serve ice cream, pastries and coffee. Bingham said more details will be set once College Station developer Scott Tillman finalizes development plans.

McAlister’s Deli

Brothers Trey and Richard Vance also are in the mood for growth as the franchisees prepare to open their third McAlister’s Deli in Springfield.

Construction work began on the new location, 2445 N. Kansas Expressway, in early June, and the doors are set to open by Aug. 15, according to Trey Vance. The Vances are spending $650,000 for restaurant infill.

Vance said the timing was right for a north location.

“We just saw potential growth in that area,” he said. “We had been looking for something in the north, but we just hadn’t been able to find the right thing at the right time. We think that area is going to continue to grow, and we wanted to try something out that way.”

Vance, who also co-owns a McAlister’s location in Mississippi, said the new store will be slightly bigger than the two existing Springfield locations, with capacity for about 200, including patio seating.

Vance said he’s not sure why so many restaurants have been able to find success in Springfield.

“I think everybody here just eats out a lot. It’s kind of crazy, but they do, and we’ve been happy to support them,” he said. “We feel very blessed to be as well-supported as we have been, and we try to stay as involved in the community as we can. We’re just going to keep on keeping on.”