Dining-out menu set to increase by three

Major restaurant chain Olive Garden has confirmed its intentions to come to Cape Girardeau's west side next year, while two other highly anticipated eateries -- White Castle and Panera Bread -- both said their plans to operate in free-standing buildings are moving forward.

Construction of the Olive Garden Italian restaurant is scheduled to begin this fall with a planned opening of spring 2006, said company spokesman Steve Coe. According to site plans on file with Cape Girardeau Department of Inspections, the 7,500-square-foot restaurant will be built on property in front of the new Holiday Inn Express at the corner of Farrar Drive and William Street.

The Olive Garden chain is operated by Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando, Fla. Darden also has the Red Lobster franchise.

Coe said the new restaurant will feature a Tuscan farmhouse design, the same as all of the restaurant chain's new Olive Gardens. The design is based on a restaurant in Tuscany, Italy, which is a converted stone farmhouse. The new restaurant will seat 230 guests and employ 125 people, Coe said.

Meanwhile, Panera Bread said its plans to build a bakery/cafe near the new Olive Garden are still on target. The new Panera Bread would be located in front of the new hotel on the corner of William Street and Mount Auburn Road.

The new Panera is scheduled to open in December, said spokeswoman Mindy Peirce, and a manager at the Westfield West Park Panera said that the mall restaurant would close at the end of the year.

White Castle, originally set to open this month, has pushed back its opening date until late August, according to George Hale, the company's regional director of restaurants in St. Louis.

Work to convert the building at 102 Siemers Drive, formerly a Lion's Choice restaurant, began Monday, Hale said. It normally takes 55 days on site to do the work, which includes putting the White Castle facade on the outside of the building, converting the kitchen and adding White Castle accents to the interior.

Hale said the reason for the delay is that White Castle restaurants built from the ground up take precedence over converted buildings.

"Conversions are lower in the pipeline than newer buildings," he said. "But we have, through the years, had a lot of requests for White Castle in that market. We've been interested for several years."

They waited until suitable property became available, and they believe they've found it with the high-traffic spot near Interstate 55.

Both Panera Bread and Olive Garden have submitted site plans and building plans to the city, said city inspections director Robb McClary. He said they both asked to be put on a fast-track, which means they paid an outside engineering firm to review plans rather than the city. McClary said that speeds up the process by a few weeks.

Panera and Olive Garden have deals in place with Midamerica Hotels Corp., which owns the property, said Bob Hahn, vice president of development.

"We worked long and diligently to secure these two users to complement our hospitality center," Hahn said.

There is enough room between Olive Garden and Panera for another restaurant, Hahn said. He said they are considering a restaurant concept that could be operated by Midamerica Hotels, which is owned by Jim Drury.

The side of the hotel along Mount Auburn has room for three new businesses, Hahn said.

"Along there, we're looking at all options, from restaurants to retail," Hahn said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137