CHANDLER, AZ — A concept that originated in Japan is making its way to the Valley! Here’s what we found out about Pepper Lunch and its planned expansion in Arizona.
“Pepper lunch is a Japanese hot plate, fast casual restaurant... you order at the counter or a kiosk and in three to five minutes, we bring you a sizzling hot plate of ingredients that are authentic to the Japanese cuisine called Pepper Rice… it's a 500 degree hot plate that you get to mix and mingle and sizzle your way,” said Troy Hooper, CEO of the North American division of Pepper Lunch, in an interview with ABC15.
Pepper Lunch prides itself in being a Japanese D-I-Y Teppanyaki restaurant.
“Teppanyaki is what you would traditionally think of … [the restaurants] where you go and sit down around a hot plate table and the chef comes out and he cooks in front of you. This is the same type of food done for one,” explained Hooper.
Don’t worry- if you don’t want to cook yourself, there will be a to-go option available.
VALLEY EXPANSION
“10 units over the next five years” are in the works for the Valley, according to Hooper and two of the managing partners of the Pepper Lunch Arizona team.
Where are they going to open first? “We're going to be focusing on the Southeast Valley to start in Chandler/Gilbert area and then [we’re] also looking at Tempe and Paradise Valley,” said Jake Ireland, a managing partner for Pepper Lunch Arizona, to ABC15. “We're hoping to have the first location [open] in [the] third quarter of 2024.”
According to Ireland, they’re aiming to open the first location in September or earlier next year.
The first Pepper Lunch in Arizona is expected to be a stand-alone storefront, but future units of the company could potentially come in different facilities too.
“The first ones we're looking for storefronts, but the concept in Japan also has an express model that can go [in] malls or stadiums, or even at like the Arizona State University cafeteria, in a place like that would be a fit too,” explained Ireland.
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