Tex-Mex chain Lupe Tortilla expects to wrap up construction on its Southlake location by early January and open in 2027.

Scott Leach, director of construction development at Lupe Tortilla Restaurants, shared the timeline at the Southlake City Council's Tuesday, Oct. 6 meeting. The council also approved a site plan adding a nearly 600-square-foot covered outdoor patio to the restaurant at 2701 E. SH 114, as first reported by Community Impact.

"Getting operations to get it open is beyond my control," Leach told the council. "But that's where we're shooting."

The site plan, case ZA26-0055, went through a public hearing at the meeting. The property sits in the Gateway Plaza Phase II development, zoned S-P-2 Generalized Site Plan District. Terry Wilkinson of Wyndham Properties II owns the land. Nick Otto of GO WEST Architecture filed the application on behalf of the restaurant.

Lupe Tortilla has been in Southlake's planning pipeline since at least March, when the city's Sign Board considered a sign variance for the same address.

The chain is Houston-based. It was founded in 1983 in a 1940s farmhouse in Addicks, a community just outside Houston. All 33 of its locations are in Texas.

Restaurant Business reported in a July 10 article that Lupe Tortilla is the second-largest full-service Mexican restaurant chain in the country by sales. The chain's revenue rose 8% in 2025, per Technomic data cited in that report, making it the fastest-growing full-service Mexican chain on the Technomic Top 500.

CEO Judson Holt told Restaurant Business in July that the company grows slowly on purpose, limiting new openings to two or three per year to avoid diluting its culture.

No specific opening date within 2027 has been announced. Construction on the building at 2701 E. SH 114 is expected to finish around the beginning of January.