Ponca City is going to see a lot more “Now Open” signs

Ponca City will be seeing a lot more “Now Open” signs around town. City Development Manger, Chris Henderson said Marco’s Pizza is going in half of the old Twin Theater, next to the Rusty Barrel. Marco’s has more than 400 franchises across the country.

Don’t feel like Pizza? How about a sandwich?

"They have announced that Schlotzsky’s is going in the former Taco Bueno building," Henderson said. " We anticipate they will occupy that space in late November, the former Taco Bueno site."

And if you don’t feel like either of those you will have another barbecue choice. Rib Crib will take over the vacant medical building on east Prospect.

All of these restaurants are official, which means the development office has plans for them in their hands or know they’re committed. Ponca City was able to get these restaurants based on its population. Chains have minimal population thresholds and traffic counts, which is also why we can’t get some restaurants. Henderson said for example Ponca City’s chances of getting an Olive Garden or Red Lobster are slim to none.

"The restaurants like Applebees, Ihop, Louie’s, people like that perhaps, because they’re already in our region," Henderson said. "W e would have a better chance of getting one of those, but there’s a number of chains we will not get because we don’t have the trade area to support that."

Henderson said restaurants look at the surrounding towns. If a surrounding town has that restaurant we are more likely to get it for distribution purposes. He said Enid and Bartlesville are good indicators for Ponca City, even Stillwater sometimes but the university changes the dynamic there.