BurritoBar franchise coming to Dover

The new BurritoBar location will be on 20 North DuPont Highway in Dover next to the Walgreens in Capital Station. The franchisee is targeting an October grand opening. | PHOTO COURTESY OF R & R REALTY

DOVER — BurritoBar, a Canadian Tex-Mex franchise, is opening one of its first locations in Delaware, filling one of the few spots left in a revitalized area in Dover.

Known as BarBurrito in Canada, the restaurant chain has 250 locations across the country and only three in the United States. Franchise owner Manish Patel said that the brand is planning “aggressive expansion” in the near future. BurritoBar has entered into a deal to add 90 locations in Florida.

“There are other places in Dover where you can get tacos and burritos, but I think BurritoBar’s menu is very unique,” Patel said. “They have their own sauces and salsa, and they do a panini-press style of burrito that helps keep everything together – it’s pressed tight enough for you to eat on the go. They also have seafood options like their bang bang shrimp.”

The Dover location will be in the Capital Station shopping center on Division Street and U.S. Route 13. The development is anchored by an Aldi grocery store and includes national brands like Starbucks, Red Robin, Walgreens and SuperCuts.

Capital Station revitalized a former Playtex factory at that corner that provided jobs for roughly 500 people since the 1930s. The 150,860-square-foot plant shuttered in the early 1990s and sat dormant for years. 

By November 2017, the old factory was demolished by owners Capital Station Dover LLC, paving the way for the 60,000-square-foot shopping center with a 400-space parking lot. The shopping center has five buildings, and the BurritoBar will be the second tenant in a new building on the south end of the shopping center.

There are currently eight spaces open for lease at Capital Station, each averaging 1,200 to 1,600 square feet in size, though space can be combined. There are no other future tenants announced at this time.

“Moving BurritoBar in leaves only a few thousand square feet of retail space left at Capital Station,” R&R Commercial Realty Charles Rodriguez said in a statement. “The center has a very strong mix of businesses now and attracts consistent traffic. It’s really come a long way from its days as the shuttered Playtex factory.”