The operator recently opened a roughly 6,000-square-foot restaurant at Grandscape, one of the largest mixed-use developments in the country.
Franchisee Veer Modi says that World of Beer likes to "take it up a notch."
The operator fancies himself as an entertainer and loves to show people a good time. So he understands World of Beer's mindset first-hand, especially after opening a roughly 6,000-square-foot restaurant in The Colony, Texas, at Grandscape. This location is one of the country's fastest-growing mixed-use developments, featuring retail, entertainment, offices, hotels, and apartments.
Modi's World of Beer location comprises 3,972 square feet of interior space and a 2,000-square-foot patio that can sit more than 200 customers combined. It's one of the first major attractions in "the grotto," an underground section of Grandscape.
"We have a 2,000-square-foot patio, which is completely covered. And even on the inside, the vibes we were going for—a place where you can come and relax, but you can also come and have a great time and party it up as well," Modi says. "We do it all and we have different crowds throughout the day. We have our lunch crowds, we have our dinner crowds. We are definitely family friendly as well. And then late night, obviously, it transitions into more of an adult-focused thing."
World of Beer has 44 restaurants in the U.S., including five others in Texas (College Station, Fort Worth, Houston-Towne Lake, Katy, and Lubbock). The brand began in 2007, but its name has become somewhat of a misnomer. Modi's location does indeed have 365 local and national beers with 40 on tap at a time, from just about any region one can think of, according to the franchisee. However, the chain also offers a full-fledged, made-from-scratch menu. This is a big reason why the company now goes by WOB Bar and Kitchen.
The restaurant at Grandscape offers high-end entrées like Steak Frites (marinated flat-iron steak grilled and thinly sliced, topped with garlic butter and served with steamed broccoli, fries and garlic aioli for dipping), and IPA Salmon (grilled Atlantic salmon, brushed with sweet IPA glaze, served with jasmine rice and steamed broccoli). Other highlights include panko-crusted Mac & Cheese Bites that are rolled in-house and Nutella Donut Bites.
And the beverage menu isn't limited to beer. One of the biggest hits currently is the $12 Prosecco Colada made of RumHaven coconut rum, pineapple, cream of coconut, and La Marca Prosecco. Then there's the $13 Purple Rain Martini, with Bombay Sapphire, St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur, butterfly pea syrup, lime juice, and tonic.
Modi praises World of Beer for "constantly evolving and thinking of new ideas," while also keeping the staples for loyal customers.
"A lot of times when you walk into these bars, you're going to have your beers and drinks, but the food is mediocre—it's just regular bar food," Modi says. "Get some wings, get some fries, and this fried stuff basically. What we love about World of Beer is we have our wings, we have our fries, we have our fried food, but everything is made from scratch, everything from our sauces for our wings, same thing for our flat breads. … You can really taste the difference. It's not something that's bought from a restaurant depot or something like that and we just throw it in a fryer. We make these things in-house."
Modi hired Haseeb Mianoor, who has experience with Applebee's and Omni Hotels & Resorts, to oversee the location as general manager. The restaurant offers a variety of specials throughout the week: $6.95 burgers plus a side on Mondays; $2.50/$3.50 tacos and $8 tequila shots on Tuesdays; 99-cent wings on Wednesdays; and all-day happy hour on Thursdays. The venue broadcasts all UFC events and has additional activities planned, such as Tuesday Trivia and Friday DJ nights.
"We're trying to set ourselves up for success, and the best way to do that in my opinion is to provide some great entertainment to the consumer," Modi says.
When Grandscape is complete, it will stretch more than 400 acres and have more than 3.9 million square feet of attractions. It's anchored by Nebraska Furniture Mart, which has 560,000 square feet of retail space and 1.3 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space. Modi had several ways of describing the area, ranging from "gorgeous" and "state of the art" to "one of a kind" and "above the norm." Some other notable restaurants at Grandscape include Another Broken Egg, Velvet Taco, Walk-On's, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, P.F. Chang's, Portillo's, and Thirsty Lion.
"You're not going to just walk in anywhere and see these types of restaurants," Modi says. "The landlords are amazing. They take care of the development to a T, whether it's the flower beds or whatever it may be."
The World of Beer franchisee entered the hospitality segment through his father Kamlesh Modi, who invested in hotels and opened his first Cold Stone Creamery in 2007. The two are working on a four-in-one project that will offer Coldstone, Pinkberry Yogurt, Rocky Mountain Fudge, and Kahala Coffee Traders in one area.
During the start of COVID, they were looking for new brands to invest in, which led them to Indian fast-casual concept Curry Up Now. Modi and his father are part of two locations, one at Grandscape and another at The Domain—another large-scale retail development—in Austin.
Around the same time, they explored World of Beer and moved forward with the brand in 2020. And the journey to opening three years later wasn't easy. Because of inflation, build-out costs went over budget. Modi says The Colony did well with staying on top of permitting and licensing; most issues were related to construction and equipment.
"Supply chain issues are improving, but those issues and obstacles are still present," Modi says. For me personally, I worked on this project from beginning to the end of it on the construction process. Pre-COVID, it was very easy to go to one vendor that's going to give you some good pricing and lead times and you can just purchase everything for your restaurant from there just about. When it comes to equipment and the build-out process post-COVID, now it's gotten a little complicated in the sense of one vendor may have this much equipment, another vendor might have this. Now the third vendor might have the best pricing, but their lead times may be six months. It's gotten intricate in the sense of obviously you have to look at your finances."
The experience did little to change Modi's positive experience with World of Beer.
In the future, he will look to open more restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. He adds that "a few other locations" are in the works.
"Specifically why we chose World of Beer as something that we want to key in on for at least the next 10 to 15 years I'd say, is just the brand and the franchisor itself," Modi says. "They’re very helpful, they want to see their franchisees succeed. That is not always the case for a lot of these franchises around. It's a very close-knit family-type environment and I love being a part of it. The sky's the limit when it comes to World of Beer."
