One of Acadiana's best restaurants is expanding as Fat Pat's Bar and Grill has plans to add three more restaurants outside of Lafayette Parish and also venture into franchising.

Currently, Fat Pat's has two locations in Lafayette (Verot School Rd and Westmark Blvd) and one in Carencro.

Fat Pat's president Aaron Dulin tells the Acadiana Advocate that after 13 years, they will franchise out whole markets across the state, beginning in Broussard with others slated in Alexandria and Breaux Bridge.

A groundbreaking for Broussard is scheduled for today and its expected to open this fall.

“I’m pretty excited," Dulin said. "We’ve had demand to franchise the brand for about five years now, but I felt we had to get a few things right before we did that. So that’s why we created the new freestanding franchise design.”

The first three locations are all located in pre-existing shopping centers. The new restaurants will be freestanding and will have more space.

The new Broussard restaurant will be located at the corner of South Bernard Road and Ambassador Caffery. All total the location will be 7,200 square feet and will seat 250 instead of 75 at the current restaurants.

It will include a general dining area, bar area, and a family and kids green area. There will also be an arcade area with video games and a Beam Digital Projector for the kids to play.

Dulin says he hopes to sell franchise rights for markets like Baton Rouge and Lake Charles in the near future.

The Alexandria location will be at 1302 Texas Avenue and is planned to open in March. The Breaux Bridge location is set to open early next year on Rees Street near I-10.

 

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