Napolese and Café Patachou to expand nationally, partner with Simon Property Group

Indianapolis restaurants Napolese and Café Patachou are going national with their artisanal pizzas and broken yolk sandwiches.

They're also getting help from another local company, Simon Property Group, which happens to be the nation's largest mall owner.

Martha Hoover, the restaurateur who owns the eateries — three Napolese pizzerias, four Café Patachous and another concept, Petit Chou bistro with two locations — said Monday she is in talks with Simon to open her restaurants inside their premier shopping centers.

The initial business plan calls for 20 new restaurants by 2020, starting first with Napolese, a concept and menu Hoover says will easily translate in other parts of the country.

Not all of the new locations will be in Simon malls, she said, but plenty of them will.

Hoover opened a Napolese at The Fashion Mall at Keystone, a Simon property, last year. "It has exceeded our expectations," said Simon spokesman Les Morris.

The mall has done the same for Hoover, who calls the location's success tremendous.

"The Fashion Mall is ground zero for retail in Indianapolis," she said. "That's how I look at it. ... It defines A-real estate."

For the two to partner further, and for Hoover to catch the eye of Simon, is a coup for the restaurateur, said Steve Delaney, a retail broker specializing in restaurants at Sitehawk Retail Real Estate.

"Simon sees concepts literally from Hawaii to Maine, and they think this is one of the best they've seen," he said. "Simon being interested in taking her restaurants all over the country speaks very highly of what they think of her products and her concepts."

Hoover's concepts include Napolese, which specializes in artisanal pizzas such as its Be-Bop's Pie, braised pork belly, shaved fennel, apple and provolone, and Leonardo's Pie with sausage, spinach, sweet potatoes and provolone.

Café Patachou's menu is a breakfast and lunch variety, with broken yolk sandwiches, croissant French toast, omelets and plenty of soups and salads.

Both menus will translate well in other parts of the country, said Hoover, who opened the flagship Cafe Patachou at 4901 N. Pennsylvania St. in 1989.

Hoover expects to open her first location outside of the Indianapolis area by the end of the year, though an exact site has not been nailed down.

She plans at first to keep expansion limited to the Midwest so the restaurants are within a three-hour drive of Indianapolis.

"That's so we can have the same quality of food, use most of our vendors and make sure we have staff that could easily be trained," she said. "We didn't want it to be so far away that our team couldn't get there."

The way Hoover is expanding is the most logical way for a restaurant to grow outside of its market, said Delaney.

"You grow geographically — go to Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, Columbus," he said. "Then you work your way out in concentric circles."

Of course, neither Hoover nor Morris would confirm any of those cities as future homes of the local food empire.

Hoover did say it won't be long before the location is revealed.

"We are being very aggressive about this expansion."

Call Star reporter Dana Hunsinger Benbow at (317) 444-6012. Follow her on Twitter: @danabenbow.