Midwestern fave Maid-Rite Diner coming to Dallas-Fort Worth

by Teresa Gubbins

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The first branch will open on Green Oaks Boulevard in Arlington.

ARLINGTON — Maid-Rite Diner is doing a second pass at opening in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, with a branch opening in 2012 in Arlington.

Founded in 1926, Maid-Rite Diner is a Midwestern favorite known for its "loose meat" ground beef sandwiches served on hot buns. A branch opened on Matlock Boulevard in Arlington a couple of years ago but closed in October. Local franchisee Bruce Lund, whose family is originally from Illinois and who has experience at corporate chains such as Black-Eyed Pea, tried the food and liked it enough to want to bring the franchise to North Texas.

"We got hooked on Maid-Rite after trying it at the branch on Matlock," Lund says. "My brother and I have always worked in corporate restaurants, so we decided to just buy a franchise and do it ourselves."

The Lunds reside in Tarrant County and have experience with the area, so that's where they'll develop first, in towns like Burleson, Roanoke, Trophy Club, and Fort Worth. They'll also serve food from the two other culinary concepts Maid-Rite offers: Broaster's Chicken and Smoking Good Barbecue.

"Maid-Rite has partnerships with those, and the corporate locations have those menus that they offer to franchisees," Lund says. "If people still aren't familiar with the loose meat sandwich, we know barbecue and fried chicken will do well in North Texas."

The Arlington branch is at 4101 West Greens Oaks Boulevard, next to a Kroger, in the Green Oaks Shopping Center.

According to the release, Maid-Rite Corporation is in "extreme expansion mode" -- sounds dangerous -- "contemplating offering Maid-Rite franchises in all areas of the United States." They want to open 40 to 50 locations around Dallas-Fort Worth. Yikes -- loose meat everywhere!