Commercial Roofing Contractors in Plano, TX

Breakfast and brunch king Snooze, an A.M. Eatery is opening its first location in Plano. The Denver-based chain which entered the DFW market in 2018 will open a restaurant at 1900 Preston Rd. #111, in the former LYFE Kitchen space (sob), on the southeast corner of the buzzy intersection of Preston Road and Park Boulevard.

According to a release, it'll open on Wednesday, February 22. Hey, that's today. This gives them a couple days to ramp up in anticipation of the weekend which will likely be mobbed.

This makes the sixth location in DFW, following Addison, Oak Lawn Dallas, Walnut Hill Dallas, Fort Worth, and Frisco which just opened in October 2022.

Founded in Denver in 2006 by two breakfast-loving brothers, Snooze specializes in innovative breakfasts. Menu items include their signature Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes, plus Blueberry Danish Pancakes and imaginative Benedicts like the Habanero Pork Belly Benny.

Customer favorites include their Pancake Flight which allows you to mix-and-match three pancake flavors, and the Benny Duo, which allows you to mix-and-match two different Benedicts.

They also serve breakfast sandwiches, omelets, tacos, plant-based plates such as Bravocado Toast & tofu scramble, and dishes for the gluten-free people as well.

But enough about the food, because Snooze is all about the breakfast cocktails and spiked coffees, with drinks ranging from Mimosas with sparkling wine, OJ, and pomegranate liqueur, to spicy Bloody Marys.

The Plano location will seat 119 inside and 46 on a covered patio. This is the first Snooze to offer cubby booth seating, allowing for a cozier setting for small groups.

They're open 6:30 am-2:30 pm weekdays and 6:30 am-4 pm weekends.

They're into sustainability, and donating to the community by raising funds for non-profits through events such as Pancake Day and Bacon Day. They've also been named top 10 for employees who would recommend their job to a friend for three years in a row on Glassdoor. Can this Snooze do no wrong.

The chain currently has 50-plus locations throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Missouri, Georgia, Kansas, Tennessee, and Texas, and has more Texas in the works for 2023 in Lubbock, Stafford, and Houston.

"We’re thrilled to continue growing in Texas — already our biggest market — with our new Plano location, which we’ve been eyeing for some time,” says Snooze CEO David Birzon in a statement.

We know you feel like there's a lot of road construction happening in Plano — and there is! Keep this in mind as you need to get around town. As for some good news, here are the ongoing projects estimated to be completed soon:

Plano students make regionals

Skaggs Elementary 5th Grader Faizan Zaki and Rice Middle School 7th Grader Faris Zafar were all the buzz at this week's Collin County Spelling Bee competition.

Out of 42 students, Faris and Faizan earned two of the top four spots by correctly spelling Nahcolite and Uraeus, respectively, in the 16th round. They have advanced to the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee on March 11.

Applications open for the Plano Mayor’s Summer Internship Program

Apply by March 6 for the Plano Mayor’s Summer Internship Program, an amazing “learn-and-earn” opportunity that teaches essential workforce skills while immersing you in the professional workplace. Here’s your chance to get your foot in the door at a top corporation or nonprofit.

Only the first 400 applications will be considered, so sign up soon.

Join the Plano Chamber of Commerce as they travel to Austin to meet with legislators and decision-makers and try to affect positive change for Plano’s businesses.

From Feb. 28-March 1, businesses will have a chance to join the chamber at the capital.

STRIVE Arranges the Sale of Jupiter Plaza in Plano

STRIVE, a commercial real estate investment sales firm based in Dallas, recently announced the sale of Jupiter Plaza in Plano. The 100% occupied, 8,600 square foot retail center is located on Jupiter Rd. The center is in a densely populated trade area with over 280,000 residents in a 5-mile radius, with an additional 3.2% growth expected over the next five years. It is also visible to over 21,000 vehicles per day on Jupiter Rd. Hudson Lambert of STRIVE exclusively represented the seller, a California investor, and sourced the buyer, a local Dallas investor. Additional terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Chamber to hold first quarterly luncheon

The Plano Chamber of Commerce invites community members to a luncheon where Marc Rosen, JC Penny’s CEO will talk about the future of business in Plano. The event will take place from 11:30 to 1 p.m. March 15 at Marriott at Legacy Town Center, 7121 Bishop Rd.

Plano community members gathered at Legacy West for a Mardi Gras celebration Tuesday night, where they got to experience a variety of bands, collect beads and taste unique brews.

Festivities began with the Townview Big D Band marching down Windrose Lane to throw beads to bystanders.

“This is our third time at Legacy West's Fat Tuesday event,” Band Director James Gibson said. “The people who were over the event were very happy with what the band had to offer this year and furthered our partnership even more.”

The Townview Big D Band – part of the Townview Magnet Center in Dallas – began under the leadership of Dean Hill in 1997, Gibson said. Touring internationally, the band has played several events including Super Bowl events, halftime at Dallas' Mavericks games, NCAA final four events, the opening of AT&T Stadium and more.

“The most rewarding part of it is seeing the students grow daily,” Gibson said. “We started with about 57 members during the summers. The band has since grown to at least 150 people. We've had an influx of students coming in just wanting to be part of this prestigious organization. It's a family organization that lives by a creed. We work hard to our fullest potential.”

Following the band’s performance, attendees, dawned in green, gold and violet experienced New Orleans-themed food, drinks and tunes from the Bobby Falk Group, a Jazz artist bringing contemporary Jazz, Swing, and Soul sounds from Louisville to Dallas.

A cosmetology partnership program with Plano ISD and hairdressing company Toni & Guy means a new generation of hairdressers and stylists is growing in North Texas — but the future of their industry is ever-changing.

In a large, white-tiled studio space sectioned with glass walls in a Plano strip mall, a group of high school students sit at a January open house, deciding whether they want to study styling and hairdressing for the next two years.

They’re aspiring cosmetologists, learning about a first-of-its-kind program sponsored by Toni & Guy, in one of the British beauty dynasty’s few hairdressing academy locations in Texas.

The partnership program with Plano Independent School District begins later this year. Accepted students will graduate from any of Plano’s three senior high schools as fully licensed cosmetologists.

Vines High School sophomore Shakira Chukes said she's already applied for the next academic year.

“I was actually looking for programs that would help me go into cosmetology,” she said. “And then I found out that Toni & Guy was doing something, so I wanted to do it because I heard they're really good.”

Those students who are accepted into the trade program will hope to join a Texas workforce of more than 30,000 people: Texas employed the most hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists of any state in 2020.

But of the states with the largest cosmetology workforces, Texans earned the least, making just over $26,000 on average.

Still, young people are interested. With beginner resources like YouTube and TikTok, cosmetologists with passion and savvy can build up foundational skills before even stepping foot in a school. That’s what Maleea Halbert did.

“I've always been the type of friend that, like, wherever we're going, someone wants me to curl their hair or braid it or do something to style it,” she said.

Halbert studied music in college for three years, but left school during the pandemic and decided to pursue cosmetology full time.

Now she’s part of the academy, and at the open house, she answered questions from students like Shakira who are hoping to be in her place someday.

“I envy their position a little bit because I'm like, I wish I had this opportunity when I was in high school to be able to, right out the gate, jump into a career that you can be really successful in," Halbert said.

Some see benefits in Texas trade programs

Trade programs, more formally known as career and technical education, have become more popular in Plano ISD schools over the past decade. District data shows 26,247 students in grades 7-12 have enrolled in CTE programs in the 2022-23 school year, compared to 18,516 in the 2013-14 school year.

Across the state, CTE enrollment is also much higher in high schools than in post-secondary programs. There were nearly 2 million high school students participating in CTE programs in Texas in the 2020-2021 school year, compared to about 100,000 post-secondary participants.

Sara Plozay, a cosmetology instructor from Ohio, attributes the popularity of trade school programs to the hands-on experiences that captivate students’ interests.

“They’ll focus on body systems as it pertains to the cosmetology world,” Plozay said. “If they’re learning about chemistry, it’s, you know, ‘How do these colors mix together? What happens? How does that get the hair to do what it needs to do?’ So, it’s very applicable to what they came in there for.”

Such programs can also teach practical life skills, like resume building and salon ownership, that Plozay says can help graduates start their own businesses.

For those who don’t pursue higher education, Plano ISD’s Career and Technical Education Coordinator Alex Ritter said graduating from a trade school program already prepares them with the skills they need.

“For students who maybe don't see themselves as a college-ready student, that's a great opportunity for them to be ready to go out into industry and be really a productive worker in our community quickly,” Ritter said.

How Texas lawmakers changed cosmetology

Other, more seasoned educators say they’re watching the industry change rapidly because of the do-it-yourself nature of internet cosmetology — for better or worse.

And they say Texas is helping to push that change.

In 2021, lawmakers passed House Bill 1560, which allows anyone with a cosmetology or barbering license to teach. Before that, people needed a separate instructor’s license to teach the trade.

“We want it to be harder, not easier,” instructor Shanna Wood-Casey said of her and some of her colleagues. “We want stylists to come out of these programs even more prepared, not less prepared.”

Wood-Casey got her start in cosmetology during high school in Killeen, where she teaches now. Agencies at the state level don’t have a clear understanding of what it takes to practice or teach in the industry, she said.

With the 2021 law, the state opted to focus less on administration and more on sanitation and safety. But that comes at the expense of stricter educational standards, Wood-Casey said.

And while school partnership programs with companies like Toni & Guy can be beneficial to budding cosmetologists, she says those companies also benefit from fewer regulations by providing them with a larger potential workforce.

“I wish that more lawmakers would come in to a cosmetology school and see what we teach,” Wood-Casey said. “I wish they would look at our curriculum and see what's required of our students.”

An industry in flux

LaMisha Stinson was one of Wood-Casey’s teachers and still works at Killeen ISD today. She said teaching for 27 years has shown her that self-instruction through websites like YouTube yields a lot of trial and error.

That means more experienced stylists have to correct rookie mistakes that can sometimes be a threat to a client’s safety, like potential chemical burns and fungal infections.

“That can get a little scary sometimes,” Stinson said. “With the change of technology, the world, people, it is overwhelming.”

Linwood Darkis has a foot in both worlds. Like Wood-Casey, he learned cosmetology with Stinson, then went on to practice behind the chair and is now an educator.

With more than 20 years of industry experience under his belt, Darkis also shares professional tips on his social media pages.

“I will say, as a stylist, if you don't understand social media, how to be relevant on social media and to present value to a potential customer, it is really hard to be relevant in this industry at present,” Darkis said.

It’s a delicate balance: On one hand, promoting one’s styling services on social media can immediately introduce a self-taught stylist to a large clientele. Still, he said he worries for the state of the industry as deregulation for cosmetologists and cosmetology teachers becomes the norm.

“Can I teach you how to do this style? Yes,” Darkis said. “Can I teach you how to do it safely with a more holistic approach, understanding the benefits, the drawbacks, and the impact on your client, as well as how to be successful in this industry? That's a whole different question.”

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Salata, a built-to-order salad kitchen, is celebrating the grand opening of a new location in West Plano on Friday, February 24. The new location will be at 1801 Preston Rd. Suite D.

The West Plano Salata is the 92nd location open nationwide, and the first new Salata to open in 2023 for the growing brand. The location will be franchisee Ryan Nickel’s fourth Salata.

“We’ve been serving the North Texas community through our Grand Prairie, Mansfield, and Mesquite locations, and are thrilled to have the opportunity to be opening our new Salata in West Plano,” said Nickel. “I live close to Plano and know firsthand how supportive and welcoming the community is, and I am excited to make Salata even more convenient and accessible to the area.”

The West Plano Salata will offer guests fully customizable, built-to-order salads and wraps, as well as soups, a selection of organic teas and lemonades. Salata features five salad bases, more than 50 toppings, and 11 house-made, gluten-free dressings. The new Salata will offer online ordering and mobile app orders with both pickup and delivery available, as well as dine-in and catering.

To celebrate its grand opening, the first guest in line on February 24th will receive a custom Salata swag bag featuring a lunchbox, reusable straw keychain, water bottle and $25 gift card. Additionally, the first 100 guests in line will receive a free tee-shirt designed by local artist Alli K, displaying a custom Texas-themed Salata design on the front.

Inside the restaurant, Salata will offer complimentary salad samples and a variety of organic teas and lemonades so guests can try some of the extensive offerings available.

Salata’s West Plano location will donate 15% of all opening day sales to Minnie’s Food Pantry, a nonprofit organization who believes that overall wellness begins with healthy food and financial education. Their ultimate goal is to offer programs that help families gain long-term food security and break the generational curse of people, especially children, in low-income areas not having access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Additionally, Second Chance SPCA, Dog Training Elite North Texas, MADabolic Plano and Stretch Lab Plano will join Salata for the celebration on opening day. MADabolic Plano will host their own booth at the event with cornhole boards and fitness equipment for guests to try. They will also be giving away free classes and raffling off a one-month unlimited membership.

The new Salata location will be open from Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m-9 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

The new Salata location in West Plano makes fresh, healthy meal options even more accessible to North Texas

The new Salata will offer online ordering and mobile app orders with both pickup and delivery available for fans on the go, as well as dine-in and catering. The location will be franchisee Ryan Nickel’s fourth Salata he owns and operates in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

The West Plano Salata will offer guests fully customizable, built-to-order salads and wraps, soups and organic teas and lemonades. All fresh fruits, vegetables and lean proteins will be prepared and chopped daily in-house. With five salad bases, more than 50 toppings, and 11 house-made, gluten-free dressings, guests can create meals tailored to their lifestyle. Guests can earn points toward rewards with every purchase by signing up for Salata’s Tastemaker Rewards program.

“We’ve been serving the North Texas community through our Grand Prairie, Mansfield, and Mesquite locations, and are thrilled to have the opportunity to be opening our new Salata in West Plano,” says Ryan Nickel, franchise owner of DALSAL LLC. “I live close to Plano and know firsthand how supportive and welcoming the community is, and I am excited to make Salata even more convenient and accessible to the area.”

To celebrate its grand opening, the first guest in line on February 24th will receive a custom Salata swag kit featuring items such as a backpack, lunchbox, reusable straw keychain, water bottle and $25 gift card. Additionally, the first 100 guests in line will receive a free tee-shirt designed by local artist Alli K, displaying a custom Texas-themed Salata design on the front.

At the Flights and Bites station Salata will offer complimentary salad samples and a variety of organic teas and lemonades so guests can try some of the extensive offerings available at the salad kitchen.

To celebrate with a purpose, Salata’s West Plano location will donate 15% of all opening day sales to Minnie’s Food Pantry, a nonprofit organization who believes that overall wellness begins with healthy food and financial education. Their ultimate goal is to offer programs that help families gain long-term food security and break the generational curse of people, especially children, in low-income areas not having access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Additionally, Second Chance SPCA, Dog Training Elite North Texas, MADabolic Plano and Stretch Lab Plano will join Salata for the celebration on opening day. MADabolic Plano will host their own booth at the event with cornhole boards and fitness equipment for guests to try. They will also be giving away free classes and raffling off a one-month unlimited membership.

Other interactive festivities include a build-your-own succulent bar, available while supplies last to paying guests, and caricatures by Suzanne Morell Berry, the local artist and caricaturist behind SUZWORKS.

The West Plano Salata is the 92nd location open nationwide, and the first new Salata to open in 2023 for the growing brand. It is be operated by Ryan Nickel, franchise owner of DALSAL LLC. This is the fourth location for the franchise group, with existing locations in Grand Prairie, South Mansfield and Mesquite.

About Salata

Founded in 2005, Houston-based franchisor Salata is a fully customizable, built-to-order salads and wraps concept with endless combinations tailored to any lifestyle. Salata has 92 corporate-owned and franchise locations in Texas, Georgia, Southern California, Louisiana, and North Carolina. For more information, visit salata.com or facebook.com/salatasalads. For franchising information, please visit salata.com/grow-with-us/franchising.

SOURCE Salata

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