Popeye's to anchor new
mall-style food court at Rota
By Scott Schonauer,
Rota bureau
NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain — They won’t have it their way in Rota.
Burger King is not coming to the naval station as expected.
But military personnel and their families can still satisfy their American fast-food
fix.
Other chain restaurants, including a Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits, are in the
works for later this year.
Navy Seabees will begin work in September on a mall-style food court that will include
American, Mexican and Asian food. And for those who believe flame-broiling beats frying,
there are plans for a new Burger King in town, a short walk from base.
"We try to have what the customer wants," said Frank Miller, Rota’s Navy
Exchange director. And according to surveys completed last June, "they want to have
name-brand food. It makes them feel closer to home."
The naval station is one of several bases planning to add franchise fast-food
restaurants. There are plans for TGI Friday’s in Naples, Italy, and Sigonella,
Sicily.
The new restaurants add to the growing number of name-brand, fast-food franchises
setting up businesses on military bases overseas and in the United States.
Rota base officials began researching the possibility of adding more American-style
fast-food restaurants in 1999. They initially decided to put a Burger King at the
base’s air terminal and a food court at Reflections, a base restaurant and banquet
complex.
But bureaucratic wrangling and problems with the contractor delayed the project. Then,
a franchise owner in town went ahead with plans to build a Burger King near the naval
station.
To avoid having two Burger King establishments within a couple of miles, base officials
decided on Wednesday to allow U.K.-based Compass Group PLC to build a Popeye’s at the
terminal.
Although some Americans were salivating over the prospect of having the home of the
Whopper on base, Petty Officer 2nd Class Fernando Casanova said he would enjoy digging
into Popeye’s New Orleans-style crispy chicken.
"I’d prefer to have both," said Casanova, an aircraft mechanic with the
Rota-based Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two. "But I’ll take Popeye’s.
It’s better."
Sailors will have more than just Popeye’s to choose from.
The food court will offer Eddie Peppers Great Mexican Food, Mean Gene’s Burgers
and Magic Wok Asian food. It will replace the American Grill, a cafeteria-style restaurant
that offered everything from ribs to taco salad.
A $50,000 design for the food court was completed in May and $191,000 in materials
arrived this spring. Seabees — trained to build runways, temporary barracks and
command centers for Marines — will begin construction in late September, said Steve
Endres, Rota’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department director.
By having Seabees with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Three, based in Port
Hueneme, Calif., do most of the work, the department expects to save about $100,000.
But most consumers will probably welcome the court’s variety and convenience.
The court will include a "kiddie movie zone" in which children can watch PG-
and G-rated films on a big-screen television.
The rest of the Reflections complex — which includes a Chief Petty Officer mess,
pub and banquet area — will not be dramatically altered with the addition of the food
court, Endres said.
The additional restaurants will hire local nationals but the number of jobs likely will
not increase, officials said.
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