Fogo de Chão has opened a new restaurant in Gilbert, Arizona, marking the Brazilian steakhouse chain's second location in the state and signaling continued investment in high-growth Sun Belt markets.
The Gilbert opening adds to Fogo de Chão's expanding U.S. network, which has grown steadily as the brand targets suburban markets with rising household incomes and strong dining-out demand. Gilbert, a suburb of the Phoenix metro area, has ranked among the fastest-growing cities in the United States over the past decade, making it an increasingly attractive target for full-service restaurant operators seeking volume and check-average growth.
Sun Belt Strategy
Fogo de Chão's Arizona expansion reflects a broader industry trend of premium casual and upscale dining operators chasing demographic tailwinds in the Southwest. The Phoenix metro has attracted significant foodservice investment in recent years, driven by population inflows from California and the Mountain West, above-average median incomes in select suburbs, and a tourism base that supports dinner-occasion spending. Gilbert itself has emerged as one of the region's most active restaurant corridors, drawing both regional and national concepts.
For Fogo de Chão, doubling its Arizona presence deepens competitive positioning against other Brazilian steakhouse formats and broader upscale casual players that have also prioritized the Sun Belt. The brand's all-inclusive churrasco model — featuring tableside service of multiple cuts of meat alongside an expansive market table — commands premium per-cover pricing, giving the concept leverage in markets where consumers demonstrate willingness to trade up on occasion dining.
Expansion Context
The Gilbert debut is part of a multi-year growth agenda that has seen Fogo de Chão push beyond its original concentration in major coastal and Midwest markets into secondary and tertiary metros. The strategy mirrors moves by other experiential dining brands covered by Food & Beverage Magazine, which has tracked the accelerating pace of full-service restaurant expansion in fast-growing Sun Belt submarkets.
Operators in the full-service and upscale casual segment have increasingly prioritized suburban formats as urban foot traffic remains uneven in a post-pandemic environment. Suburban diners, particularly in high-income ZIP codes, have shown resilience in discretionary food-and-beverage spending even as broader consumer sentiment remains cautious. That dynamic has made markets like Gilbert compelling for concepts with higher average checks and experience-driven differentiation.
The new Arizona unit will be closely watched as a gauge of whether Fogo de Chão's suburban expansion thesis translates to durable unit-level performance — a metric that operators, franchisors, and investors tracking the casual dining sector will use to assess future site selection. Broader trends in the foodservice expansion landscape suggest that brands with a clear experiential hook continue to outperform in new market entries.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
