The owners of the new Mr. Gatti’s franchise have set July 14 as a tentative opening date.

Matt Oborne grew up in Sanford enjoying the Mr. Gatti’s that was located on Horner Boulevard from the 1980s through the early 2000s and announced in late 2024 that he was planning to open a new Mr. Gatti’s store sometime this year. The restaurant will be located at 3290 S. Horner Boulevard in the Shoppes at Sanford strip mall anchored by Walmart.

“My parents moved to Sanford in 1983, and I guess I was in first grade,” Oborne told The Rant in December. “Mr. Gatti’s was my favorite place to go. It had the pizza buffet, it had a game room, and it had these big projector TVs. I remember going there during ACC basketball season, and just about any sporting event.”

Oborne, currently a resident of Wilmington, became friends as a child with the Habeeb family that owned and operated Sanford’s original Mr. Gatti’s. He’s hoping to pay homage to what the old location contributed to Sanford while moving the franchise into the future. The new location will feature the pizza buffet, game room and other amenities so many remember from the old location.

“Mr. Gatti’s just has a such a great reputation in this community, and that’s mainly because of what the Habeebs built,” he explained in 2024. “They created something years and years ago that so many people still remember and relate to.”

Mr. Gatti’s is based in Texas but hasn’t had any North Carolina locations for several years.

“The brand is doing exceptionally well now. The current owners are really bullish and are expanding tremendously. And they really loved that I wanted to bring them back into North Carolina,” he said.