By David Dorsey
Pei Wei Asian Kitchen, a concept again growing, closing in on 120 locations across the country, has a new bestselling restaurant. It just opened in Cape Coral.
Located at Cape Coral Commons shopping center, 1519 NE Pine Island Road, Unit 160, Pei Wei is on the eastern end of a building that also includes a new Papa John’s Pizza, Huey Magoo’s Chicken Tenders, Choppers Hair Garage and Sage Dental.
Hank Janeway, operations director for Pei Wei, lives in southwest Cape Coral and oversees 25 locations, including Southwest Florida’s first Pei Wei at 16421 Corporate Commerce Way near Gulf Coast Town Center.
All 25 of the Cape Coral Pei Wei employees trained there.
Entrees include Orange Chicken, Kung Pau Chicken, Spicy Korean BBQ Steak, Firecracker Shrimp and Hot Honey Chicken. Dishes also can be ordered with beef, chicken, tofu or shrimp. Prices start at $11.79 and $12.79 for entrees, and an array of appetizers is on the menu, as well. All are made to order and cooked in the open kitchen.
“Definitely, right now, it’s the newness,” Janeway said of the sudden sales. On Sept. 8, the second day of being open, Janeway encountered a line of people out the door. He had to order a third extra truck full of food to keep up with the demand.
The sales outpaced even another new location, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he said.
“For us, there’s no real competition within 9 miles,” Janeway said of Asian food, other than a few mom-and-pop places. Pei Wei, however, is flanked by many other restaurant concepts, including First Watch, Mission BBQ and more. “This is high-density traffic. It’s perfect.”
Lorne Goldberg, owner of Boca Raton-based West Coast Capital, bought all of Pei Wei’s locations from private equity group Centerbridge Partners in 2019. Goldberg’s company also owns Asian concepts Pick Up Stix, Leann Chin (only in Minnesota) and Pei Wei Express. The latter concept, formerly known as Mandarin Express, has locations in about 50 shopping malls across the country but none in the region. Changing the name boosted sales by about 15%, Janeway said.
The Pei Wei concept peaked with about 216 locations in 2016, but the concept is growing again under Goldberg’s ownership.
Janeway moved to Cape Coral in 2020, and he knew then that he wanted to establish a Pei Wei in the city in which he lived. He spends about every other week in Florida, as he also watches over locations in Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, Texas.
In Florida, Janeway also oversees the Pei Wei locations in Sarasota and Tampa. He has worked for the company for 14 years, and he worked for Ruby Tuesday as a regional director for 23 years prior to that.
“This, to me, is going to be a community store,” Janeway said, meaning busy from lunch through dinner. Plus, Pei Wei does a substantial percentage of its business through catering. “I envision this dining room, every day, being full.”