In October, Christopher Furlow became the chief development officer for Green District, the Louisville-based restaurant chain he cofounded with two friends.
Green District is a fast-casual concept that offers healthy entrees like chopped salads, wraps and grain bowls with more than 50 fresh ingredients and house-made dressings. The company currently has six restaurants operating in Louisville and Indiana with nine more in development in the West and the Midwest.
In his new position, Furlow will oversee the company’s aggressive national expansion plans. He said Green District expects to open at least 30 new restaurants in 2022.
In addition to Furlow’s taking on a new role, Green District recently hired Tim Spong, a former Chipotle executive, as its Western market president. Furlow said Spong will help operate the restaurants out west.
“We just signed two leases in Colorado, one in Denver and one in Colorado Springs. We’re going to look out in Utah and then go to Arizona as well. Those are our three target markets. Then as we progress across the country, we might go south as well. That might be Florida or Texas, we’re not sure yet,” Furlow added.
The Colorado locations include a 1,400-square-foot restaurant in the Denver Tech Center area at 8000 W. Belleview Avenue in Greenwood Village and a 1,950-square-foot location at 7 Spectrum Loop in Colorado Springs.
Furlow, a native of England, founded Green District with Jordan Doepke and Matt Petty, two friends he met while coaching soccer. He said they bonded over a passion to make healthy living easier for people on the go.
In 2020, Green District received a capital investment from Louisville-based Castellan Group, which was founded by twin brothers Sean and Scott Smith. At the time, the company announced a plan to open 100 stores and reach $100 million in revenue by 2026.
“The (Covid-19) pandemic slowed us down for a little while because we weren’t sure how that was going to shake out. We didn’t want to make any rash decision in the midst of it,” Furlow explained.
“One of the biggest projects for myself and Jordan, over the last 12 months, was looking at our tech stack. So that's online ordering. That's all the reporting on the backend. That's the consumer experience.”
In addition to all the new restaurants in development, Green District is relocating its original Louisville store from 126 Breckenridge Lane to a new, 2,500-square-foot space at 3939 Shelbyville Road in the Morris Pointe development, which will occupy the newly redeveloped former Bacon’s department store and Burdorf Interiors building.
The company currently has three other locations in Louisville with a fifth approximately 1,500 square feet restaurant in development at the Brownsboro Crossing Center at 9850 Von Allmen Court, off the Gene Snyder Freeway.
“We have two more locations in Louisville that are under development, but we haven’t announced them because they are still under negotiation,” Furlow said. “So, they’ll probably be added next year. We’ll probably have around 10 stores in the Louisville market and that includes Southern Indiana.”
Green District already has restaurants in Indianapolis and Plainfield, Indiana. In January, the company will open its first Southern Indiana restaurant at 4227 Town Center Boulevard. off Veterans Parkway in Jeffersonville. The 1,500-square-foot restaurant will be situated in the Jeffersonville Town Center development.
