Locally Founded Restaurant Chain Expanding

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN-UT, TX -- The operators of the popular VerstKebap restaurant chain—including its original location at Guadalupe Street near the University of Texas at Austin campus—have secured financing enabling expansion into the East Coast.

The Austin Business Journal reports the fast casual chain that features food with an ethnic twist has secured $20 million in euity financing to allow for its entry in to the eastern United States. The restaurant chain specializes in vegetarian fare and roasted meats and chicken.

“This financing represents a landmark moment in our company’s growth,” co-owner Dominik Stein said in a prepared statement. He and business partner Michael Heyne launched the doner kebab culinary concept in Austin three years ago.

The restaurateurs’ business model has proved popular with university students and the general public at large, as evidenced by the brisk business at the original restaurant at 2530 Guadalupe Street—dubbed the main drag—in close proximity to UT-Austin’s West Campus.

The source of the financing was not disclosed, but will enable the company to expand into cities that may include Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. The chain currently has 26 restaurants—ten of which opened this year.

The company in January plans to open a pair of new restaurants—one in San Marcos and the other in the Tech Ridge portion of Austin, north of downtown near Interstate 35.