GOLDEN, Colo.—Good Times Restaurants Inc. is indefinitely suspending plans to expand outside Colorado amid a tight capital market, higher prices for ingredients, a weak economy and tight spending by consumers.
The Golden-based chain in December announced an agreement with Zen Partners LLC to develop 25 stores in the Midwest, with the first 10 restaurants planned for Omaha, Neb., and Des Moines, Iowa.
In the spring, Good Times executives said the credit markets hadn’t affected their expansion plans so far. But in late June, Good Times said it agreed to transfer development rights for three of Zen’s restaurants to Colorado instead of Nebraska or Iowa.
Good Times also said it plans to open two company-owned restaurants in Colorado and one dual-branded Good Times-Taco John’s franchised location in Sheridan, Wyo., this year.
James DeBolt, hired in October to be vice president of franchise development, stepped down June 30 in a “mutual decision” after Good Times decided the timing wasn’t right to begin a franchise push, Good Times CEO and co-founder Boyd Hoback said.
Meanwhile Vice President of Marketing Robert Turrill, 60, is retiring effective Oct. 31.
The company has no immediate plans to hire replacements, Hoback said.
“We still want to be a regional concept,” Hoback said. “But it’s going to take longer than we’d planned.”
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Information from: Rocky Mountain News,
