Angie's Lobster, Prime Grill ink Tucson leases

Angie’s Food Concepts has signed twin leases in Tucson and lined up building contracts for the long-announced Angie’s Lobster restaurant and for the Phoenix-based fast-food company’s newest concept, Angie’s Prime Grill.

Both offer affordable meals based on the innovative vertically integrated business model devised by owners Tony and Roushan Christofellis.

At both Angie’s Lobster and Angie’s Prime Grill, diners can get an entree and a drink for $9.99 or less. At Angie’s Lobster, that means a lobster roll and drink and at Prime Grill, customers choose between grilled chicken, steak or shrimp served in a wrap, bowl or salad with a drink.

“Our mission is to make luxurious foods affordable to everyone,” Tony Christofellis said.

The key, he said, starts with cutting out the middle men, sourcing lobster straight off the boats in Maine and processing it at their facility 35 miles away before shipping it here. They get beef and antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken from local growers and have it processed in the Phoenix area. They also make all of their dressings — from barbecue sauce and ranch to a spicy cilantro lime and balsamic vinaigrette — and drinks inhouse.

Beef trimmings that are normally discarded are repurposed in the restaurant’s beef chorizo, on the Prime Grill breakfast menu, and in Angie’s Burgers, a third concept the company is road-testing in Phoenix and could roll out this summer, Christofellis said.

Because the restaurants are drive-thrus, they require a smaller footprint and less employees than traditional fast-food eateries. They also don’t advertise, relying instead on word-of-mouth.

All of those cost-cuts lower overhead, which results in a smaller price paid at the register, Christofellis said.

About the register: At most locations, customers order digitally or on a menu board in the drive-thru, where they pay with a card — Angie’s Lobster and Angie’s Prime Grill are cashless. Customers drive to the window, where they find their order waiting at the window; there is no employee with a headset mic standing at the window taking orders and then waiting for customers to drive up.

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“All of those things give us a huge competitive advantage to be able to sell all these luxury foods at a fast-food level,” he said.

The Christofellises created their business model with their first venture, the hugely popular Salad and Go in 2011. At the time that they sold it in 2021, they had 40 locations including six in Tucson; a seventh is set to open soon at 10071 E. Old Vail Road near South Houghton Road.

They launched Angie’s Lobster not long after the sale and by the time they announced the Tucson location last October, they had six outposts in the Phoenix area with as many as 15 planned in the coming year including in Las Vegas and Flagstaff.

Angie’s Lobster will open in July on the corner of East Broadway and North Wilmot Road. In late August or early September, they will open Angie’s Prime Grill in the former home of the original Frankie’s South Philly Cheesesteaks at 2574 N. Campbell Ave.

Angie’s Prime Grill grills its proteins to order. Each order comes with 3 ounces of protein that’s sliced and served straight from a specialty grill that sears both sides simultaneously, Christofellis said.

Angie’s Lobster is an homage to Christofellis’ mother, Angela “Angie” Christofellis, who died in March 2020. Angela immigrated to the U.S. from Greece and worked in American seafood restaurants in New England before opening her own restaurant.

Learn more about the restaurants at angieslobster.com and angiesprimegrill.com.