They built a business of four restaurant chains in Cupey

A new commercial project is being built in the Cupey area, which will house four restaurant chains and will be ready in early 2024.

The property is owned by South American Capital Corp. (SACAP)Inc., a real estate company, incorporated in 2010, is affiliated with Grupo Larrea, a conglomerate that operates Church’s, Baskin Robbins, Pollo Tropical, and Krispy Kreme franchises in Puerto Rico.

In an interview with Joamanda Morales, Vice President of SACAP, she indicated that the land is approximately two cuerdas and was acquired in 2021. At the moment, they are working on infrastructure development, which is 90% complete, according to the lawyer.

Parts will be delivered on or before this summerso that each chain can start building its own restaurants.

“SACAP has undertaken the mission of developing a project that complements businesses in the Cupey area, provides services to the community, and contributes to job creation,” Morales said. SACAP’s investment is $3.9 million, including the land acquisition. This figure does not include the construction costs of the four restaurants.

The project, which does not yet have a commercial name, will include 130 parking spaces. “We want it to be a comfortable commercial project with attractive green spaces”SACAP vice president noted.

It will consist of four chains, namely: Church’s, Baskin Robbins, La Parrilla Argentina, and Fazoli’s.

The first two belong to the Larrea group. Church’s, a chain that specializes in preparing and selling fresh fried chicken, has more than a hundred restaurants in Puerto Rico, while Baskin-Robbins, which features 31 flavors of ice cream, has 26 establishments, some with service.

This ice cream chain entered the island in 1976 through Wometco, a company that went bankrupt in 2015. A year later, in 2016, Island Creamery Inc. Inc., owned by Grupo Larrea, acquired the franchise, which at the time included 21 ice cream parlors.

On the other side, La Parrilla Argentina and Fazoli’s belong to the LORO Group. This food business conglomerate is a local business owned by the Rodríguez-Lockwood family. The LORO Group also owns Caminito Restaurant in Guaynabo and holds the Puerto Rican rights to the Texas Roadhouse franchise.

Fazuli is an Italian fast food franchiseWhere customers place their orders at the counter. Each restaurant measures between 2,800 and 3,000 square feet and seats between 65 and 90 diners.

The menu of this chain, founded in 1988 in Kentucky, includes baked pastas—like spaghetti with meatballs, lasagna, and fettuccine—and pizzas, appetizers, soups, sandwiches, salads, and more.

Similarly, the LORO Group is the owner of the La Parrilla Argentina chain. This chain, founded in 1994, pioneered the concept of Argentinean fast food on the island. On its menu it offers steak, Argentinian empanadillas, sandwiches such as Gaucho, choripan, churrasco or chicken, as well as crepes with dulce de leche, among other options.

The vice president of SACAP noted that it is possible that some of the four restaurants will open before the end of 2023, but the goal is to have all of them operational by the middle of next year.