Thrive Restaurant Group has purchased three Modern Market Eatery sites in Austin and signed a franchise deal for 41 more of the healthy fast casual restaurants.
Courtesy photo
Thrive Restaurant Group is adding a fifth concept to its stable of restaurant brands by becoming the first franchisee for Denver-based Modern Market Eatery.
Thrive president and CEO Jon Rolph has been wanting to add a healthy fast-food-type option to his offerings for some time.
“We just see a real shift in the marketplace,” he said of diners wanting healthy options quickly.
Though Thrive could have started its own healthy fast casual concept, Rolph said, “You don’t have to go do everything yourself.”
He’s been watching Modern Market.
“We saw what they did and how they’ve approached it. . . . They’ve dialed this thing in.”
Thrive has purchased three existing Modern Markets in Austin and has signed a development deal to do 41 more, some of which will overlap with the company’s existing restaurant territories.
The market areas are Austin, San Antonio, Waco, Des Moines, Northwest Arkansas, Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., Kansas City and Wichita.
Though Rolph doesn’t have a Wichita site selected yet, he plans to have one here within the next year.
“We cannot wait to get it up here.”
Rolph said the Thrive team not only is eager to eat the food, he said it’s important to have the concept locally to see it in operation daily.
Thrive already is an Applebee’s franchisee with 79 sites. It also has several concepts of its own. There are 13 Carlos O’Kelly’s restaurants, five existing HomeGrown restaurants with one more on the way in Des Moines, and there’s the new Bakesale Treat Parlor, which is Thrive’s retooled Peace, Love & Pie.
Modern Market is more similar to a Panera Bread than a McDonald’s. The restaurants are smaller than full-service restaurants.
“The food’s great,” Rolph said.
There are popular salads such as a Thai Coconut Salad; protein bowls such as Line-Caught Tuna with sesame ginger sauce and scallions; and wood-fired pizzas, including a Street Corn style. Breakfast, including a Smoked Salmon Keto Bowl, is served all day. There are soups such as Curry Sweet Potato and sides such as cauliflower rice. There are more indulgent offerings as well, including cookies — with gluten-free options — and breakfast treats, such as a Pearl Sugar Waffle. There’s also beer and wine.
Modern Market’s tagline is “eat well, be happy.” Rolph called it “a better for you fast casual concept.”
Catering is a big focus for the chain.
There are no drive-throughs yet, but Rolph said, “I would hope that we could figure that out.”
Rolph said he believes in the Modern Market leadership team and its philosophy.
“Our cultures just line up really, really well together,” he said.
“They’re all about being generous and giving back and looking at the health of the entire food chain,” Rolph said. “Both organizations . . . have a high value on philanthropy.”
To celebrate the new relationship, each is donating $125,000 to the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, a project of Baylor University that uses “research, policy and practice to cultivate evidence-based solutions to the challenges of food and economic injustice,” Thrive said. The gifts will help establish Hunger Free Kansas.
Rolph said there’s a lot of energy around the Modern Market concept.
“They’ve just learned a lot,” he said.
“It feels like we’re getting in early on something that is going to be a high-growth concept for some time.”
This story was originally published September 12, 2022 4:47 AM.
