Creamy comfort food courtesy of I Heart Mac & Cheese is coming to Pueblo West starting at 11 a.m. Monday, April 15 when the fast casual dining restaurant opens its doors and the first 25 paying customers win a free mac & cheese bowl for a year.
Owner Kerry Mand of Colorado Springs is opening the eatery in the Safeway Market Plaza at 1002 Market Plaza, Unit A, next door to the new Snooze Mattress store. Her niece, Danielle Barnett of Pueblo will manage the store.
Mand opened her first store last August on Voyager Parkway in Colorado Springs. She said customers started lining up at 7:30 p.m. the night before the opening in hopes of getting the free bowl for a year.
"They spent the night outside and it was rainy that day so they were very dedicated," she said with a laugh.
What to expect on the menu
This quickly growing national chain specializes in made-to-order macaroni and cheese bowls, grilled cheese sandwiches, and a large variety of health-conscious options including quinoa and vegetable-based bowls, gluten-free pasta, and vegan bowls.
Menu items range from Lobster & White Truffle Mac & Cheese to Buffalo Blue Mac & Cheese, as well as Chicken Parm Mac & Cheese and, of course, the Classic Mac & Cheese. Other menu items include signature flatbreads, cheesy broccoli, tater tots, tomato soup and kids meals for the younger customers.
I Heart Mac & Cheese also has desserts. Cheesecake bites and fresh-baked cookies are part of the dessert menu.
Among the most popular dishes at the I Heart Max & Cheese is the "build your own mac and cheese bowl because you can add anything you want and customize it into exactly what you want," Mand said.
She said she is hoping to get corporate approval to get Pueblo chile as an ingredient that local customers can add to customize their mac and cheese dishes for a Pueblo-centric flair.
"The Best of Both Worlds is another favorite. It is a short rib sandwich with mac and cheese and it comes with Tater tots and a small tomato soup so it is very filling," Mand said.
"We have new flat bread pizzas that are becoming popular and the favorite so far is the barbecue chicken," she explained.
How a family connection brought a store to Pueblo West
"I have family in Pueblo and they kept asking me when I am going to open a store there. I said I can't be in two places at the same time," Mand explained, but when one of her niece, Barnett, came to work for her, she realized another location could work.
When the owner of the Safeway Market Plaza reached out to her about bringing a store to the site, she agreed to do just that with Barnett serving as her manager. The store will employ about 25 local workers, Mand said.
Founded in South Florida in 2017 by Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Steve Giordanella, I Heart Mac & Cheese has been named by Entrepreneurmagazine as a “Top 100 Best Growing Franchise." Mand's third I Heart Mac & Cheese is set to open later this year or early 2025 at Woodman and Marksheffel Roads in Colorado Springs.
The Pueblo West store will be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. To view a menu, go to iheartmacandcheese.com.
Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via X, formerly Twitter, at twitter.com/tracywumps. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
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