Chicken sandwich hotspot opening first S.F. location
Owner Gregoire Jacquet confirmed to the Chronicle he is opening a franchise location at 1300 Ninth Ave., a former Jamba juice shop at the intersection with Irving Street. Inside, the menu will include favorites such as Jacquet's potato puffs, salads and more. Plans are to open in November.
'I'm very excited,' Jacquet said. 'San Francisco is where I first landed, so it's near and dear to my heart.'
Jacquet has been working to franchise Gregoire for roughly three years, and has plans for more locations. To help, he has leased a commissary kitchen in Emeryville to prepare all ingredients for each future outpost. The idea is to offer items that change each quarter but to reduce cooking and labor as much as possible for operators: just assemble and serve.
'It's the best way of having consistency. You don't need chefs, and it helps keep the footprint small,' he explained.
Jacquet arrived in the Bay Area from his native France in 1989 with a background in fine dining. His first local job in the industry was under famed chef Jacky Robert at his restaurant Amelio's, later cooking at the San Francisco Ritz-Carlton. (He also cooked at the luxury hotel's locations in Boston and Puerto Rico before settling down in the Bay Area.)
He later opened the first Gregoire alongside his wife Tara in 2003. While some were skeptical of the fine dining chef turning to a casual model, the potato puffs and sandwiches won people over. 'I remember a guy telling me it's never going to work. But we're still here after 23 years,' Jacquet said.
Jacquet has expanded in the past. The couple ran a second location in Oakland from 2006 through 2017. They chose to close the location, which served as a commissary for the two restaurants, due to burnout and to spend more time with their children.
'Now that my kids are gone, my wife and I decided we need to grow again,' he said.
This isn't the Gregoire brand's first foray into the city. A Gregoire food truck serving sandwiches and potato puffs is regularly stationed outside Salesforce Tower and Levi's Plaza during the midweek lunch hour, and it often makes other appearances around the Bay Area.
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