Eatery Updates: Corner Bakery, Pickleman’s, Qdoba

Here’s the latest blueprints for the future detailed by a trio or restaurant chains:

Corner Bakery Café (Dallas) recently completed renovations at eight locations (six in California and one apiece in Illinois and Pennsylvania.) Specific updates include new seating, flooring, paint, décor, beverage counters, awnings and patio furniture. In the first half of 2025, Corner Bakery said it plans to spend another $500,000 to remodel additional locations primarily in Illinois and Pennsylvania, with the goal of updating all its nearly 100 locations by 2027.

Pickleman’s Gourmet Café (Columbia, Mo.) is expanding in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The chain, whose menu includes toasted sandwiches, savory soups, salads and tavern-style pizzas, has signed its third multi-unit franchisee in DFW, with the Tara Barton and Georgia Grey. With that five-unit agreement, Pickleman’s expects to have 14 stores operating in market by 2030. Overall, the 20-year-old brand currently has 30-plus locations.

Qdoba (San Diego) said it has 500-plus franchise development commitments. The Mexican fast-casual chain says 33 of those agreements will result in new locations in coming months in such states as Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Ohio. In addition, the company says its pipeline includes several “non-traditional” locales, including ones in Terminal A at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport in New York, the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo in Colorado and a second site on the campus of Rutgers University in New Jersey. Overall, Qdoba has about 800 restaurants in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.