You all love Portillo’s, a North Texas location that earns a “crazy” $48,000 a day.

COLONY, Texas. Portillo’s appears to be a big hit in North Texas.

The Chicago-based fast food restaurant known for its hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches opened its first Texas location at The Colony on Jan. 18. And the 7,900-square-foot restaurant has been making a profit ever since. averaging $48,000 per day, the company’s CEO said at this week’s quarterly earnings report.

Portillo’s is a public company ($PTLO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

The colony has been the best Portillo spot in the country since it opened with great fanfare in January.

“That means it matches the volume of restaurants in Chicago that have been open for decades,” Portillo CEO Michael Osanlu said during an earnings call on March 2. “Specifically, Colonia sales have averaged $48,000 a day since the grand opening. On an annualized basis, this amounts to $17 million per year; and that’s a crazy number, so please don’t model it. She’s definitely going down. it is good that this restaurant will far exceed our underwriting expectations and set us up for continued success in Texas as we continue to expand.”

No wonder Portillo is looking to expand.

Within weeks of opening at The Colony, the company announced plans to open two more locations in North Texas, in Allen and Arlington. Allen Restaurant will be located south of Allen Premium Outlets and Arlington Restaurant will be located near Interstate 20 and South Cooper Street.

Osanlu said the company has already begun work on additional sites in North Texas, which will open later this year. These will be two of nine new locations Portillo plans to open across the country in 2023.

Their Texas footprint could get bigger too. Osanlu said, “Don’t be surprised if we build a few more in Texas this year.”

He warned that the Colony location would “settle down” over time.

“I think this is a restaurant that will settle down,” Osanlu said. “For us, this is an iconic flagship restaurant in a fantastic location. So I expect it to be more like a Chicago market restaurant than a typical fancy restaurant.”

But the success of the Colony location in Osanlu’s eyes answered at least one question.

“We have a lot of people who ask us questions about how do you think you will succeed in Texas? Do you think people will eat Italian beef in Texas?” Osanlu said. “It’s only been six to eight weeks, but I feel like the answer to that question is a resounding yes. They seem to really like our beef sandwiches. No wonder beef and bread work very well in the great state of Texas.”

Osanlu said that Texas “can be good or bad for restaurant companies.” As for The Colony, Portillo “overdid it to some extent” with experienced management, running a restaurant, and marketing efforts, including with the Texas tour company Beef Bus. The location, Osanloo pointed out, is also in the vibrant Grandscape development area, close to NFM, Scheel’s sporting goods store and a variety of other restaurants.