West Memphis to get two new restaurants

Developer bringing highend pizza, burger eateries to community

news@theeveningtimes.com

Two new restaurants are headed to West Memphis.

Mayor Marco McClendon announced the commitments from a restaurant entrepreneur to bring two of his brands outside the Washington D.C. area to land on “Main Street America”, West Memphis.

The mayor exuded jubilation over the agreement fostered by the development company P3 Group which will also develop the $20 million project to erect four new municipal buildings in the city. McClendon Introduced Ron Jordan to a crowd 60 on hand at the Eugene Woods Civic Center for the announcement.

The new establishments were expected to produce 85 new jobs.

Big Buns and Matchbox pizzeria will locate on North 7th Street near the new hotels and Cracker Barrel. Jordan described the two unique dining experiences and said he expected ground breaking in a few months.

“Matchbox, I’m very excited to say, will bring its first footprint outside the Metro D.C. area to West Memphis,” said Jordan.

“The Matchbox brand is California-esque. We have plenty of entrees from tacos to great chicken wings with a dry rub seasoning.

We have some southern touches on the menu. We tout ourselves as a vintage pizza bistro, but pizza is only 20 percent of what we do.”

The restaurateur said Matchbox would offer more than the standard fare and cater to local tastes, with some menu items varying from time to time.

“So there is opportunity for different menu items and we add local flavor at our restaurants that the community wants to see,” said Jordan. “That’s part of the our vision at Jordan Hospitality that we integrate with the community we are in. Not every community is the same.

You will see a little bit of yourselves each time you visit.”

Jordan whet appetites as he described his second brand destined for the Gateway City. The moniker fine casual dining was attached to Matchbox, but the label describing the second eatery, Big Buns: Best Damn Burger ,read fun casual dining.

“Big Buns, I know the name seems a little racy, but its just a play on words,” said Jordan. “Big buns is an upscale burger boutique restaurant.”

What is the best seller?

“We do everything from the impossible burger to our tuna burger,” said Jordan. “Our number one seller is our tuna bowl; it outsells every last one of our burgers. We have a full bar.”

McClendon said the city pursued the new dining experiences. Hoteliers said business travelers often bypassed West Memphis for stays in Memphis or DeSoto County because of restaurant selection.

“It has been our goal to provide quality restaurants in our city, and we have been working toward it,” said McClendon.

P3 Group CEO Dee Brown, said the city pursued the new businesses.

“I’d like to thank the A& P Commission that stepped up to make Mr. Jordan realize this is a meaningful project to the City of West Memphis,” said Brown.

“What you will find across the board is that cities that are thriving and succeeding always have a public/ private component. To the extent that you can leverage private resources to achieve public goals the citizens of West Memphis win.”