I bet you think I'm dedicating a blog to the fact that there is now a fenced off perimeter in the shopping center at Franklin Avenue and New Road, the location where there will soon be a Freebirds World Burrito.
I did see that on my way home from watching the NCAA Tournament championship game last night. But I've got much juicier Freebirds info to drop on you today.
I spoke with Dave Coussirat, Freebirds' director of operations for Texas, and he told me there's as much enthusiasm inside Freebirds about their coming to Waco as there has been around here.
"Out of all the openings we have coming up, the one everyone can't wait to see what we do is Waco," Coussirat said.
Part of the reason Freebirds is looking forward to the opening is the way Freebirds does openings. The World Burrito doesn't just turn on an open sign and quietly assume folks will show up for lunch. Freebirds blows it out.
Coussirat said there will be an opening party for the first 25 people in line the day Freebirds opens in Waco.
And, oh by the way, Freebirds currently has September 15 targeted as opening day here.
Anyway, those first 25 get to enter the story before everyone else in line for a private party in which they receive gift cards good for a year of free Freebirds burritos (limit one per week).
Convenient then, that Freebirds will only be about 100 yards from a sporting goods store. I smell a WacoFork video blog when Freebirds fans start staking out their camping spots to be one of those first 25.
"When we opened in Rosenberg (Texas) we had people camped out for a day and a half," Coussirat said. "We've seen lines as short as 30 or 40 people. Once people sort of figure out if they're going to be in that first 25 or not, the need to camp is kind of reduced."
I told Coussirat I had 100 percent confidence that Waco folks will be lined up around the building on opening day. We're that hungry for a Freebirds.
He said he doesn't know why it's taken Freebirds so long to open a Waco store. Even after they fully committed to putting a restaurant here, it's taken more than a year and a half to get to this point.
But Coussirat believes Waco fits well in the Freebirds landscape.
"We really like Waco's diversity," he said. "Colleges have treated us so well and we look to be around a diversity of businesses as well."
One huge factor in Freebirds opening in Waco, Coussirat said, was the amount of noise the company heard from our end — meaning websites like the Facebook page "Bring Freebirds to Waco" along with WacoFork and so many of you.
"I think the feedback has drawn us here sooner," Coussirat said.
