While the upcoming Shane’s Loaded Mac Bar in Lafayette will have salads and healthy options, owner Shane Vallot says he sees a demand for a fast-casual restaurant specializing in comfort food. His new restaurant will meet that demand with loaded mac-and-cheese bowls that you can have customized in front of you with meats, cheeses, sauces, and other toppings. The restaurant will also serve loaded baked potatoes and melt sandwiches. It is slated to open in June near the UL campus at 1043 Johnston St.
“There’s definitely a demand, in my opinion, in Louisiana because we have nothing like this concept,” Vallot said. “We have the Chipotles, the Cavas, and you know that kind of stuff. But we don’t have anywhere where somebody can get comfort food served like that. A place where you can go and be a Big Back.”
The Loaded Mac Bar is actually a spin-off concept from Vallot’s current restaurant, Shane’s Quesadilla Burgers. Vallot got the idea for a fast-casual restaurant that serves burger-stuffed quesadillas while playing football and cooking for his teammates at UL. When it came to naming that restaurant, Vallot got advice from a marketing director at UL, who told him to name it after himself; a well-known former local football.
“When they told me that I was like, uh, no,” he said. “I don’t want this to be about myself. You know, I didn’t want it to be all about Shane, and I didn’t want it to be just a Shane thing.”
Ultimately, he conceded, and Shane’s Quesadilla Burgers opened in 2023. In the two years since that restaurant opened, Vallot has learned a lot. He said he’s taking those lessons with him as he prepares to open Shane’s Loaded Mac Bar.
“It takes grit and hard work to run a business, not just a restaurant, but a business,” he said. “There’s things that people don’t see, you know, people see when your parking lot is full and you got people coming in. But people don’t see when you’re up till 3 a.m. when your staff calls out, or when your walk-in cooler goes out in the middle of the night, so you gotta get rid of all your food. It’s truly a grind, is what it is.”
If all goes well, Vallot plans to add additional Loaded Mac Bar locations across Louisiana.
“I’m really excited about this, more excited than I was opening up Shane’s Quesadilla Burgers,” he said. “We’ve gotten great feedback on social media already, and I think it’s gonna take off.”
