Curry Up Now has announced a second Salt Lake City location at 152 East 200 South in the center of the city’s downtown. The outpost, the second of twenty locations planned for Utah and Colorado, is set to open this winter and will also house Curry Up Now’s globally-inspired and eclectic craft cocktail bar concept, Mortar & Pestle.
The restaurant, which is best known for its iconic Tikka Masala Burritos, Indian-style quesadillas dubbed ‘Quesadillix,’ Deconstructed Samosas, Sexy Fries, and Naughty Naan, as well as a Street Snacks menu and traditional Indian Street Food menu, will be situated on the corner of East 200 South and Edison Street, which in recent years has been revitalized with new restaurants and businesses. This downtown hub is also home to the iconic and historical Guthrie Bicycle building, a bustling fragment of Salt Lake City’s bar scene, and will soon house various multi-unit residential developments.
“This particular area in Salt Lake City’s downtown is an ideal neighborhood for unique and innovative concepts like Curry Up Now and Mortar & Pestle Bar,” says John Netto, Curry Up Now’s Utah and Colorado franchisee. “We believe that the surrounding businesses, residents, nightlife goers will appreciate these new additions to the already amazingly diverse food scene the area is known for.”
“John and his family have done extensive research and scouting to find the perfect locations for expanding Curry Up Now across the UTCO region. We feel that this community, amid the lively bar scene of downtown, will be especially excited about the globally-inspired cocktails at Mortar & Pestle, along with the food we serve at Curry Up Now,” says Akash Kapoor, founder & CEO of Curry Up Now. “With 20 locations planned in this region, we are eager to open and begin sharing our innovative Indian street food with the local community.”
Curry Up Now began as a food truck, founded in 2009 by husband and wife duo, Akash and Rana Kapoor, and ably supported by co-founder and Senior VP of Operations, Amir Hosseini. The innovative concept quickly gained steam, resulting in multiple, rapid restaurant openings around the San Francisco Bay Area in the years following the brand’s conception. Today, Curry Up Now operates six corporate brick-and-mortar locations, two of which also house the brand’s craft cocktail bar, Mortar & Pestle. The brand also operates three food truck, which remain the soul of the business. From the start, Curry Up Now has been known for taking traditional Indian flavors and presenting them in friendly, recognizable formats. Ingredients are clean and sourced from local vendors whenever possible, and the menu is designed to support alternative diets in an effort to accommodate all guests no matter their dietary preferences.
Experts in the hospitality industry project that Indian food will continue to be the fastest growing ethnic food segment in the U.S., making room for Curry Up Now to solidify its position as a front runner in the segment. Within the last year, Curry Up Now has been recognized by the restaurant industry’s top publications for its innovative approach to Indian cuisine and huge potential for growth. The concept has been featured in QSR’s 40 Under 40.
In 2018 alone, Curry Up Now solidified multi-unit franchise deals in nearly every major region in the country, including the Mountain States, West Coast, Northeast, and the South. The brand currently has 41 franchised and corporate stores sold and in varying stages of development across the country, including locations in Atlanta, Georgia; San Ramon, California; Sacramento, California; Irvine, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and New Jersey, which are expected to open throughout 2019. The brand has pending franchise deals in 13 additional states, and aims to have another 100 units sold by year’s end, with an additional 200 units sold in 2020.
