“He had never planned on doing a franchise right away, but we just got on the bar napkin, scribbled out some terms for a franchise agreement and decided to start one here as a local restaurant,” said Oerteli, the owner of the New Braunfels location.
The New Braunfels restaurant opened in May 2022. Oerteli said he decided to open a chicken salad and deli restaurant because he thought it fit the New Braunfels community.
“Chicken salad is very German,” he said.
The deli serves a variety of sandwiches, salads and chicken salads. Roost also has several side options, including seasonal fruit, broccoli salad, potato salad, steamed vegetables, strawberry grape salad, and raw celery and carrots with ranch. The restaurant also caters.
“Everything we make is made in-house from scratch, never frozen, no microwaves. We take a lot of pride in our food,” General Manager Justin Sherman said.
Roost also offers all-day breakfast items, such as pancakes, omelets and breakfast sandwiches.
“I just don’t think that there are a lot of fast-casual type places that have the breadth of menu that we have. I love chicken salad, but a lot of guys don’t,” Oerteli said. “Here I can come have a Rooster [sandwich]; I can have breakfast or soup or salads.”
Since opening, Oerteli and Sherman said the feedback has been positive.
“It warms my heart—cheesy saying but—because you’ll see things on the New Braunfels Local Facebook page or [wherever], and somebody says, ‘Hey, what’s the best place to get chicken salad?’ And 80% of the response is our Roost,” Oerteli said.
Sherman echoed the same sentiment.
“I live in San Antonio, and I look through the San Antonio Restaurants page, and ... people will say, ‘You gotta go to Roost; it’s worth the drive,’” Sherman said. “[That] is in San Antonio, so that really says something.”
Roost
2124 Gabriels Place, Ste. 106, New Braunfels
830-214-6745. www.roosttexas.com
