The Black Walnut Caf relocating in The Woodlands

After 12 years of service Black Forest Ventures will relocate its first Black Walnut Caf to a larger restaurant across the street from its current location in The Woodlands, said Joe Brassard, vice president of Operations.

The new restaurant will be located at 9000 New Trails Drive, and is scheduled to open by March 2015, Brassard said. The current location will be in operation until opening day of the new restaurant.

"The Woodlands was the [location of the] very first Black Walnut Caf, and the guests here have been great to us over the years," Brassard said. "We wanted to be able to offer a bigger restaurant where we can better provide services, continue to give them the same great food. We love being here."

While the restaurant will continue to serve its contemporary upscale American cuisine, Brassard said the new location have more parking, an increased dining capacity, a larger kitchen, a test kitchen and will provide expanded catering and banquet services.

"We feel that the banquet business in The Woodlands is pretty scarce, it's a market that we would like to capture," Brassard said. "It's also going to help us grow our catering business."

Brassard said the dedicated banquet rooms will have a combined capacity of about 120 guests, and the dining area capacity will see an increase of about 25 percent.

The Woodlands caf is one of seven Houston area locations. Brassard said the company recently opened its first Austin location, and is in the process of building the first two of five planned Dallas locations.