In front of a small crowd, the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting this morning for one of its newest members, Thai Chili 2 Go.

MCC Executive Director Kelly Anderson said the chamber was thrilled to welcome the restaurant to Maricopa.

“It’s always exciting when we have the opportunity to welcome new businesses to our great city,” Anderson said. “Every time [a business] comes to Maricopa, they’re super successful after their grand opening.”

Meanwhile, owner and CEO Akshat Sethi told InMaricopa this was the restaurant’s formal welcome to the city.

“It’s official; we’re here to stay,” he said.

A delayed ribbon cutting

One curious part of the event? The timing.

The ribbon cutting took place more than half a year after the Thai joint hosted its grand opening in July.

“The timing was actually on Thai Chili,” said Anderson. “It was their decision of when they were going to host their ribbon cutting.”

She said businesses choose the scale and timing of ribbon cuttings, meaning there can be a delay to when the event is hosted.

According to the chamber website, a ribbon cutting is offered for all businesses members of the chamber, including new, relocated or renovated businesses.

‘One of our top performing stores’

Sethi said opening the Maricopa location was the restaurant’s first big step towards expanding into other markets.

“This was our gateway into going to other cities, like Tucson or Flagstaff,” he told InMaricopa. “It’s still a little distant for us, but Maricopa was a little test for us to see how we hold up with the distance.”

So far, the test has paid off. Sethi said the Maricopa location is one of the Phoenix-based company’s leading restaurants.

“It’s been showing some stellar growth,” he said. “It was one of our strongest openings in the brand and it’s been one of our top performing stores. It was absolutely phenomenal.”

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