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Tyson Adams has opened Konala's first Utah location, converting a former Arby's near Brigham Young University into the healthy fast-food concept's newest restaurant.
The Provo location, 210 Cougar Boulevard, marks the first of five units Adams plans to develop in the state. Adams previously operated multiple Jersey Mike's Subs locations and ran his own food truck business.
"Opening Konala in Utah has honestly been a dream for me," Adams said. "I've been in this industry long enough to know when something is going to take off, and Konala is that brand. The opportunity here is enormous. To be the first to bring this to Utah and then to see the lines out the door as soon as we opened, it just proved everything I believed. I got in on the ground floor of something that's going to skyrocket, and I couldn't be more excited about what's ahead."
Adams said community members welcomed the redevelopment of the former Arby's site, which became the fourth former fast-food restaurant converted into a Konala location. He is already evaluating additional sites in Salt Lake City and other Utah markets.
"We want to cut through the complexity of fast food both for the people eating it and the operators running it," said Trace Miller, founder and CEO. "We built a drive-thru model where guests can pull up, get their food in five minutes or less, and actually feel good about what they just put in their body. For franchisees, we've stripped out the fryers, the grills, the grease traps, all the things that make traditional fast food so hard to operate and scale. To see Tyson open in a brand-new market and have people lined up out the door from day one solidifies that Konala brings what communities are craving."