Pita Brothers, the former food truck turned brick-and-mortar restaurant, is done with construction and could be opening soon.

The restaurant’s co-owner Vijay Swearingen said, optimistically, it could open as early as next week. Realistically, he said it could take longer, due to the more complicated process of opening a restaurant versus a food truck. It will be located on the 1600 block of W. Wisconsin Avenue alongside Starbucks, Cousins Subs and Walgreens.

“It’s a more intricate system than a food truck,” Swearingen said. “We’re trying new things, which always makes it more difficult.”

There is a vacant space next to Pita Brothers’ location and Jenny Alexander, director of purchasing for the University Purchasing Department, said the department is searching for a tenant.

“The Office of Finance strives to find merchants that will add value to the Marquette campus and local community and is in the process of evaluating a few different options for the empty space on Wisconsin Avenue,” Alexander said in an email. “Given the confidential nature of discussions with potential tenants, it is our policy not to disclose any details until a formal partnership is agreed upon and a timeline is set.”

Pita Brothers’ hiring process is underway and includes one interested Marquette student. Swearingen said the other people interested in jobs are mostly individuals from the neighborhood who have food service experience.

“(The hiring process is) coming along,” Swearingen said. “We have a few people filling out paperwork. The hope is to start training sometime this week.”

Swearingen said the restaurant is working to improve during the transition to get food out to people at a faster pace. That means changing the way things were done in the food truck, which is resulting in some complications.

“I’d always hear, ‘I wanted to try Pita Brothers but the line was too long,’” Swearingen said. “So we’ve tried to create a design that flows faster. In order to do that, we have switch our flow up a little bit.”