Burger Guru Alan Bubbus Talks Real Estate

David “Alan” Bubbus Jr.

The name of David Alan Bubbus (he goes by Alan), owner of the David’s Burgers chain of Little Rock, pops up occasionally in stories about area real estate transactions, so I decided to visit with the restaurateur about his real estate investment philosophy. The conversation soon turned into a report on a number of new initiatives Bubbus has undertaken.

Arkansas Business had reported last month on the nearly $1.7 million purchase of a 1.7-acre commercial site at the southwest corner of Chenal Parkway and St. Vincent Way by Anchor Realty Investments LLC, led by Bubbus, so we started there.

“That site we bought to complete a 1031 Exchange,” he said. He was referring to IRS code Section 1031, which eliminates or reduces the tax due when one investment property is exchanged for another. “We sold our Cabot location and we to try to fund our future growth with our real estate capital, so we use the equity that we create in real estate to try to grow or put capital into our business.”

He’s hoping to develop the Chenal-St. Vincent Way property in a manner similar to what he’s doing at 13924 Cantrell Road, site of a former Mexico Chiquito, for which his Anchor Realty paid $1.55 million in 2018. He’s got plans for about 9,000 SF of retail space at the old Mexico Chiquito site. Tacos 4 Life is one of the businesses going in at that location.

“We’re building a small strip in the back that will face Cantrell,” Bubbus said. “And we have Smoothie King going in on the eastern end-cap, and we have another lease that we feel like should sign soon. But we have two leases executed already.

“We prefer to execute our leases before we build the building, which limits our risk, but it also allows us to customize the building for the tenant. I know, for myself, I would prefer to have a say in how the building’s built and constructed, the look, also with the features of the building to fit my model better. So we try to limit our developments until we at least have 50% occupancy or enough to cash-flow it.”

He’s hoping to duplicate that model at the Chenal-St. Vincent Way site. “We’ve had some interest, but we’ve had more interest from standalone buyers for that site, because it’s a stoplight corner,” Bubbus said. “So we’re considering just selling the property as a standalone site to somebody else.”

David’s Coming to Hot Springs

In addition to his real estate ventures, David’s Burgers is also considering opening some new concepts, Bubbus said. “If all goes right, we could open three stores this year, two of which could be new concepts and the last one would be a David’s Burgers in Hot Springs,” he said. That store is definitely coming, Bubbus said.

At the time we talked, he expected to close on the property, which sits in front of the First Church of the Nazarene in the 3800 block of Central Avenue near the bypass, in the next couple of weeks. The David’s Burgers there would be part of a 12,000-SF center. “I think it could be our best store,” Bubbus said. “It’s just such a great location.” It would be the first David’s Burgers in Hot Springs.

“I think it could be the biggest year for David’s ever, if these new concepts come aboard,” he said. “We’re doing well in real estate and I’m real excited about growing our business as well.”

Bubbus also has big plans for the 225,650-SF 1600 Gregory St. warehouse project on 12 acres in North Little Rock, which Anchor Realty Investments and 1600 Gregory Holdings, also led by Bubbus, bought last year for $1.62 million.

He’s moved into the 26,000-SF Unit 1 there and is building what he calls a “commissary,” which he’ll use to prepare fresh food for his restaurants. Because the site is on the railroad, “we’re looking at shipping potatoes directly from Idaho,” Bubbus said. “Nobody in Arkansas is doing this.”

The commissary will allow Bubbus’ business to take in and process 2,000-pound-crate shipments of fresh beef. That includes aging. “Our commissary allows us to do that on a higher level than what we’ve been doing,” he said, letting him deal directly with the vendor or farm.

He enjoys meeting with the farmers who actually raise the cattle. “It’s fun to deal with some of these companies,” Bubbus said. “Some of these companies are family-owned. They take a lot of pride in what they do. It’s not just about the dollars.”

He’s excited about these projects. “We’ve been working on these changes for at least six or seven years, and it’s finally happening.”