Chevys Fresh Mex was founded in 1981 by Warren Simmon and his son Scooter.  They started the first restaurant in Alameda, California and it grew to 37 restaurants across California by 1993.  This is when PepsiCo decided to buy the franchise and then they sold it to an investment group called J.W. Childs Associates in 1997.  Chevys made a purchase in 1999 of Rio Bravo Cantina, which had 66 locations at the time and the purchase came from Applebee’s International for $59 million.  In 2003 Chevys filed for bankruptcy and in 2005 Real Mex Restaurants acquired the company and they currently still own the company.

Chevys Fresh Mex is a casual dining restaurant that serves fajitas, enchiladas, tacos, burritos, and many other Mexican items.  They are best known for serving Mexican food that has been made fresh every single day.  This is the niche that they operate in and they make their money because they use fresh ingredients in every meal they make.  Another big thing that they do and many other Mexican restaurants do not do is that they do not use canned ingredients at all in the kitchen.

Chevys Fresh Mex has many restaurant franchising opportunities for those that have a net worth of at least one million dollars along with at least a half million in liquid assets.  They also require that restaurant franchisees agree to open more than one restaurant and they are very specific about the building size and the demographic of the area where the restaurants are opened in.  They charge a fee between $35,000 and $50,000 per unit along with a 5% royalty fee and a 0.5% fee for sales and marketing.  The total investment is estimated to be between $1,720,000 and $3,636,250 to get a Chevys Fresh Mex up and running properly.