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Food

Good-for-you restaurants Bellagreen and Original ChopShop double down on Plano

Bellagreen and Original ChopShop, two good-for-you restaurants operated by the same management team, are opening side-by-side at Park and Preston in Plano. ChopShop opened June 14 and Bellagreen opens July 10.

The restaurants are located in the former Smoke restaurant, a sprawling place that makes sense to partition into two restaurants.

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"There are a lot of people competing for 3,000- or 3,500-square-foot spaces," says Jason Morgan, the CEO for both restaurants. With the former Smoke restaurant at Park and Preston, Morgan and his team decided to "take the whole thing, split it in half and put both of the concepts there.

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"The landlords were pretty ecstatic because there aren't very many people opening 7,000-square-foot restaurants."

If this side-by-side model sounds familiar, that's because Morgan and his team already operate these same two restaurants, side-by-side, at The Shops at Legacy in Plano.

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Bellagreen and Original Chop Shop are next-door to one another at Park and Preston in Plano,...
Bellagreen and Original Chop Shop are next-door to one another at Park and Preston in Plano, on the same corner as Trader joe's.(Jason Janik / Special Contributor)

But what are they? Bellagreen and Original ChopShop are both fast-casual restaurants, and each have a focus on lower-calorie options and menus that can accommodate most dietary restrictions and allergies. Both are headquartered in Plano.

Here's how they're different: Original ChopShop is a salad and sandwich shop with fresh-pressed juice. Bellagreen is a bistro, with pizzas, gluten-free pastas and the like. Morgan explains ChopShop as "more of an on-the-go brand" while Bellagreen is "more of a date-night or corporate business meeting place."

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ChopShop customers might spend $10 to $12; Bellagreen diners would spend $15 to $18, he says.

Morgan worked as the CFO of Zoës Kitchen for seven years, and he says he used some of its fast-casual formulas when he took over Original ChopShop and Bellagreen.

"Zoës was a very flat organization, and everybody saw bits and pieces of everything," he says. "It was a pretty great education."

The newest Original ChopShop is the fourth one in North Texas, following debuts in Las Colinas, The Shops at Legacy in Plano and University Park. Others are coming soon in Lakewood, Allen and McKinney. Morgan says they're hoping to expand to Atlanta, Houston and Austin in 2021.

Bellagreen's expansion will take a back seat to ChopShop's, with no immediate plans for growth after the Plano opening, Morgan says.

Original ChopShop and Bellagreen are both located at 2408 Preston Road, Plano.

Look inside the new Original ChopShop: