Business As Usual? Part I: New Businesses Headed to Vienna
Sweet Leaf Café, Panera Bread, The Fresh Market to open
Photos
Two new restaurants and a supermarket will open in Vienna later this year.
Sweet Leaf Café, Panera Bread and The Fresh Market all have acquired building permits for Vienna locations and are in the process of completing work, said Denise Rose Borgatti of the Town of Vienna’s Planning and Zoning department.
The Sweet Leaf Cafe will open at 256 E. Maple Avenue.
The Vienna branch of this locally-owned business will be the second Sweet Leaf Café in the area. Owners Arita Matini and her brother, Andre, now operate a café in McLean. The café serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and is known for made-to-order salads and sandwiches, soups and desserts.
The Vienna restaurant will be about 1,200 square feet and have seating for up to 24 customers. Carry-out or sit-down service and outdoor patio seating will be available, Arita Matini said.
Matini called Sweet Leaf a “community café,” and said that Vienna’s “community feel” led the siblings to establish the business in town.
“We’re thrilled about it,” she said. “It’s going to be a huge step, but we hope to have the same sense of community with our Vienna customers as we have in McLean.”
Sweet Leaf could open as soon as late March, Matini said.
Also planned for a March opening is Panera Bread.
The chain restaurant, a bakery-café that sells soups, sandwiches, salads and bakery items, will be coming to the former Hamilton Sofa Gallery at 136 Maple Avenue West. The restaurant will be 3,775 square feet and have 100 seats.
Smith Trent, joint venture area director of Panera Bread, said the company looks forward to “offering the many business professionals and families in the community fresh and wholesome food choices, paired with the convenient service their busy schedules demand.”
“Our concept has been embraced by many surrounding communities in the past 11 years, and we look forward to sharing our signature ‘Panera warmth’ very soon in Vienna,” he said.
The Fresh Market is a grocery retailer that focuses on high-quality products. The business will open at 150 Branch Road in the former That’s Amore, just across the street from Giant.
The new supermarket will be more than 22,000 square feet.
The Fresh Market currently operates 100 stores in 20 states. A representative said the company could not share additional information about the Vienna location at this time.
Vienna business owners and local officials had a variety of reactions to news of these businesses moving into town. Read more about it in Business As Usual? Part II: Local Businesses React To New Neighbors, available at 10 a.m.
jody
8:40 am on Monday, January 24, 2011
I couldn't be more thrilled about all 3 new businesses opening up. Easy breakfast, lunch and dinner options have been lacking in our commercial area and these 2 new restuarants promise to fill a felt void. And a great option for the old That's Amore space helping to push/keep more of the traffic a bit further north. I welcome an alternative to Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Living near the NFCU, I'm a very pleased neighbor to these new businesses!
Joey Hernandez
9:30 am on Monday, January 24, 2011
HI Jody,
There is also a great market that sells top quality meat/produce from local farms (organic,sustainable). It's a small market called Maple Ave Market near antique row across the Whole Foods.
Katherine H.
10:00 am on Monday, January 24, 2011
I think it's great to have these new businesses, but I have concerns about parking. Panera Bread is an "in and out" type of place that requires a great deal of parking. That shopping center (anchored by McGruder's) already has too many of these types of businesses and it is often a problem to find a parking space. If I were one of the other merchants, I would be concerned that it will drive away customers of the existing shops.
I am very happy to hear Sweet Leaf Cafe will have outdoor seating - we need more of that in Vienna. I just hope they paint the building so it is no longer that hideous shade of orange!
Tyson
10:13 am on Monday, January 24, 2011
I too think its great we have some new businesses coming to Vienna. I am especially excited about the Fresh Market. I think it sounds like a great fit for that shopping center - plenty of parking. I am really concerned about the Panera location though - that parking lot has a very strange traffic flow to it and its hard to get in and out of. The parking lot exit right next to the new Panera doesn't allow for left turns, so I think its just going to jam up the Lawyers/Maple Ave intersection even more during peak times.
But I would rather have new business come to Vienaa as opposed to business leaving Vienna!
MAL
1:49 pm on Monday, January 24, 2011
I'm VERY excited to see the new businesses coming to Vienna! I also have to agree with the above posters regarding the parking at the Panera location. That parking lot does not have an easy flow and very difficult to enter and exit.
Outdoor seating is a huge draw for me and happy to know Sweet Leaf Cafe will have it. I'll definitely be shopping at Fresh Market since at my end of town, so glad to see that space finally finding a tenant!
Now if we could only get a book store...
Janie Lawton
2:53 pm on Monday, January 24, 2011
As a small business restaurant owners in the town of Vienna we can only hope that more customers will come into town to experience the wonderful offerings here. And as a person who was born and raised in Vienna, it is wonderful to see new businesses come into our hip town. Being on East Street, Wolftrap Cafe and Catering has been called "the best little secret in town!" We hope the new offerings will give our little cafe a place to shine and give patrons an opportunity to enjoy wonderfully fresh food in a comfortable hometown Vienna spot!
Rex Turner
5:06 pm on Monday, January 24, 2011
Ditto on the parking for the Panera. That lot is WAY too small and it's going to be a nightmare. They should have considered the old That's Amore location. Yeah I know there is parking around the back but that lot is a paint to get in/out.
L Bligh
2:23 pm on Friday, March 25, 2011
I fervently hope the businesses in that shopping center will require all employees to use the back parking lot. It would also be helpful if Magruders would move that large metal thing blocking traffic at the west end of the building. That way, if a driver failed to find a parking spot in the front lot, it would be much easier to access the back lot.
Cherie Lejeune
8:00 am on Tuesday, January 25, 2011
So happy about the new business additions. Sweat Leaf in McLean I found by chance and they have the most delicious salads and their desserts, your will power will cave. Fresh Market took over a failing Westport, CT location where I lived prior to Vienna. Their approach to how they present their foods is very European and prices- better than WF; many will become quickly hooked. Panera Bread, least exciting for it is a true chain, but it's offerings are always good, and Broccoli Cheddar in a Boule, gets me in their doors often. Now, if there was an effort to improve the facades of the aging business exteriors, and really make Church Street a must walk destination, wouldn't that be a plus.
Richard Plocica
3:08 pm on Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Yes I think the Panera location will help draw more people outside to that end of Vienna to compliment the foot traffic building up on Church Street. A major beneficiary should be the little Maple Avenue Restaurant since walkers will discover it on their way and the parking and traffic in/out issues will not be a factor.
Joey Hernandez
4:32 pm on Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Richard - I do agree but wouldn't it be nice to highlight the small businesses and have people come in for that rather than hang on to the possibility of a big chain bring in customers and then see what our awesome town has to offer? Wouldn't it be nice to have them come into town b/c of the soundry, cafe amouri, etc and then stumble onto panera? Every town has a Walgreens/CVS/Panera but not every town has an orchid shop, pear tree cottage etc.
Katherine H.
4:59 pm on Tuesday, January 25, 2011
So right, Joey! I love all the unique little shops and restaurants we have here in Vienna, and try to patronize them as much as possible. I do think the two you mentioned have brought in some folks from around the area who are "discovering" all of our gems. A young lady who is an artist at the Soundry told me that Vienna sits on a bedrock of quartz and that is why we have "good energy"!
Dana Jones
1:12 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
All those shouting "Boo, hiss, Panera is a bad chain" frankly don't get it. If you visit *healthy* historic-small-towns-as-suburbs across the US that are filled with funky little local businesses (including dining options), you'll find Paneras, too - and honestly the latter is often a big part of the reason for the former. If you zone out all of the chains (and, honestly, Panera isn't bad for a chain), you remove the a big reason for the local places to step up their game and be competitive with creative fare, etc., and get stuck with the classic (even-upscale!!!)-DC-suburb phenom of 1960s 'Vinnie's diners'/'Rizzo's Family Restaurants' that just sit there, staying the way they are, because they're the only game in town and don't *have* to improve.
I've also noticed that a lot of you East Coasties aren't familiar with the crunchily-/funkily-folksly-bakery-at-its-core, branched-out-into-creative-soups-and-salads concept that you'll find all over the West and Midwest, and to a lesser extent in the South.. if it requires a chain like Panera to introduce said concept to the area, well, then, so be it. But hopefully this area will in the future be filled with all kinds of local yummy bakeries. :)
Katherine H.
1:28 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
No one who posted here said Panera is a bad chain, just that most of us would rather see locally owned shops and restaurants. Local ownership keeps more dollars in a community and helps a town maintain a unique feel. Vienna is a real town, not a developer-created "town centre." The fewer chains we have, the better we can retain that identity. I love being on a first-name basis with many of our merchants; they are so responsive to customer input and go a long way toward making this a wonderful place to live.
BTW, Vienna already has LOADS of yummy bakeries that are truly local, with breads, cakes, pies, cupcakes, and ethnic specialties (some of which you can find almost nowhere else in the D.C. area).
MAL
2:32 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
I don't think there was any "Boo, hiss, Panera is a bad chain" on here, just the concern about parking at that location. I love Panera and like every other "chain" in our town I hope that it local residents will not only shop there but find a job there. Katherine is right, we already have lots of "locally owned" bakeries. We just need to get word out.
Cherie Lejeune
8:56 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Yes many great local owned Vienna bakery's but few have affordable fare--tell me where you can get a decent cake, torte or similar for less than $15? If you are a senior on a budget, even a cupcake in "these" bakeries are silly costly. I challenge the local coffee shops to provide senior daily discounts---getting out and about is a life extender, not to mention a plus for generational conversation.
Dana Jones
7:23 pm on Friday, February 4, 2011
Katherine and MAL, I think I may be thinking of 'crunchier'/funkier/more fusion-y places than you are. And there are lots of Paneras in WALKABLE places where there are oodles of fantastic indie places, too - REAL college towns (i.e., NOT College Park, Maryland), downtown Chicago neighborhoods (Belmont would be a good example), etc. And more parking would be brilliant. I really like what Fairfax City (where I live now) did re: parking in their Old Town area, incidentally. And I agree with Cherie that there need to be more *affordable* quality, creative options in this area.
Kate
11:25 am on Friday, March 25, 2011
I personally am excited for the new Panera! However I would have to agree with MAL- what we really need is a bookstore!!!
Kent Narrows
10:31 am on Friday, April 1, 2011
Want to learn a little something about Fresh Market's business practices? Stop by Norm's Beer & Wine, a home grown Vienna institution, and ask them about what FM required of the owner before they would sign the lease for the property they will occupy.