O'FALLON, Ill. — Hi-Pointe Drive-In, the popular burger and sandwich joint, opened the first location in O’Fallon, Illinois, on Thursday, marking its fourth location overall and the St. Louis-based chain's first franchised restaurant.
The space at 630 W. Highway 50 is 3,100 square-feet and features the same brightly colored, playful interior seen at the other locations in Richmond Heights, Kirkwood and Downtown.
Jackie Roach is new franchise owner at the O’Fallon location with the concept’s partners Charlie Downs, Mike Johnson and Ben Hillman.
Roach and partners decided on a location before the pandemic, but due to complications concerning the landlord, they decided to change plans entirely. Roach purchased a plot of land where she, and a team of construction workers, oversaw and planned construction from the ground up for the restaurant, which will serve as anchor tenant at the site. The location is a strip mall that has two other lots, which Roach, who declined to disclose terms of the acquisition, said she's hoping to fill with new tenants.
The Hi-Pointe brand made its debut in 2017 as the creation of Downs and Johnson, owners of the popular local Sugarfire Smoke House barbecue chain. Along with Hillman, they've expanded Hi-Pointe and Sugarfire and added another fast-casual concepts to their collection: Chicken Out, an emerging fried chicken sandwich chain with locations in Kirkwood and the Delmar Loop.
Roach said she has known the founders and owners of Hi-Pointe for about 18 years. She developed a close relationship with Charlie Downs and his wife, Carolyn, when she worked as their employee at the St. Louis restaurant Revival, which has since closed.
When Hi-Pointe Drive-In opened in 2017, the owners and Jackie got together, as they often do, to catch up. They jokingly floated the concept of opening a location in O’Fallon, where Roach lives with her children and husband. She said they might have been joking, but she wasn’t. After five years of location hunting and construction roadblocks due to Covid-19, Roach made the location a reality.
“I just really was persistent and continued to follow up with them,” Roach said. “And years later, it all came together. “
Roach said she’s excited to be bringing Hi-Pointe to the community she has made home.
“O’Fallon is one of the fastest-growing areas in the Metro East,” Roach said in a statement. “We want more businesses coming over to this side of the river.”
Read the rest of the story on the St. Louis Business Journal website.
