Perkins to open first Texas restaurant in Carrollton

Perkins Restaurant & Bakery is coming to Carrollton, giving North Texas its first look at a brand that has served breakfast, bakery items and diner-style meals since 1958. The company has signed a three-unit development agreement with Raj DFW LLC, and the flagship Texas restaurant is slated for Carrollton, with construction expected to begin in spring 2026.

For Carrollton diners, the opening matters because it is not just another chain arrival. It puts a recognizable family-dining name into a city that sits at the center of some of the region’s busiest commuting corridors, with access to IH-35E, TX 121 and the President George Bush Turnpike, plus DART rail stations. That combination gives the restaurant a built-in chance to pull in early curiosity traffic from local residents, commuters and travelers moving across North Texas.

Perkins has also tried to modernize the brand for a new market. The company now uses the Perkins American Food Co. name on its site and describes the concept as a fast, modern café experience, a pitch that blends its longtime breakfast identity with a more updated look and menu. A CBS News report in June 2024 said the chain had almost 300 U.S. locations at the time, underscoring that this is an established brand making a calculated move into Texas rather than a startup testing the market.

The franchise group behind the expansion is Raj DFW LLC, led by Naren Patel, Bansari Patel and Chetana Patel. Naren Patel has said his connection to Perkins began when he was a landlord for a location in Kansas before later moving into franchise ownership. That background suggests the Texas launch is being driven by operators who know the brand from the ground level and see room for it in a fast-growing metro market.

Carrollton’s 2020 Census population was 133,434, and the city’s location near major highways and rail service helps explain why it was chosen as the first Texas site. A first-in-state opening can generate more than one neighborhood’s worth of traffic, especially for a breakfast chain that depends on repeat visits and word of mouth. If the Carrollton restaurant lands well, it could set the tone for Perkins’ broader Texas strategy and put more out-of-state dining brands on the watch list for Collin County and the rest of North Texas.