A worker delivers an order at Sherman's Raising Cane's location in 2021. City officials recently spoke on the city's role in recruiting new businesses and restaurants. Photo
Credit: Michael Hutchins / Herald Democrat
By Michael Hutchins Herald Democrat
As new growth comes to North Texas, new restaurants and related businesses are turning their attention to Texoma. Sherman city staff recently spoke on the steps it takes to bring new destination businesses and restaurants to Sherman and the city’s role in
recruitment.
This week, the City Council voted to accept an incentive agreement with Chick-fil-A for a second location within the city of Sherman. Meanwhile, other eateries and restaurants have opened the doors for their first Texoma locations in recent years.
Sherman Community and Support Services Manager Nate Strauch said the city often receives questions and requests
regarding recruitment of specific businesses into the market. However, the city often takes a backseat role to the market itself, he said.
“I think the thing that people really need to understand is that growth in retail and specifically restaurants only happens after growth in housing,” he said. “Most of these chain restaurants have really specific things that they look for in a community before they are willing to expand, and the
number one thing is how many people live close enough. The number two thing is how much money those people make.”
City Manager Robby Hefton recently filmed a video for the city’s social media regarding the requests the city gets. However, the decision is mostly up to the prospective businesses.
“From our perspective, the city of Sherman works with developers — retail,
commercial, industrial developers — to bring different projects to the city of Sherman,” he said in the video. “What the city of Sherman does not do is specifically recruit restaurants and other industries or other commercial to the city of Sherman.“
Strauch has compiled a lot of the restaurants the city receives requests for the most.
In the most recent survey, Long John
Silver’s topped the list with Jason’s Deli, Saltgrass Steak House and In-N-Out burger rounding out the top four. New grocery stores in south and east Sherman are also a regular request.
Previously, Pei Wei Asian Diner was a regular request, but other local restaurants have filed that need, Strauch said. However, Torchy’s Tacos remains a regular request, just outside of the top five.
Grocery stores are an exception to the rule, however, and the city has worked to try and recruit these businesses for south and east Sherman. Strauch said he hopes to be able to announce a new grocer for Sherman sometime in the next year.
Despite the wants of the residents of Sherman, Strauch said the decision was mostly based on the Sherman market, which still isn’t large enough to attract some restaurant chains.
As an example, Hefton said some chains like Costco look for markets where there are about 300,000 customers within a three- to five-mile radius.
“I think the thing that people really need to understand is that growth in retail and specifically restaurants only happens after growth in housing,” he said. “Most of these chain restaurants have really specific things that they look for in a community before they are willing to expand, and
the number one thing is how many people live close enough. The number two thing is how much money those people make.”
While Sherman hasn’t grown enough to attract all businesses, Strauch said it has made strides in recent years based on the growth coming to the region. This can be seen by some businesses, like Chick-fil-A, opening multiple locations in the market.
Strauch said the city often gets comments from residents lamenting whenever a restaurant opens its second location in
Sherman instead of a new option entering the market. However, this is ultimately a good thing for the city and a sign of potential new growth in the future.
“Of course, people are always complaining any time we have a second location open up in Sherman,” he said. “They always say, ‘Why can’t we have something new; we already have one of those,'” Strauch said. “But I think we you look at something like Chick-fil-A, a
Chick-fil-A doesn’t build two locations in Sherman unless they have reached a point where they think they can support that, where we can support a second location without hurting the first location.”
In other cases, the presence of a specific business can be a sign that the market is prime for development by other restaurant chains. Strauch said McDonald’s and other chain restaurants are known for their ability to choose prime
locations for business and can signal others that the market is worth investing in.
