Drive west on State Highway 121 through Melissa this summer and you'll pass three new signs within about a quarter mile of each other. A Chipotle. A Chick-fil-A. A Waffle House still wrapped in construction fencing. All three sit inside the same retail pad at Melissa Crossing Court, the development at the corner of SH-121 and Cascades Street, close enough to Melissa High School and the new Coach Kenny Deel Stadium that you can watch Friday night lights from the parking lot.
The new openings add national chains to one highway-facing corner of town. Many established restaurants are a few minutes away on Sam Rayburn Highway.
What Actually Opened On The Corner
Chipotle got there first. The chain's first Melissa location opened June 2 at 1220 Melissa Crossing Court, built around a dedicated Chipotlane for digital pickup orders, open daily from 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. It's hiring around 30 people for the location.
Sixteen days later, Chick-fil-A opened next door at 1300 Melissa Crossing Court. Local owner-operator Ryan Fister marked the opening with a Moove-In Party, the chain's tradition of free entrees for anyone who shows up in cow spots, and the location is expected to create around 120 jobs. Fister told Chick-fil-A's newsroom that Melissa's small-town feel alongside its growth was part of the draw.
Waffle House is the one still behind fencing. Construction started around the first of the year and the build is expected to wrap by mid-2027, which means the yellow sign you see driving past right now is a promise, not an open door yet.
Add in Dum n Grill, a naan-and-biryani fusion concept that opened its first location anywhere in Melissa back in February, with four more locations planned elsewhere, and the year has brought three new food businesses to Melissa, two of them clustered on the same corner.
Together, these openings add to Melissa's dining options. Chipotle and Chick-fil-A are located at Melissa Crossing Court, beside SH-121 and near the new stadium.
The Building At US-75 And 121 Isn't Open For Dinner
Here's the detail that actually surprises most residents when they hear it. If you've driven past the large building near the US-75 and SH-121 interchange and assumed it was another coffee drive-thru waiting to open, it isn't. That's Dutch Bros' roasting and distribution plant, a 65,000-square-foot facility the company opened in 2024. It's one of only two roasting facilities Dutch Bros operates anywhere in the country, the other being in the company's original hometown of Grants Pass, Oregon.
You can't walk up and order a drink there. It's a production site, staffed to roast and package the beans that stock Dutch Bros locations across the region, not a retail storefront. It's a genuinely unusual thing for a town Melissa's size to host, a link in a national supply chain rather than another place to grab a birthday cone or a wave.
The new restaurants at Melissa Crossing Court are one part of Melissa's dining options. Established restaurants elsewhere in town offer another.
Established Restaurants Around Melissa
Many of the restaurants mentioned below are along Sam Rayburn Highway and in nearby pockets.
The Red Feather has built a loyal following for the kind of five-star word of mouth that doesn't come from a press release. Sunview Cafe is the brunch stop locals mention by name. Nonis Brunch House and Doshi Sushi round out a weekend rotation that has nothing to do with a Chipotlane. For lunch, the regulars point toward Hutchins BBQ and Maria's Mexican, both mentioned consistently as go-to midday spots. Tacos El Gordo opened its own Melissa location recently too, distinct from the McKinney location of the same name, a detail regulars are careful to clarify when they recommend it.
None of these are new this year. They're part of Melissa's dining options beyond the newer highway-corridor businesses.
New Openings And Established Restaurants
| Melissa Crossing Court (SH-121 & Cascades) | Sam Rayburn Highway corridor | |
|---|---|---|
| Openings and construction in 2026 | Chipotle (June 2), Chick-fil-A (June 18), Waffle House (under construction, expected mid-2027) | Nothing new, same established lineup |
| Location | Along SH-121, near the new stadium | Mostly along Sam Rayburn Highway and in nearby pockets |
| Examples | Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, and Waffle House under construction | Established restaurants |
| Order style | Drive-thru, digital pickup lane, app rewards | Sit-down, dine-in, regulars by name |
The table shows two parts of Melissa's dining landscape: newer chain locations at Melissa Crossing Court and established restaurants along Sam Rayburn Highway. They offer different locations and service formats, adding to the options available around town.
What This Actually Means If You Live Here
If you're weighing where to grab dinner tonight, the new options on 121 are convenient, especially if you're already in the car coming off the highway. Sam Rayburn Highway also offers established restaurants that are part of Melissa's dining options.
The bigger takeaway is about what "new" means in a fast-growing town. Three new food businesses opened in Melissa this year, and two of them are on one highway-facing corner. Dutch Bros' roasting plant isn't a place you eat at all. The established restaurants mentioned above remain part of Melissa's dining options alongside these newer businesses.
Together, the new restaurants and established local spots offer residents a range of dining options.
Curious how growth like this shapes property values and demand in specific pockets of Melissa? The team at The Luxe Global Group tracks these shifts across Collin County every day. Book a complimentary consultation to talk through what's changing in your corner of town.
