Noon Mediterranean

Noon Mediterranean (formerly VERTS Mediterranean Grill and VERTS KEBAP) was an Austin-based fast casual restaurant chain.^[1][2][3] The company created the world's smallest food truck out of a Smart Car in 2011.^[4][5][6] In May 2016, it was rated ninth on Restaurant Business Online's list of Top 25 Fastest-Growing Fast Casuals.^[7] As of November 2017, Noon had 20 locations in the United States.^[8] Noon co-founder Dominik Stein was included on Forbes' "30 Under 30" list under the Food & Drink category in 2017.^[9]

Noon Mediterranean

Company type	Private
Industry	Restaurant chain
Founded	2011; 14 years ago (2011) in Austin, Texas as Verts Mediterranean Grill
Founders	Michael Heyne, Dominik Stein
Defunct	2018 (2018)
Fate	Bankrupt; acquired by Daphne's Greek Cafe
Headquarters	New York, New York
Area served	Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania

History

Verts was founded in 2011 by two University of Texas and WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management alumni, Michael Heyne and Dominik Stein, to recreate popular food from Europe which was not available in America.^[10][11][12]

In February 2014, the chain announced it would be expanding into Houston.^[13] In October 2014, Verts entered an agreement to open three locations in Dallas–Fort Worth.^[14][15] Verts opened its first San Antonio location in September 2015.^[16] In December 2015, the company brought in $20 million in private equity, which would be used to expand the restaurant to the east coast.^[17][18][19] The first Plano location opened in April 2016.^[20] Poets & Quants named Verts one of the Top MBA Startups in January 2016.^[21]

In September 2016, Verts announced a new location in Center City, Philadelphia, which opened in March 2017.^[22][23][24] In November 2016, Verts opened a new location in Boston^[7][25][26] and announced a New York City location.^[27][28] Two more Boston locations were announced in February 2017,^[29] and a location in Washington D.C. was announced that March.^[30] Also in March 2017, Verts was featured on CNBC's list of 10 hot restaurant brands to watch.^[8] In July 2017, Yelp showed that a total of 11 Texas locations were closed, including five in and around Austin, all three in San Antonio, and three in cities surrounding Dallas/Ft. Worth.

In November 2017, Verts was rebranded as Noon Mediterranean.^[31]

Noon filed for bankruptcy on August 6, 2018^[32] and was acquired by the parent company of Daphne's Greek Cafe on October 7, 2018.^[33] Noon restaurants were rebranded as Daphne's in 2019^[34] but were shuttered in late July, 2019.^[35]