New restaurant Tom's Urban 24 plans more locations

DENVER (AP) -- The founder of Smashburger and a former CEO of Quiznos are planning a national expansion of their new restaurant, Tom's Urban 24, which opened in downtown Denver last fall.

Smashburger's Tom Ryan founded the 24-hour diner with former Quiznos CEO Rick Schaden of Consumer Capital Partners. Schaden also is on Smashburger's board. The two said Thursday they are talking to landlords in major cities to add two locations of Tom's.

They didn't say where but acknowledged California is in the mix.

Tom's expansive menu includes pancakes, seafood tacos, pizza, pho, truffled lobster and shrimp pot pie, plus specialty cocktails like its 50 Shades of Grey Goose. Schaden said that broadness will allow them to localize portions of the menu and to incorporate local ingredients, as the Denver restaurant does.

The Denver spot in downtown Larimer Square — near lofts, sports arenas, clubs and restaurants — has been open about 90 days. Schaden said it is now profitable but didn't release specific financial figures.

The premise of Tom's Urban 24 was to place a restaurant where people work, live and play, and offer a menu with everything Americans like to eat, all in one place. Its menu has pricier fare than at the beer-and-burger chain Smashburger or the toasted sandwich chain Quiznos, and it doesn't immediately plan to grow through franchises.

In recent weeks, it has tweaked its menu to bolster dinner offerings after finding that the restaurant's bar was a bigger hit than expected, leading more people to stick around for food, Schaden said. And egg dishes are now available around the clock. "People want to eat eggs all day," he said.