A major vacancy along the Richmond Road restaurant strip has been filled with Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, a “fast-casual restaurant concept.”
Replacing a former Pizza Hut at 1611 Richmond Road, the new restaurant’s focus on “genuine hospitality and fast, friendly service makes us a desirable lunch and dinner choice for those who live, work and attend school in the area,” franchise owner Dave Dreiling said in an email.
“Our team will do everything they can to ensure guests enjoy their experiences at Freddy’s. We feel thrilled to be joining the Williamsburg Community.”
The restaurant is known for its cooked-to-order steak burgers, hot dogs, shoestring French fries and frozen custard treats.
The new 2,648-square-foot building can seat 80 guests and has additional seating on a patio. There is also drive-thru service. Freddy’s is open 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, the chain now has more than 450 locations in 36 states. Its business record over recent years has included it being named No. 1 on the Forbes Magazine Best Franchise to Buy list and No. 59 on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500.
Freddy’s has three other Tidewater Virginia locations in Hampton, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.
Visit Williamsburg wins national awards
“Life. At your Pace,” Visit Williamsburg’s integrated marketing campaign, has been recognized by the Richmond chapter of Public Relations Society of America, the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International and Travel Weekly for its multimillion dollar promotional campaign.
The campaign received a Commonwealth Award of Merit from the Public Relations Society in the Reputation and Brand Marketing category and three other awards: Capital Award of Merit for “The WilliamsBLOG,” Capital Award of Merit for influencer marketing and Capital Award of Merit for a National Geographic content partnership.
According to a new release, the awards recognize the most creative and effective communications strategies and tactics across Virginia. “The Commonwealth Awards recognize exceptional public relations programs or campaigns, capturing how companies and organizations have changed attitudes or behaviors or incited a desired action.
“The Capital Awards recognize tactics that may or may not have been part of a large public relations program or campaign, entries are evaluated on quality, creativity and execution.”
The campaign won three HSMAI Adrian Awards for achievements in travel marketing. Travel Weekly’s Magellan Awards recognized the Williamsburg efforts with gold awards in the blog category and television commercial category and silver awards in the social media and advertising/marketing categories.
“While we are thrilled that our marketing efforts have been acknowledged, the real award comes from seeing our campaigns translate into increased overnight visitation,” Visit Williamsburg CEO Victoria Cimino said in a news release.
Visit Williamsburg is the official destination marketing organization for the Historic Triangle area of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown.
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers opens
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based fast-foot restaurant, has opened a new branch at 3150 Kiln Creek Parkway in York County.
It is the company’s second opening on the Peninsula within the past six weeks. A restaurant also opened in Hampton on Mercury Boulevard.
Currently, there are seven Raising Cane’s restaurants in Virginia, with others planned in the near future. The company was established in 1996 and has been growing gradually for the past 25 years. There are now about 600 locations. Its first overseas restaurant opened in Kuwait in 2015.
Chesapeake Bank’s Houghland gets promotion
Leigh Houghland has been promoted to senior lending officer by Chesapeake Bank while continuing to serve as the Williamsburg regional executive and senior vice president.
The seven-year Chesapeake Bank veteran will now oversee commercial and mortgage lending as well as loan operations in all the regions.
A Williamsburg resident, Houghland is an active community member, involved in activities such as Child Development Resources, the YMCA of the Virginia Peninsula and the United Way of the Virginia Peninsula.
Dots and dashes
* Bath & Body Works has leased 3,750 square feet of retail space at Monticello Marketplace Shopping Center in James City County. Tyler Jacobson of S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. represented the landlord.
* Edible Arrangements has extended its lease on 1,500 square feet of retail space at Marketplace Shoppes in James City County. Jacobson of Nusbaum Realty also represented the landlord.
Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com