Cafe Express

The folks behind Cafe Express, with five units in Texas, are freedom fighters.

They want to give customers the freedom to serve themselves and the freedom to have finer-restaurant food in a relaxed setting.

The menu, created by partner Robert Del Grande of the illustrious Cafe Annie in Houston, goes with the sunny, bright decor. Other partners are Lonnie Schiller, his wife, Candice, and Del Grande's wife, Mimi.

"We are victims of the Cafe Express mentality ourselves--that freedom," says Candice Schiller. "People don't have to wait for anything, or they can wait as long as they want. They don't want to feel they are controlled by a waiter. The freedom extends to the food, too: You can add things if you want.

"Our cornerstone is freedom," she adds.

"It's a weird, mysterious, amorphous combination of self-service combined with full service," says Lonnie Schiller, the president of the company, Express Foods Inc., which late last year expanded outside its hometown to Dallas.

They opened their first Cafe Express in 1984, and they have grown slowly--"Cafe Express is a 10-year overnight success," says Candice with a laugh. They took on a financial partner, Redstone Financial of Houston, and are poised to grow the concept.

The stores, which range in annual-unit sales from $1.5 million to $2 million, feature a menu of salads, grilled chicken, sandwiches and pastas with an $8 check average. But the self-service aspect is what sets it apart.

Lonnie Schiller says the two couples asked themselves: "What are the best assets of self-service? Convenience, informality, value, the freedom to not be tied down to a waiter. You're the only one who knows exactly when you want another cup of coffee, or when you have your iced tea with the perfect chemistry of lemon and you don't want any tea added.

"And then we wanted to provide some elements of a full-service restaurant: friendly staff, good food and decor."

Schiller adds that...