Kirk Jefferies has been a Jason’s Deli franchisee since 1995, building a portfolio of 20 in West Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma — though no restaurants around his Fort Worth hometown. But Jefferies, a road warrior, was ready to do something in Fort Worth, so he purchased the rights to open five Mr Gatti’s Pizza stores in the area, including in north Fort Worth, Burleson, Mid-Cities, Cleburne and Weatherford. He opened a takeout-only storefront on Camp Bowie Boulevard at Horne Street last year and, in August, opened a sit-down buffet restaurant with games and meeting and party venues in a strip shopping center on McCart Avenue north of Interstate 20. His target: families and groups that want the fun kid-friendly atmosphere.

“If this one does well, there’s a space over there [next to the Camp Bowie location] that’s available” for an expanded store with buffet and games, Jefferies said. Some customers have already wandered into the Camp Bowie store looking for the buffet, he said.

The Camp Bowie store is the first time in years that Fort Worth has had a Mr Gatti’s, whose parent is based in Fort Worth. The most recent local location, in the Fort Worth Cultural District, closed and Don Artemio Mexican Heritage restaurant now occupies that space.

It cost about $3 million to finish out and open the 66,000-square-foot McCart restaurant and a smaller $500,000 to open the Camp Bowie location, Jefferies said. He said he’s already purchased a site in Burleson for a Mr Gatti’s. Separate from his Texas venture, he also recently purchased a Mr Gatti’s that was available in Evansville, Indiana. CapTex Bank, his longtime lender, finances all of his restaurant purchases and openings, Jefferies said.

As for additional Texas expansion, “I’ll start looking next summer after we see how this one goes,” Jefferies said. “We hope to do Burleson next.”

Jefferies estimated he’s hired about 60 employees for the McCart store, mostly from the surrounding south Fort Worth neighborhoods.

“I didn’t have any trouble hiring,” said Jefferies, whose niece and nephew run the restaurant. “We like to hire kids from the neighborhood. People are dying for jobs over here.”

Jefferies, a longtime supporter of Fort Worth public schools, has already built one of his Jason’s flourishes into his Mr Gatti’s business. “We feed all our employees for free, every day.”