Chain closes another restaurant in un-’educated’ Boise. Yo, Idaho, heard of a burrito?
As the Boise area’s population has exploded, so has its restaurant scene. Chefs are earning accolades. Ethnic restaurants have multiplied.
Still, we not always be so smart about food, Idaho.
Regional chain Gyro Shack just closed its second Treasure Valley restaurant in less than six months, with plans to reopen it as a Mexican drive-thru.
The reason? At least in part?
Gyros can be, like, confusing.
“Even in the Boise market, with it growing as much as it is, 40% to 50% of our customers don’t know what a gyro is,” confessed Seth Brink, president of Arete Food Group. “So we still get those questions all the time … That’s the gyro challenge.”
(For %*’s sake, Boy-see! It’s pronounced “yee-roh.”)
Look tasty? That’s what’s known as a gyro.
Speaking last fall, Brink explained that Arete, Gyro Shack’s owner, had shuttered the store at 1050 E. Fairview Ave. in Meridian to debut a newly created brand, Rapido Burrito. The primary motive? Too many Gyro Shacks in close proximity, he said.
But Boiseans’ tilted-head reaction to the Greek concept of rotisserie-cooked meat wrapped in pita bread certainly didn’t help, either.
Last Friday, Arete surrendered yet another Gyro Shack — at 9056 W. Emerald St., at the intersection of Maple Grove Road. This Friday, it will open as the area’s second Rapido Burrito, serving a similarly limited menu.
“Gyro Shack is just tough in this market,” Brink reiterated this week. “… We spend a lot of time educating people on what our food is. There’s just not a huge foundation for Mediterranean in the market, right? You see brands like Taziki’s come in and go out.
“What we found when we converted the store was just better sales out of that Fairview location as a taco and burrito shop than a gyro shop.
“So the Maple Grove and Emerald store was struggling, so we’re going to flip that one, too, and see if it kind of works just as well and makes sense for us to renew that lease.”
The former Gyro Shack on Fairview Avenue has become Rapido Burrito. A second location on Emerald Street and Maple Grove will follow suit Friday.
Founded in the City of Trees in 2009, Gyro Shack is a blend of company-owned and franchise drive-thrus — and a Gem State success story. Fans tend to love the chain. “Tried them for the first time today, and it won’t be the last,” a Google reviewer wrote recently of the Boise location at 5602 W. State St.
Even with the latest closure, four Treasure Valley Gyro Shacks remain: two longtime Boise locations, “which are rocking,” Brink said, and two more in Meridian. There are no plans to transition any of those to Rapido Burrito shops, he said.
Gyro Shack also has two locations in Tucson, Arizona, and two in Albuquerque, New Mexico — all products of recent expansion out of state.
Still, it’s more likely that additional Rapido Burritos will pop up in the Boise area before Gyro Shacks do. The Gyro Shack franchisee who masterminded Rapido Burrito probably will open another location in the next year, Brink said.
New Boise motto: Burritos! Totally heard of ’em!
“There’s no education for it, right?” Brink said. “Unfortunately in this market with gyros, there’s an education curve.”
