A drive-thru chain known for selling lobster rolls and USDA Prime steak at fast-food prices is planning to open a restaurant at 8620 N. Beach St. in north Fort Worth, according to state licensing documents cited by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The site previously housed a Dairy Queen drive-thru restaurant, and the location would mark Angie's fourth spot in North Texas.
From Plano to Fort Worth
Angie's opened its first North Texas restaurant in Plano roughly a year before this report, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The chain has since expanded to Little Elm and, in September, to Irving, building out a small but growing North Texas footprint ahead of the planned Fort Worth site. Construction at the north Fort Worth location is expected to begin in January 2027 and finish by the end of May 2027, per the same report. Angie's has not responded to inquiries about the opening timeline, the paper noted.
The concept was founded by Tony and Roushan Christofellis, the same couple behind Salad and Go, though the two chains are separate businesses today, as The Dallas Morning News reported in October. The couple sold their stake in 40 Salad and Go locations in 2021 before launching Angie's, which they created to honor the memory of Tony's mother, Angie, who died before the restaurant was created.
Lobster Rolls and Prime Steak at Drive-Thru Prices
The pitch is straightforward: restaurant-quality ingredients without the restaurant-quality bill. According to the Dallas Morning News, the founders' goal was to sell higher-end food “for the same price as a traditional fast-food meal.” Angie's restaurants often come with a drive-thru option, and the menu leans on ingredients not typically associated with fast food, including USDA Prime beef, antibiotic-free chicken, wild-caught seafood, and organic ingredients without added preservatives.
That shows up in the pricing. Angie's chicken salads start at $5, and steak starts at $7.99. A steak Caesar salad runs $9.99, salmon or shrimp costs $11.49, and the Maine-imported lobster roll is priced at $16.99. The menu also includes burgers, fried chicken, and copycat Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supremes, alongside salads, bowls, and wraps.
How Angie's Keeps Costs Down
Angie's says it buys ingredients directly, removing the middleman whenever possible, and processes beef, chicken, dressings, sauces, and drinks at its own facilities rather than relying on outside suppliers, according to the company's own How We Do It page. It also delivers those ingredients to its restaurants itself instead of using a third party.
The company further cuts costs by saving on packaging through non-branded bags and cups, and by using self-ordering kiosks and QR codes to trim labor needs, scheduling a smaller kitchen staff as a result. Angie's says it saves money through its business model rather than through its supplies, according to its website, which compares its approach to Walmart in retail, Amazon in logistics, and Costco in margin compression. In the drive-thru, customers process their own payment and pick up food and drinks off a shelf rather than through a window, per Angie's.
Rapid Regional Growth
The push into Fort Worth fits a broader expansion pattern. Angie's plans four more locations in North Texas. By August 2024, Forbes had already counted 10 Angie's locations nationally — eight Angie's Lobster restaurants and two Angie's Prime restaurants — with that same Forbes report pricing a lobster roll meal with fries and a drink at $11 and a chicken bowl at $8. Restaurant Business similarly noted the chain planned to test a fried-chicken sandwich meal starting at $5, pitched against an estimated roughly $11 meal at Chick-fil-A.
No opening date for the north Fort Worth location has been confirmed, and Angie's has not detailed what the restaurant will look like once construction wraps in 2027. For now, the former Dairy Queen site on North Beach Street stands as the latest marker of a chain betting that steak and lobster can compete on a drive-thru menu board.
