Burger restaurateur bets on Church Street revival with Red Cafe

Greg Peters, president of Central Florida burger chain Graffiti Junktion, which is expanding throughout the region. He is now planning to open a restaurant called Red Cafe in the old Five Guys on Church Street. But it won't be a burger joint. Peters, 44, spoke recently with staff writer Sandra Pedicini.

CFB: Tell me about Red Cafe, the new concept for Church Street.

I think downtown needs something like a mid-price point range, good quality food. It's going to have sandwiches, fish tacos, flank steak, a diverse menu but very price conscious. You're looking at right around probably $8 to $14. (It will be) sit-down with a full bar. We've always got to represent the burger business so we'll definitely have a burger in there. It will just be a little bit different than Graffiti Junktion. It might be a little bit smaller of a burger. We're going for more higher-end food. We'll spend $250,000 probably on the build out. We're trying to get with the city, trying to do an outside bar. We've got Billy the Artist, who's a famous artist. He's going to draw some murals in there and do the bar top. It's going to be very kind of art-decoish. We're probably going to have some breakfast there. I haven't exactly got my menu down yet. My partner is Tom Hughes, a pretty well known chef in Orlando. I kind of leave that on his plate to decide.

I want to theme it off the color red. Red to me is a sexy color, and the restaurant is going to be very sexy. (People walking by) are going to look into it and go, I've got to check it out. Red will definitely be the theme of the restaurant. We'll have tomatoes and the food will be red and things of that nature. We'll probably have three or four 70-inch LED TVs in there but nothing too crazy. It will be a nice casual-dining concept.

CFB: Why are you going on to Church Street, when so many businesses there have failed?

I love Church Street. I'm very bullish on Church Street. I think Church Street's hit a lull. I just think with everything surrounding that street, that's going to go back to being Main and Main. I just think that with more good concepts coming there, eventually it will be the center point it used to be. I'm not talking about the Bob Snow days. I think those days are just a different time frame. I'm talking about five to seven years ago.

CFB: Have you seen something coming in recently that you think is going to make things better there? Everyone was pinning their hopes on the Amway Center and they are still struggling.

I'm not giving up on the Amway arena. I think the Amway Arena is a prime venue. As the Magic get better and the events there get more publicity, I think the Amway Center's still going to drive tons of traffic, especially to Church Street. I just think with the soccer, a lot of talk about the soccer stadium coming in, they're redoing the Citrus Bowl, the arts center. All that stuff collectively is going to add to a more vibrant Church Street.

CFB: What about Graffiti Junktion? There's a big burger craze going on now. How has that affected business?

We're very blessed with the numbers were doing. We've got downtown Orlando, which is College Park, Thornton Park, Clermont, Lake Mary, we just signed a lease in Lake Nona (in LaVina), we're about to pencil a lease in Jacksonville Beach, we franchised Oviedo and they just signed in Longwood for another one (at the location of the old Harmoni) for another one.

CFB: Of all the burger places opening, which do you see as your strongest competitor and why?

I think Burger 21 has the best burger out of ... all the people going for that market.

CFB: Does the slowdown in casual dining make you nervous at all?

If you know how to meet your customer needs, you're always going to be busy and stay in business. I don't want to get caught up in all the negative stuff. I'm a positive person. It even says in the Bible: "Be anxious for nothing."