For months now, I've been hearing that Firehouse Subs wants to come to Waco, but until last week I didn't have any concrete information to dispense.
Now I have a little. Firehouse is seeking/negotiating for a location in Waco, according to sources in the sandwich chain's communication and guest services departments.
During my effort to learn more about The Rusty Taco and its potential location in Waco, I once again heard that Firehouse could be going into the location I was researching. The Firehouse folks told me they will not be going into that location, but they made it seem as if Firehouse is actively seeking a Waco space. However, one email indicated the possible future Waco store could end up in Temple if they can't find anything in Waco.
Firehouse currently has a location in Killeen and the precedent for restaurants coming to Killeen and/or Temple and then coming to Waco is well established. Some of the restaurants that appeared in Bell county and then Waco include Freebirds, Chipotle, BJ's Brewhouse and SmashBurger, which will be here later this spring.
Here are some other chain restaurants in Killeen that we don't see here (with my interest in them being here in parenthesis): Genghis Grill (this would be pretty cool); Razzoo's (I would've been excited about this in 1999); Mooyah (Baylor has one, but I'm still putting it in this category and saying I'm more excited about SmashBurger); and Tilted Kilt (I can do without it).
In case you haven't been to a Firehouse in one of the many Texas cities where it already exists, Firehouse is a sandwich shop "founded by firemen," so it has a distinct fire station theme. As such, the sandwiches are the kind of meaty-cheesy concoctions you might imagine firemen eating for lunch. I have to say, they're pretty crave-able. It's kind of a "we're real men, so we're going to eat delicious sandwich and not get hung up on calories" type of hoagie.
