Dean & DeLuca still scouting for Fort Worth store locations

A year has passed since Dean & DeLuca debuted as the title sponsor for the Colonial golf tournament and announced its intention to bring its specialty food markets to North Texas.

Since that time, the small chain of gourmet food and wine stores has announced its first area location at the new upscale Legacy West development in Plano. But what about Fort Worth?

Over the past year, company executives have looked at a number of sites in the Fort Worth area, including in Sundance Square, but have yet to find the right location for one of its full-service markets or cafes.

“We are still looking for opportunities in the Fort Worth area,” said Adam Miller, senior vice president of operations, adding that a lot of people in the city have expressed interest. “Our presence in Fort Worth is very important to us.”

Dean & DeLuca markets sell a variety of foods including fresh produce, meat, seafood, cheese and confections, plus prepared foods, coffee, wine and high-end kitchenware. The retailer also operates the smaller cafes and is developing a new fast-casual concept called Dean & DeLuca XP.

Thus far, the only exposure to Dean & DeLuca for Fort Worth residents has been at Colonial, where it operates a pop-up store called Prince Street selling sandwiches, fresh fruit, drinks, pastries and a selection of gift boxes. There is also a full-service coffee bar.

Founded in New York’s SoHo district in 1977, Dean & DeLuca was purchased in 2014 by Pace Development, a Thai real estate developer run by Sorapoj Techakraisri. It has about a dozen U.S. locations in New York, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C., Kansas City, and St. Helena, Calif., plus international sites in Japan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.

In media interviews, Techakraisri has spoken of adding hundreds of stores around the globe, and the company signed on to a six-year title sponsorship with the PGA Tour at Colonial to bolster the luxury brand. But so far expansion has come slowly.

Outside of Plano, only another Washington-area store has been announced, in Bethesda, Md., according to its website. Meanwhile, the opening of a market in Plano, originally scheduled for this spring, has been pushed back. The company continues to work on the design and no opening date has been set, Miller said. The company hopes to have multiple stores in North Texas.

“Expansion is a big part of our future. But we must be very careful that we pick the best locations,” Miller said. “We look forward to expanding the brand out in the next two years.”

On the corporate front, Dean & DeLuca recently hired Laura Lendrum, a veteran luxury retail executive who most recently was president of Ralph Lauren Corp., as its new president. She is charged with expanding the company’s reach both on the ground and online.

In addition to brick-and-mortar stores, Dean & DeLuca has a robust online business that caters to corporate gifting. Some in town have wondered whether the company might look at North Texas for a distribution operation or perhaps even corporate offices. The company’s executives operate out of New York but its back-office and distribution operation is currently in Wichita, Kan.

We eagerly await the rest of this story.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Dean & DeLuca still scouting for Fort Worth store locations."