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Our seventh edition of The 40/40 List once again recognizes 40 fast casuals with fewer than 40 locations that we believe are on the verge of something big. The theme this year? Not just resilience, but reinvigoration as well.
BY CALLIE EVERGREENThe pandemic inspired fast casuals to adopt drive-thrus and delivery, marking the beginning of a new innovation era that has led to new restaurant designs and technological solutions to supply chain and labor shortage challenges.
FRANCHISE FORWARD
How one franchise group laid a blueprint for 1,000 locations. BY BEN COLEY
50 INNOVATION
The Wonders of Web3
The always-innovative Wow Bao has another customer engagement tool on deck.
BY ISABELLA SHERKI
FRESH IDEAS
One of the industry’s most nostalgic categories is riding a wave of comfort-food preference. BY ISABELLA SHERK
52
OUTSIDE INSIGHTS
Perhaps the evolution of the restaurant labor market needs to start from within. BY RAHKEEM MORRIS
56
START TO FINISH
The CEO of Eatzi’s Market & Bakery came into the industry by accident. But h e’s more than made up for lost time since.
Daddy’s Chicken Shack has developed a massive growth pipeline in a short period of time.
PHOTOGRAPHY: DADDY’S CHICKEN SHACK / SHANNON O’HARA
57 QSR’s RESTAURANT FRANCHISING / FEBRUARY 2023
MANAGING EDITOR Nicole Duncan nduncan@wtwhmedia.com
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58
Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay a Top Franchise Brand to Watch in 2023
64
Pizza Factory Hits a Homerun in Hometowns
Nationwide
Iconic West Coast brand enhances operations with innovative tech-stack, driving sales and expansion.
SPONSORED BY PIZZA FACTORY
66
Slim Chickens Hit Major Milestones in 2022
World-class leadership team invites operators to franchise with renowned chef.
SPONSORED BY BOBBY’S BURGERS
BY BOBBY FLAY
60 Bonchon Celebrated its Twentieth Anniversary and Drove Growth in 2022 The Korean fried chicken concept continues to strategically push growth and increase sales.
SPONSORED BY BONCHON
62 Huckleberry’s Breakfast and Lunch Positioned for National Expansion
Strong unit economics and 7 A M –3 P M operating hours set this brand apart.
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The breakthrough chicken brand wrapped up 2022 on a high note.
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68
The Human Bean’s Personal Touch
72 Bring the Taste of Harlem Home with Harlem Shake
A R T & P R O D U C T I O N
ART
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Erica Naftolowitz enaftolowitz@wtwhmedia.com
This unforgettable, retro-dining experience is on the franchising fast track.
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74 Abbott’s Frozen Custard Is Heating Up
The 120-year-old brand recently inked a 100+ unit franchise agreement.
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76
Fast-Growing Chains Seek Franchisees
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Pairing cups of kindness with a top-ranked drive-thru coffee brand.
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70
Power in Numbers Focus Brands leverages its size to reap benefits for franchisees.
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78
This 56-Unit Premium Sandwich Concept Has a Unique Recipe for Growth The crowd favorite in northern California since 1995, Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop is ready to franchise nationwide. SPONSORED BY MR. PICKLE’S SANDWICH SHOP
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I’m not an economist. I can’t count the number of quarters in my daughter’s piggy bank before getting a headache. As I type this in early January, I’ve browsed a lot of articles concerning a potential recession, with some claiming there’s a current one, and what it all means or could mean or where it heads next. I can’t speak to the curve or the recovery line, but I do want to highlight something I came across recently that speaks to a broader theme. Generally (and why COVID was nothing like 2008–2010), foodservice, especially fast food, weathers economic downturns better than most. It’s a reflection of the so-called “Lipstick Effect,” where consumers are willing to buy lower-priced luxury goods when wallets tighten. Say, instead of a fur coat, you get expensive lipstick. In the case of restaurants, think of families replacing vacations or other excursions with a night out at their favorite eatery, or a bag of takeout.
But how does this carry forward into today’s landscape? Something I’ve heard from a lot of operators is that consumers have begun to self-segment their behavior to fit the climate. Some are eating out less frequently, yet doing so more indulgently. Starbucks, for one, speaking nothing of its traffic, has seen beverage modifiers balloon into a $1 billion business. Younger consumers in particular are taking advantage of a cold customized beverage program t hat’s replaced revolving LTOs. What it suggests is core and loyal customers are amping up “affordable luxuries” when they feel the experience is worth the price. The real friction that’s popped during this inflationary era is when brands ask customers to pay more for
something they’ve historically paid less for. Or, even more so, try to justify the tag of “shrinkflation” in a universe that built its base on value and abundance. However, guests don’t appear to be pushing back nearly as much for things they choose. One example: delivery. As you can see on page 8 , price is hardly a consideration for that cohort.
Getting back to the data I teased earlier, the Loyalty Report 2022 from Paytronix showed 55 percent of restaurant loyalty customers increased their average check size by more than the cost of menu items, indicating inflation increased loyalty member visits. Simply, loyalty has become a tool for mitigating difficult economic conditions. As the company pointed out, while the exact relationship between loyalty check size and prices can be difficult to determine, the trend is clear—loyalty members continued to spend despite inflation. Starting around March 2022, loyalty member checks lifted in lockstep with prices. In my view, core users are going to stick as long as brands give them the means and support to do so. Along the way, loyalty also empowers restaurants to present a new face of value that goes beyond the deep discount—one that’s personalized and catered to what a guest actually wants. In the end, it’s something worth paying for.
Danny Klein, Editorial Director
The quick-service consumer has already begun to vote with their wallets.
& consistently delight your customers, with
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DISPENSING, REINVENTED!
Subway sells more freshly baked cookies than any other restaurant company in the U.S.
Two of the brand’s most iconic items melded together for a cause.
TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL COOKIE DAY on December 4, Subway unleashed a foot of “cookie goodness,” piled high with toppings. Inspired by the company’s new Subway Series signature lineup, cookie lovers could sink their teeth into four limited-edition footlong flavors exclusively at Cookieway, Subway’s pop-up restaurant that only serves its cookies.
One example: The Subway Cookie Club, which mirrored Subway’s No. 11. It stacked cookies on cookies with a Double Chocolate cookie base and vanilla frosting, then topped with Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Macadamia and Raspberry Cheesecake cookie chunks, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate and raspberry sauce. Other options included: The Mexi-Cali; The Monster; and The Great Pickle:
The “subs” were available on a first-come, first-serve basis in exchange for a donation to the Subway Cares Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides grants to organizations around the world.
By now, it’s no mystery prices have climbed industry-wide. Customers are paying more for many of the quick-service meals they’ve ordered for years. And there’s not much to suggest that’s going to subside any time soon, even if it might have peaked during 2021. All said, though, how are consumers reacting?
Specifically, we’ll focus on one positive reflection from a study by global scale-up company Deliverect, which serves more than 27,000 locations across 40 markets. The company surveyed over 7,000 global consumers to identify preferences and changing habits when it comes to restaurant o erings. One point that emerged on the U.S. side—delivery consumers don’t consider price a key factor in their delivery purchasing behavior. Simply, they’re willing to foot the bill for convenience.
The baseline:
Guests, infl ation and all, are still ordering more delivery: 42 percent of people in the U.S. get up to three deliveries a week. That’s 2 percent above pre-infl ation habits.
42 %
of people in the U.S. get up to three deliveries a week
It’s not just a solo thing: Twenty percent of respondents in Deliverect’s study said they were ordering on a weekend evening with friends and family, which was 1.4X more than people ordering on a weekday with their crew.
The top five influencers:
30% Quickest delivery time
28% Convenient location
The classics:
25% Specific menu item availability
19% Appealing photos of the food
17% Saw on social media
Just as restaurants witnessed out of the COVID gates, pizza remains a cuisine delivery customers gravitate toward—whether the reason is price or comfort. Fortyseven percent of people said they’d order pizza any time, infl ation or not. “Good ol’ American food” was next at 40 percent
20% Ô 1.4
were ordering on a weekend evening with friends and family
47 %
of people said they’d order pizza any time, inflation or not
The not-so-good, or why people are frustrated with delivery:
31% Long delivery time
A whopping 90 percent said quality ingredients were more important now than before the rise of infl ation. Additionally, convenience was a major deciding factor for guests selecting a restaurant for takeout and delivery; 84 percent claimed how close a restaurant was and how fast their food could get to them was more important today than it’s ever been.
90% 84%
which was 1.4Xmore than people ordering on a weekday said quality ingredients were more important now than before the rise of inflation claimed how close a restaurant was and how fast their food could get to them was more important today than it’s ever been
30% Incorrect orders
26% Delivery charges
25% Incomplete orders (such as items missing)
23% Unexpected/ miscommunicated delays with order
To circle:
“overpriced” menu items didn’t appear in the list, “reinforcing that people are willing to pay more for high-quality food,” Deliverect said.
Wait? In terms of wait times, here were consumers’ expectations:
10–20 minutes
minutes
Inflation remains an ever-pressing concern.
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SMOKEY MO’S IS A TEXAS BBQ JOINT RAISED RIGHT.
In just over 20 years, we’ve gone from a single Texas neighborhood BBQ place to QSR magazine’s list of America’s 40 hottest category startups!
As we continue to grow, we’re excited about where we’re headed, but we’ll never forget where we’re from.
That’s why we smoke all of our meats in-house for 10 – 14 hours every day at every single Smokey Mo’s location. Having Mo’ flavor and Mo’ passion is how we provide every customer with authentic Texas BBQ and genuine Texas hospitality.
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Hot dogs are a classic and nostalgic food that generations of Americans have enjoyed. Memories of celebrating the Fourth of July, for example, are often associated with grilling the food by the pool or out on the deck. People crave hot dogs at the fair, the carnival, or the boardwalk. Hot dogs are hardly new to the consumer conscious, but industry professionals in the category are working to keep them relevant to modern diners.
During the pandemic, online ordering and third-party delivery boomed, and the trend has proved to have lasting power—something that translates well to hot dogs. Being stuck at home brought
a return to the comforting, nostalgic food people grew up with, now available through a few clicks on their mobile devices. One of those items was undoubtedly hot dogs. What normally is an occasion-based food shifted into an opportunity for convenience.
Jenn Johnston, president of the quick-service restaurant division at FAT Brands, where Hot Dog on a Stick is housed, says the pandemic surge continues to adjust dayparts. The snack brand’s year-to-date sales and transactions are each up 10 percent. “I think that is a testament to consumers really continuing to crave comfort foods post pandemic,” Johnston says.
One of the industry’s most nostalgic categories is riding a wave of comfort-food preference.
Hot Dog on a Stick has 50 units, with the majority located in shopping malls, and a smaller footprint on boardwalks and amusement parks. Before the pandemic, the brand mostly drove customers to stores by being located in foot traffic-heavy locations where they were out shopping or having fun, and wanted a quick bite to eat. After, like many other quick-service brands, Hot Dog on a Stick had to adjust. The chain had not majorly delved into the world of third-party delivery yet. “Our products are made fresh to order when people get to the counter, so we hadn’t really anticipated the demand for people ordering to go and enjoying them later in their home,” Johnston says. “With the pandemic we ended up putting all of our stores on third party delivery and online ordering.”
Johnston also notes that because hot dogs can be a snacking occasion or a meal for consumers, many will order multiple hot
dogs in each order. This leaves room for innovation in the category, especially at Hot Dog on a Stick—if a customer orders dinner and wants to try a new kind of hot dog, they might get one newer option alongside their classic favorites. One popular offering of late has been the Flaming Hot Cheetos hot dog, Johnston says. She also adds a large portion of transactions are ordered with a lemonade, another item the brand likes to focus on in terms of R&D. The brand offered a “Pineberry” flavor throughout the holiday season, for instance.
Wienerschnitzel, which claims to be the nation’s largest hot dog chain, also focuses on innovation to inspire trial and encourage repeat visits from loyal users, chief marketing officer Doug Koegeboehn says. The brand has rolled out pretzel buns and different toppings for fresh kinds of hot dogs. Koegeboehn says he believes toppings are where innovation thrives in the hot dog business. One of Wienerschnitzel’s popular creations is called a “junkyard dog,” which has chili cheese fries on top. However, the brand finds
sticking to its classic menu items generally serves it well. “People typically go back to what they actually love,” he says. “Our No. 1 sellers are chili cheese and chili dogs.”
Similarly, Johnston says Hot Dog on a Stick also likes to prioritize its core. “We really try to stay true to our iconic menu first and foremost,” she says. “It gives us a lot of credibility—we do a few things and we do them really well. We spend a lot of time in research and development with numerous items, and only a small amount of them actually make it to market because we want to make sure that if we do innovate, it’s a wow factor.”
In terms of playing into the nostalgia of the food group, Koegeboehn says it has its place, but is not the only thing that is important to talk about. You also have to continue promoting their relevance today, he says. “I truly believe the best way to promote any product is showing how it’s relevant in today’s society,” Koegeboehn says. “Nowadays you should be talking about the qualities of the product.”
Leaning into relevance is important, Koegeboehn adds, because of the preconceived notions people may have surrounding the food. Many Americans are still afraid of what is in hot dogs, even if they may love the taste, he says. That’s why Koegeboehn thinks keeping the modernity element in marketing and social media is important. Spreading the word about Wienerschnitzel on social media along with fans of the brand online have made it a viable option for many franchise opportunities to come to fruition. Koegeboehn says area deals have been sold to new franchisees moving across the Midwest, and the brand’s first international deal was signed because of Wienerschitzel’s longevity as a brand.
That nostalgia factor when it comes to hot dogs remains vital, however. It is a driving force behind people’s hot dog cravings and the food’s classification as a comfort category in general. This balance between nostalgia and innovation can perhaps best be seen in Hot Dog on a Stick’s original location that had been open for 75 years on Muscle Beach in Los Angeles. Recently, it underwent a makeover. “It’s still very nostalgic and true to the roots of the original location,” Johnston says. “But it’s been optimized in a lot of ways with modern amenities like air conditioning being added.”
Where else are you given that opportunity in life?”
In pursuit of this dream, Rodriguez partnered with private equity firm Triton Pacific Capital to form franchising company, Tasty Restaurant Group. From the start, the goal was to enter agreements in quick service because of its recession-proof nature and ability to withstand different pressures, like a global pandemic. Rodriguez sought the best of fast food so he could worry less about brand management and leadership and more about developing people and fine-tuning operations.
Robert Rodriguez came to the U.S. without knowing English, and like many other immigrants, found his voice through restaurants.
His resume now features 50 years’ worth of industry experience—on the franchising and corporate side—including notable executive stops at McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Denny’s. As he aged, Rodriguez became increasingly interested in running an organization that gives back to the community and creates a clear-cut career ladder for employees.
“How do I lead and how do I show people that this is an industry and this is a profession and it’s not a job and how do I give back?” Rodriguez says. “So I can give you example after example of going into restaurants and we see people who are struggling, don’t know what they want to do with their careers and businesses.”
“This is a great career,” he adds. “It’s really a great career, and it’s not just because you make money. It’s because I’m going teach you about a profit and loss statement, I’m going to teach you how to manage people, I’m going to teach you how to lead individuals, I’m going to teach you how to run a multimillion-dollar business.
The first acquisition was Burger King in June 2018. Tasty Restaurant Group also considered Wendy’s, but Rodriguez previously worked at Burger King and served as a franchisee; he also grew up in Miami, where the chain is headquartered. A year and a half later, Rodriguez leveraged his years of experience with PepsiCo—the parent of Yum! Brands— to buy into Pizza Hut. Then, after serving as Dunkin’ president from 2006–2008, the industry veteran became a franchisee for the doughnut chain and sister concept Baskin-Robbins. Rodriguez rounded out Tasty Restaurant Group with KFC and Taco Bell in December 2021.
The franchise company now operates roughly 400 restaurants in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast. Tasty Restaurant Group is most heavily invested in Pizza Hut (221 stores ), followed by KFC (90), Burger King (68 ), Dunkin’ (20), and Baskin-Robbins ( six )
“Our mission continues to be the same,” Rodriguez says. “We’ve got to take care of our people first and foremost. We want to be a leading brand running great restaurants. But more importantly for me, it’s taking care of the people who will do that. Because I keep reminding everyone that at the end of the day, there are only cash registers in the restaurants. They’re not anywhere else. So the rest of us are just G&A and support staff.”
Of these brands, Dunkin’ is heading toward the biggest growth spurt. Tasty Restaurant Group recently signed a 45-unit deal to bring new locations to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and surrounding markets over the next several years. There are only 15 Dunkin’ stores in Louisiana, but Rodriguez says those select few are “performing extremely well.” As an executive that spent years trying to build out the fast-food chain west of the Missis-
fast casuals with fewer than 4O locations
/ BY QSR STAFFInnovation, opportunity, and hardships spur entrepreneurship. And that’s always been the case for quickservice’s most inventive corner, fast casual. While COVID-19’s grip has lightened, there remain roadblocks, from rising costs to labor to a consumer grappling with uncertain economic conditions. But this hasn’t curbed the growth and inspiration of a new generation of brands. ¶ Our seventh edition of the 40/40 List once again recognizes 40 fast casuals with fewer than 40 locations that we believe are on the verge of something big. Whether just getting started or prepping for major expansion, this list of restaurants has designs to catapult out of the pandemic’s depths and into a future rife with potential.
T h E F o R t Y f O r T y L I S t
This wave of battle-tested fast casuals is ready to emerge into a new era of restaurant growth.
UNITS: 1
A word Pace Webb keeps returning to is “chemistry.” Daddy’s Chicken Shack tells a startup story that’s not unfamiliar. The brand had a product guests craved and then fit the dream into an improbable box. In this case, a 700-square-foot space in Pasadena, California, Webb and her husband and business partner, Chris Georgalas, discovered on Craigslist. There was no bathroom, foot traffic, seating, and a red curb fronting the store (so no parking). Webb says Daddy’s could count the number of customers “on our hands and feet in a day.”
This was November 2018. Four years later to the month, Daddy’s signed its seventh regional development deal and second in Texas. Not in the brand’s history, but in just 2022 alone. Along with the inking of eight franchise agreements across California, Oregon, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, and Florida, the brand today boasts a total of 120 units in development.
There’s one location open and running—a 2,400-square-foot Houston model that portends future development. But two, in Scottsdale and Denver, are slated to land in Q1. The Pasadena test kitchen is no longer open to the public.
While there’s a lengthy road ahead, Daddy’s is off to a rare spurt. “It just all feels right,” Webb says. “And it doesn’t mean the path to success is at all linear, but we’re definitely in a very good place, and with great chemistry.”
What Webb is referencing is that intangible piece that often splits upstarts from those that make it. For Daddy’s, it clicked through the center of COVID-19. Webb maintained a fine-dining catering business in Daddy’s early days. When the pandemic hit, though, one company moved downward and the other rocketed: Daddy’s watched sales leap 200 percent.
Georgalas says COVID forced Daddy’s, like hosts of brands nationwide, to make serious adjustments and gather intel as it tried to figure out how to reach people. There came a point where drivers pulled up and got in line, and guests piled up outside.
Georgalas had never worked in a restaurant, so he went to the front of house and tried to meet every customer who walked in. Naturally, Daddy’s didn’t staff for a 200 percent increase, which kept him busy.
Georgalas handed water bottles and cookies to drivers and diners.
As regulations relaxed, Daddy’s figured out how to schedule shifts and leverage tech, which was an area the brand got ahead of from the outset; it had to, given the lack of foot traffic and parking. Daddy’s became one of the early customers of Ordermark (now Nextbite)—an online ordering solution that offers integration of third-party delivery providers—and dipped into facial recognition kiosks and autonomous delivery. By the end of 2018, Daddy’s was on 11 delivery apps and offered native online ordering.
Essentially, the fast casual navigated COVID with an omnichannel system before the couple (or many other people, for that matter) were even sure what that term defined.
“We were able to take a look at our data and look at our numbers and say, this is what we need here and adjust and once that dust settled, that’s when we realized,” Georgalas says. “We came up for air and we’re like, oh, I think we have something here.”
Georgalas reached out to old contacts and a close friend. Eventually, Daddy’s crossed paths with Dr. Ben Litalien, founder of FranchiseWell, an agency that consults with mega groups like UPS and IKEA. The partnership evolved into an investment from Dave Liniger, the co-founder of global real estate franchise RE/MAX. He chose Daddy’s from 200 potential candidates. “Hearing the success stories, hearing the challenges, [Dave] telling us that he’s made every mistake in the book in the last 50 years, but hearing what that’s yielded as far as the success that people were set up for from inside the business and outside, is really what was attractive to us,” Georgalas says.
Daddy’s then set out to design its Houston flagship, a standalone the company says shows potential franchisees an example of the
“biggest, baddest thing you could have.” Daddy’s expects to spread mainly as inline or endcap locations, with about 25 percent or so as standalones. “When I’m in the space, it has the gravitas of a legacy brand,” Webb says.
What can’t be lost, however, is why Georgalas pushed his chips in on day one. Webb’s Los Angeles-based catering shop, Taste of Pace, was asked to make sliders and tacos at an event back in 2013 (they weren’t on the menu). She developed a fried chicken sandwich with sriracha mayo, Thai-style slaw, buttermilk fried chicken, and a brioche bun. The food drew a crowd and even the praise of actress and singer Mandy Moore. The following day, Webb called her dad and flippantly mentioned she had a retirement plan. He’d be able to hang in the Venice Pier, wear Hawaiian shirts, and fry chicken. That’s where the name, “Daddy’s,” was born.
Webb’s father, an artist and graphic designer, would actually, in time, craft the Houston store’s interior alongside Harrison, a global consultancy company that’s assisted with development of several familiar restaurant aesthetics, including Fogo de Chão and Maggiano’s.
It’s an authentic-looking shack that mismatches elements of a house, like windows of random sizes, and a door hanging from the dining room ceiling. Think of it as American South with Japanese minimalism as a backbone.
Returning to the food (and Georgalas’ initial inspiration), Webb fine-tuned her sandwich over the years before Georgalas tried it in 2015. He believed Webb found her Shake Shack.
“I told her you should do something with this and she looked at me like I had five heads and she said, ‘well, you should do this with me,’” he says.
At the start of 2018, Webb and Georgalas opened Daddy’s at Smorgasburg food market. The weekly event attracted 4,000 customers when the restaurant joined, but saw upward of 13,000 at some points. Hundreds of sandwiches were sold each day and later that year, Georgalas tracked down the Pasadena space. They signed a lease and moved in 18 days later.
Webb notes, although she didn’t recognize it then, she had been training to be a CEO for years. “A chef’s career is very similar in a lot of ways,” she says. “You’re type A, a little high strung, have to be a great leader, have a product to get out on time, on budget, at a certain temperature. There were so many similarities that I didn’t even know I had been cultivating.”
But importantly, in addition to the sandwich, Georgalas believed in Webb. His first role, he says, was to support her and find ways to get the message out. He was an institution position trader at Deutsche Bank and the hospitality sector before they met, with no inkling to get in the restaurant game. “It was about supporting her, supporting a woman as a founder of a business called Daddy’s, which is really cool. And the magic is really starting to happen,” he says.
Why the franchising route came down to Liniger. They jumped
in together. Liniger joined as an investor and later sought out his own regional development agreement. He was the first to ignite a chain of regional development deals, securing 20 units split evenly between Arizona and Colorado. A year after starting its franchising journey, Daddy’s hosted a regional developer conference in Las Vegas.
The small menu helped streamline operations and Daddy’s tech chops created a system where the brand could track and monitor performance. Daddy’s selection of chicken sandwiches is best described as a confluence of Southeast Asian, American South, and Japanese culture, partly an ode to Georgalas, who is half-Japanese. For instance, the Big Daddy sandwich comprises napa slaw and sriracha mayo, while the Spicy Daddy features sambal, cilantro, and ginger mayo. For dessert, the restaurant offers salted miso chocolate chip cookies, baked fresh each day.
The regional developer approach is a hybrid of sorts; a “train the trainer” system that enables quick growth if executed correctly. Regional developers buy the rights to a territory of a million people that matches the demographic of a Daddy’s customer. They’re then required to open a store (or more). After, they sub-franchise the other nine units, almost like a mini franchisor. The idea being they get a flagship location certified as a training store and lay the blueprint for regional operators. This way, training is hyper local and franchisees aren’t reliant on corporate for every level of support.
Getting these developing units open is on the horizon for Daddy’s, which has forced Georgalas and Webb to undergo a crash course on franchising and expansion: to make sure real estate selection, tech, marketing, and using data to attract and reengage guests is tight and ready to replicate. “And then culture. I think the harder part of franchising—yes, very systems and process focused. But how do you scale a culture?” Webb says. “Because one place can have a delicious chicken sandwich, but if they don’t have a good hospitality experience that’s just really going to hurt, especially for an emerging brand.”
Georgalas calls this, “scaling a feeling.” One element Daddy’s has going in its favor is how the chain took root. The ability to deliver digital hospitality—a target brands across the lexicon are working back against these days—was something Daddy’s developed from the ground floor. It started with a blank canvass in one of the biggest paradigm shifts in sector history.
“It’s exciting and we’re up for it,” Georgalas says. “And again, we have a responsibility and we’re going to give every ounce of effort we have to set people up for success, both internally and our team. Franchisees and developers, just across the board.”
Daddy’s will focus on regional growth so it can quality control and wield purchasing power. Once it establishes an area, the brand will refocus before heading elsewhere. “I like to see other people win,” Webb says. “I know I can make an awesome piece of food. I know I can make a great fried chicken sandwich. I know I can run a restaurant if I’m there five, six days a week. I know all that. I don’t need to prove that anymore. I want to make opportunities for other people—that’s
Speaking of chemistry, being married and also being business partners isn’t for everybody, Webb laughs. “I’ll say that off the bat,” she says. “But it’s definitely for us.”
Before they started Daddy’s, Webb says she was given a piece of advice—stay in your respective lanes, define roles and responsibilities, and make sure one person doesn’t feel like the boss of the other. Technically, Webb is the CEO and Georgalas president. “It just really works. We’ve also got a very different skillset and the way we approach problem solving, thinking, is also very different and so it’s very complementary,” she says. Webb focuses on ops and culinary, while Georgalas oversees marketing and tech. He’s more of a macro thinker whereas Pace dives in.
Again, however, the nuances aren’t as vital as the high-level picture, which is something Daddy’s continues to keep in sight. “You just go through incredible highs and experiences and then you have incredible challenges at times,” Georgalas says. “But we find that we’re saying during both of those scenarios that we get to do this together, and it doesn’t matter.”
Webb was pregnant when Daddy’s debuted. They now have two daughters and Georgalas jokes Webb runs the household like she does the restaurant. “Parts to reorder, a toy list,” Webb quips.
But throughout it all, Georgalas says, Daddy’s chemistry has held because the goal has stayed unshakable—develop a restaurant that empowers others to excel. “That’s what makes us feel really good about what we’re doing,” Georgalas says. ➺
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District Taco is the restaurant rags-to-riches story at its finest. After leaving his home in Yucatán, Mexico, hoping to make it in the U.S., Osiris Hoil hit a setback. In 2007, as the economic crisis took root, he was laid-off and forced to start from scratch in a new country. He took his mother’s recipes, passion for combining Mexican cooking with a new American lifestyle, and began to chart a business. Hoil and his neighbor, Marc Wallace, got together in 2019 over homemade chips, salsa, and guacamole and decided to launch the District Taco food cart in Rosslyn. The brand has since grown to 15 stores across the DMV. “Beyond creating fresh, healthy, a nd unique recipes, we are also committed to strengthening the well-being of our growing community and the members within them,” says the company, which was named one of QSR ’s Best Brands to Work For this past year, earning recognition for its PTO for all employees and a Pioneer Program of peer-nominated rewards.
DISTRICT TACO (3), STAFF: MATT MENDELSOHN PHOTOGRAPHY
Prior to 2020, District Taco had started to make technological advances within its restaurants. When health concerns arose, customers moved from dining in-store to ordering pickup and online deliveries. District Taco just announced plans to expand via franchising. The brand aims to add an average of 15–20 franchises per year for the next five with initial growth primarily focused on the Eastern Seaboard and the M idwest.
“District Taco has come a long way from the original taco cart in 2009, where we began delivering a unique dining experience by providing fresh, healthy, authentic Yucatáninspired food to a loyal customer base,” Hoil says. “I am so proud of the journey we have undertaken so far, and excited for the road ahead as we continue to expand and franchise across the country. We hope our story continues to inspire others to follow their own American dream.”
22 FEBRUARY 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com
UNITS: 8 GUISADOS (3)
Since its December 2010 founding, Guisados’ vision has remained intact, and it begins with the style of cooking itself. Guisados’ food takes a different approach to the mainstream “taco.”
“Growing up, mom wasn’t on the grill making carne asada or nachos; these stews were/are not only a portrayal of how we as Mexican Americans eat, but how many other cultures cook for their families,” says owner and operator Armando De La Torre. “We take pride in our food and realize that our menu is an accurate portrayal of the foods we really ate growing up.” Guisados’ goal was to serve homestyle braises on handmade corn tortillas—the latter of which are made to order from fresh ground masa. “Over the years our growth not only fuels foodies and visitors of our city, but brings so many back to the memories of
their mothers kitchen,” De La Torre says. "Guisados' menu is a memory, a recreation of our childhood, and it is truly something special to be able to share that with our city and all those who pass through our doors,” he adds. “We take deep pride and responsibility in its continued growth and enjoy the challenge of bringing that identity to life with each new location.”
The family run operation is an ode to how mom spent her afternoons: stirring, dancing to Mexican singer and actor Javier Solis, and adding each ingredient as she prepared family dinners. Since Day 1, Armando Sr. has been in charge of food, consistency and development, while De La Torre (Armando Jr.) handles daily operations, designs the menus, brand identity, marketing materials, collaborations, and all creative aspects of the restaurant. Natalie, who is Armando Sr.'s daughter, serves as GM and continues to manage and operate multiple locations and day-to-day tasks. “All with a belief that the most essential type of leadership is presence, and that our presence continues to have an impact on our company’s culture and growth,” De La Torre says.
The nostalgia has carried to units in Echo Park, Downtown L.A., West Hollywood, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and soon, Hermosa Beach. Guisados’ stews and masa are still made at the original Boyle Heights kitchen multiple times a day and delivered to restaurants. Along the growth trail, the company has cultivated a community of artists through its Featured Artist Program—a revolving display of local art and murals—and introduced a breakfast taco menu.
When COVID hit, Guisados closed all locations. Three weeks later, Armando Sr., Jr., and Natalie rolled up their sleeves and opened one branch, slowly inviting a couple of long-time employees to help out. “We focused on delivery, takeout, and always offered to put the food in your trunk if you requested,” De La Torre says. “Our business actually became a bit more efficient as we learned some new ways to cut overhead and streamline our operation. Fortunately, being that we are already a [quick-service operation], our menu and packaging essentially remained the same.”
The brand introduced taco kit style options to feed a family of four to six. They came fully dressed and ready to eat, or in a “survival pack,” where the items arrived separate in deli containers so guests could make their own and store for later.
Today, Guisados operates with a spoke-and-wheel system where everything is cooked and sourced from a central commissary where it braises stews and grinds corn, and delivers to units, as mentioned before. The approach, the company says, gives it confidence to open another seven to 10 locations. This commissary/co-packing method is key to future consistency. “Our goal is to grow even further than that; we are ready for the next step in our journey,” De La Torre says.
“Restaurants are a labor of love, and though the everchanging landscape of the labor force and supply chains may feel tedious day to day, we are grateful that we are continuing to manifest the dream we once had when we first opened our doors,” he adds. “To be able to provide more jobs for our community and more opportunities for our staff is one of the most rewarding feelings of seeing this restaurant grow. We've seen employees become mothers, fathers and friends, we've seen fathers become grandpas and so many stories begin within our walls."
Over the past 17 years, Sprinkles has expanded from its trailblazing roots in Beverly Hills, California, to a national presence with
consumers around the world.”
bakeries that serve hand-crafted cupcakes, each frosted in its signature swirl alongside layer cakes, cookies, brownies, and even “pupcakes.” The company also recently launched a line of Belgian chocolates and popcorn inspired by its top-selling cupcake flavors. But Sprinkles might just be best known for its cupcake ATM, which it claims is the first on the market. Today, they can also be found in non-traditional spots like airports and college campuses. Going into the future, the classic brand is ready to ramp up growth via franchising. Sprinkles’ first domestic franchise opened in Salt Lake City and international expansion will follow, starting in Asia.
“As a brand, we are so fortunate in the way Sprinkles lives in the hearts and minds of our guests. We’re connected to celebrations, sharing joy and everyone’s favorite ‘treat yourself’ moment,” says Dan Mesches, Sprinkles CEO. “Innovating new products and flavors, franchising domestically and internationally, and growing our DTC channel are not only integral to our growth strategy but allows us to connect meaningfully with more
It’s a path that’s been building from an infrastructure standpoint. Just before the pandemic, Sprinkles rolled out an e-commerce platform and began offering nationwide shipping. Amid COVID, the chain expanded offerings (t he aforementioned chocolate and popcorn), and in addition, Sprinkles implemented creative partnerships with brands like Golde, Kosterina, and Sanctuary, as well as award-winning chefs like Brooke Williamson and Claudette Zepeda, to create limited-edition cupcakes. Across the pandemic, Sprinkles grew its directto-consumer channel and tacked on CPG products like cake and cupcake mix. It created efficient ways for guests to order, either through its custom-built online ordering platform or at kiosks in-store. Digital menuboards are also a staple feature.
The female-founded brand, by Candace Nelson, says 76 percent of its bakery GMs are female.
“We are constantly innovating and will be launching a new product format in the new year,” the company says. “Sprinkles will continue to partner with brands across all lifestyle verticals including, food, beauty, fashion, and entertainment in addition to the celebrity and chef collaborations also slated for 2023 and beyond.”
HEADQUARTERS: WARREN, MICHIGAN
UNITS: 35
Just under five years ago, Wing Snob started up in Michigan. The brand has since reached 35 locations and is actively expanding in seven states and Canada. The brand says it noticed the influx of delivery coming in during the pandemic, so it worked to lean into relationships with third-party delivery companies. Since, it has also
revamped its rewards offering— called Snob Perks—to coincide with a mobile app. Wing Snob says it is growing in many markets across different states, and hopes to hit 100 locations by 2025.
HEADQUARTERS: ATLANTA,
The inception of Knuckies stems from award-winning, Boston-based pizza concept, Crazy Dough’s Artisan Slice Bar, which was acquired in 2017 by Georgia Franchise Group. Known for its award-winning dough produced by Atlanta-based H&F Bread Company ( eventually bought by Engelman’s Bakery), Crazy Dough’s won the World Champion Title for “Best of the Best” at the International Pizza Expo in 2014. What ended up being the long-term value play, though, was the dough itself—now central to Knuckies’ hoagie rolls. The brand was created by two restaurant operators who recognized the opportunity. They believed so much they closed two other concepts and converted them
to Knuckies, pouring their life savings in before raising additional growth capital to expand. Today, the hoagie role is the No. 1 compliment from consumers.
COVID hit Knuckies hard considering it had opened the first in late 2019. The following year, the company did under $200,000 but worked to stay afloat. That figure more than doubled to $460,000 in 2021 and that same store, as of November 2022, was up to $600,000 in sales that calendar alone. There are now four corporate units, a franchise, and another franchise on deck for Q1. Through launching online ordering and third-party platforms, Knuckies’ model has shifted from 70 percent dine-in to 87 percent takeout, and the brand’s operational design has adjusted in response. The chain plans to continue franchise and corporate growth going forward, while investing in a custom mobile app, new website, and further sales-driving tech platforms.
HEADQUARTERS: OLD GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT
UNITS: 8
In a chicken category dominated by tender and wing brands, Garden Catering has stayed true to the nugget for more than three decades. Debuted by Lou Iandoli as Garden Poultry in 1978 in Greenwich, Connecticut, Garden Catering starts with all-white breast meat sourced from family farms that is humanely raised with no antibiotics ever. They’re then hand-cut and cooked in small batches each day. The process and product have earned cult raves, including TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio.
Garden Catering was purchased by Frank Carpenteri Sr. in 1989 following Iandoli’s passing. Today, it’s run by Carpenteri Sr.’s son and
New York Citybased INDAY is taking Indian food and bringing it to a fast-casual format. With five restaurants in office buildings at the time, INDAY was significantly affected by the COVID pandemic. To lessen the impact, it streamlined its menu and prioritized popular dishes like chicken tikka masala and garlic naan. INDAY has different iterations of its restaurant working for various customer bases; an “Express” concept that operates in commercial or transit areas and “INDAY All Day,” a neighborhood-focused concept that features breakfast, lunch, and dinner offerings where customers “live, work, and play.” The brand has its eyes set on expansion, with plans to grow to 18 restaurants by the end of 2024.
daughter across the eight Connecticut and New York locations. The prominence of the nugget hasn’t wavered, of course—guests still flock to Garden Catering to buy them by the pound ( The Boss is a pound, extra fries, and two drinks for about $20) Another menu staple includes The Hotsy Sandwich, a breakfast offering that’s earned national acclaim. It includes bacon, egg, and cheese, and is topped with Garden Catering’s famed potato cones and Hotsy’s chili.
Throughout COVID, Garden Catering built a new tech stack, upgraded employee compensation, and secured new marketing leadership. It plans to expand into retail with a line of sauces and seasoning and open new stores with a redesigned prototype.
HEADQUARTERS:
BAY SHORE, NEW YORK
UNITS: 7
Bango Bowls offers menu items like salads, poke, acai, flatbread paninis, and smoothies. The brand has simplified the processes to execute its menu to fit in its 1,000 squarefoot stores. Bango Bowls says the onset of COVID accelerated its growth because of this smaller store strategy. Maximizing output and dialing in on a small footprint were key steps. The brand also has a digital ordering platform where about 90 percent of its business is takeout.
Bango Bowls is in the process of franchising the concept and plans on beginning to sell franchises at
UNITS: 7 INDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com
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the start of Q2. Long term, the brand has set its sights on 100 units in three years.
HEADQUARTERS: RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA
UNITS: 30
A sense of playfulness pervades Cookie Plug, from its graffiti-covered walls to its colorful selection of cookies, with names like the O.G., Purple Haze, and Pixie Junkie, as well as monthly specials. Since the first store debuted
THE KEBAB SHOP
UNITS: 33
in 2019, the brand has swelled to 30 locations across California and Nevada. And despite the pandemic, it managed to open 23 units in the first two years of operation.
Cookie Plug kicked off franchising last March, and now has some 130 units under development through a combination of corporate and franchise-owned deals, with forthcoming locations as far afield as Puerto Rico. And that’s the tip of the iceberg. The company is aiming for 500 open locations and 1,000 more in the pipeline by the end of 2025.
Hot Chikn Kitchn took a signature route to a sizzling category by building around four premium sauces: Base, Medic, After Burner, and Angry Hot. It then couples these flavors with high-quality chicken that’s certified halal. Operationally, a small menu ( there are seven mains and every one includes chicken ), allows the brand to be efficient with limited prep time. The company says employees could show up at 10:30 to open at 11. But there’s also plenty of mission behind the product. Mike Sarago and his son, Anthony Sarago, along with partner Chef Frederic Gilmore, created Hot Chikn Kitchn to “harness the power of food to bring people together.” It started during COVID as a spot to connect community, and has thrived since.
Since originating in San Diego’s East Village in 2007, Kebab Shop has scaled to 33 units, with momentum picking up. The brand faced its share of hardships during COVID, but had infrastructure—digital capabilities for online ordering, pickup, and delivery, and cloud-based operations to help communicate changes to staff—in place to weather the worst of it. In fact, it opened 12 units during the pandemic window and has doubled its store count since 2020. “The Kebab Shop’s experience during COVID-19 motivated us, even more so, to accelerate our growth across
our existing markets and into new ones, including South Florida,” CMO Wally Sadat says.
The Kebab Shop now plans to expand by 10–15 stores per year over the next few, which includes openings in existing markets like California, Texas, and Florida. The ultimate aim: bring the concept to every major city in America.
“Our mission is to ‘Change The Kebab Game’ by making kebabs as approachable here in the U.S. as it is in Europe. We give people a unique Mediterranean experience by using familiar ingredients in surprising ways. From our loaded San Diego Wrap to our award-winning fries, and specialty sauces made in-house, we hope to appeal to everyone,” Sadat says
The Kebab Shop’s popularity grew from an innovative menu and accessible environment. The food focuses on European-Style Kebabs (carved off vertical rotisseries or chargrilled) served in wraps, boxes, or plates that can be customized based on the guests’ preferences, with the brand’s fries and house-made sauces. “The past five years have been crazy; we launched 16 restaurants in five different markets more than doubling our store count since the start of COVID,” Sadat says. “This experience has made our concept stronger, and we are ready to accelerate our growth even further.”
“The brand’s mission of unity through food has been the driving force behind its success. We believe that food is what unites us all and lifts people up,” the company says. Hot Chikn Kitchn hosts “Unity Days” where nonprofits can raise money in-store. They typically run from open to close on Tuesdays and the chain donates 25 percent of guests’ pre-tax sales back to their chosen organization. Recently, Hot Chikn Kitchn went from two to four locations in a single month and isn’t holding back on future goals—it plans to roll more than 200 locations within the next three years.
“HCK is the result of a lot of hard work and determination by our team,” Mike Sarago says. “The brand has a delicious menu that is easy to execute and ready to scale. We cannot wait to bring our Nashville Style Hot Chicken to the whole country.”
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Folsom, California. In 2023, the company plans to double in size, opening 10 corporate stores and 20 licensed partner outlets.
goal is to give back to the community through serving great hospitality, quality food and to open opportunities to inspire and nurture more potential leaders and chefs to grow and live their passion and purpose with us,” Chef Margaux says.
The Melt bases all of its core decisions on providing customers an “I Love It Here” experience, including reinvention of common comfort foods, like the MeltBurger, which includes Angus and Wagyu beef that’s chopped, grilled, and filled with melted cheddar cheese, jalapeños, pickles, and Melt sauce on a toasted bun.
CEO Ralph Bower credits much of the brand’s success to carefully listening to guests’ changing needs, particularly during COVID. At the onset of the pandemic, sales dropped 80 percent overnight. Bower addressed fears by keeping all restaurants open despite historically low revenue and guaranteeing paychecks for more than 140 employees at the seven Bay Area and Southern California locations. Delivery volume grew from 10 percent pre-pandemic to more than 80 percent within the first month of the shutdown. Nearly three years later, the channel still mixes around 40 percent companywide.
As of November, The Melt’s 2022 revenues were outpacing 2021 by nearly 60 percent, and AUV was more than doubled preCOVID levels. It finished 2022 with 12 company-owned and 13 licensed partner locations, with the recent addition of three restaurants in West Hollywood, Danville, and
Chef J. Margaux started i.8sushi in the heart of 2020’s quarantine. It began in a home garage kitchen in L.A. as a way to prank family and friends during trying times, she says. Or, to show them “great things can come in different and unexpected packages.” That happened to be delivery sushi in a pizza box. As it turned out, Chef Margaux’s Filipino- and tropical-flavor-inspired creations spawned a fast following. The ecofriendly and offbeat experience erupted on Instagram. Looking to meet demand and unable to do so from the garage, Chef Margaux, a 23-year-old immigrant from the Philippines, took the brand to a commercial ghost kitchen in the San Fernando Valley before eventually opening a storefront on Sunset Drive. Chef Margaux got her brand off the ground—and scaling—in two years with Univer. se, an app that helps upstarts like i.8sushi build a website, open shops, and take payments from their phone.
Her plan now is to expand as a takeout favorite across L.A. before, hopefully, thinking national. “Our
“The pandemic was an incredibly challenging time to start a new food venture, but we feel so grateful to have grown so rapidly in just two years—from our garage to two locations in Los Angeles,” she adds. “The support of our community and tools like Univer.se helped us get up and running quickly and expand our footprint to share our passion with more people. We are looking forward to expanding to more storefronts in the L.A. area so we can share our enthusiasm for our sushi made with love.”
HEADQUARTERS: VENTURA, CALIFORNIA
UNITS: 25
Urbane Cafe began in 2003 when owner Tom Holt felt there was a glaring gap in Ventura’s sandwich and salad scene. The concept is known for its fire-baked Focaccia bread, which has been around since the ancient Romans, according to the restaurant. Fresh cuts of all-natural, hormone-free meat are prepared each day for grilling, baking, and roasting, and the brand makes it a point to partner with local growers and food suppliers whenever possible.
During the thick of COVID, Urbane Cafe quickly pivoted by elevating its loyalty app and online
recalls he and business partner Teddy Gailas searching for a capital raise to expand the business. However, the duo left meetings disenchanted with many of the venture capitalist groups. They didn’t have the same belief in culture; talks seemed to focus solely on numbers.
After several backand-forth exchanges with different entities, Phillips was eventually introduced to Mark Leavitt, one of three managing partners at Enlightened Hospitality Investments, a fund connected to well-known restaurateur Danny Meyer. When Leavitt and Phillips sat down for a conversation, there was agreement on values, trajectory, and capabilities—everything Phillips and Gailas sought after previously. After completing due diligence and meeting Meyer and Pete Mavrovitis, the third managing partner, Phillips was convinced that Enlightened Hospitality would be the best partner for growth.
In October, Chip City announced that it received a $10 million capital injection from the fund, which will help the company grow outside of New York City, in markets like New Jersey, Boston, the DMV, Connecticut, and Florida. Phillips says the brand expects to reach 40 locations by the end of 2023. In addition to retail stores, the company partnered with Uber Eats on its nationwide shipping program, allowing the chain to send six packs of cookies anywhere in the country.
Chip City is part of a surge in the cookie segment, along with brands like Crumbl, which sur-
ordering platform. Restaurants introduced takeout racks for to-go customers, launched curbside pickup, and leveraged third-party delivery services to reach homebound guests.
In nearly 20 years of business, Urbane has grown to $54 million in annual sales. The company is primarily based in Southern California, but in 2023, the chain plans to expand by 10 restaurants and introduce its first out-ofstate location in Las Vegas.
HEADQUARTERS:
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS
UNITS: 3
HEADQUARTERS:
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
UNITS: 14
space. And I think the fact that so many of these concepts have had such great success has added fuel to the fire. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery as they say. So I think people seeing over the last five years how well these types of cookie brands have performed have caused more growth in the space and the segment.”
Omar Kasim could see that quesadillas were the top-selling item at one of his taco shops. Additionally, he learned in a webinar that it was the No. 1 requested item at Chipotle. These discoveries pushed Kasim to create a concept centered around the Mexican favorite. Since opening, Plomo Quesadillas has become a go-to spot around the University of
passed 500 locations, and Cookie Plug, which announced a franchising program. Phillips attributes the rise to the nostalgia of cookies. It makes the dessert relatable. He also points out how cookies are made for social media and visible content.
“The cookie break, the way that translates to a photo, it’s just very Instagrammable, very popular on TikTok,” Phillips says. “And I think anything that trends on social media nowadays creates a big driver of momentum in the
Being part of an increasingly competitive space, Chip City looks to separate itself with quality and the customer experience, Phillips says. The company completes its own production. Chip City owns an 18,000-square-foot commissary in College Point, Queens, where it makes all cookies from scratch. Phillips says the brand has opted to not use a copacker so that it can remain on the cutting edge. Chip City has more than 40 flavors in rotation, and the chain is continuing to innovate.
The brand is registered to sell franchises, but any approach it takes will be measured.
“If we found a partner that we feel like will maintain the Chip City experience the way that we do it at our corporate locations, it will be something that we entertain,” Phillips says. “But we’re just going very slowly with it because again we’re just very committed to the integrity of the product and consistency of the product.”
Arkansas, especially after 2 a m on weekends. The brand only serves quesadillas and certain sides, and each one is named after notorious individuals in history, like The Escobar and The Jesse James. Customers are able to “Make it Dirty,” by having their quesadilla crusted with an additional layer of cheese on the outside.
“Everyone has this notorious alternative side of them, and we lean into that. During the day, you can be good and have a salad. When you’re out on a Friday night, however, that is the time to indulge and Make it Dirty,” Kasim says.
Currently the brand touts two brick-and-mortar locations and a food truck named the “Plomobile.” The brand is scheduled to open its first out-of-state location in Dallas this summer.
HEADQUARTERS: PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
UNITS: 4
unforgettable experience for all,” says Michelle Chino, head of corporate marketing at Sip Fresh. “Our stores offer a fun, interactive experience which the whole family can enjoy. Sip Fresh creations were made for a new era in the beverage industry and are social media, Instagram-worthy favorites. We pride ourselves in the quality products we craft and the fun we serve up at each of our locations.”
Eye-catching storefronts and displayed juice barrels draw guests to a menu that’s anchored by Fresh Sips ( the juices ) and rounded out by Tropical Sips, Cha Cha Chamoys, Smoothie Sips, and Shakin’ Tea Sips. “Sip Fresh creations were made for a new era in the beverage industry and are social media, I nstagram-worthy favorites,” the company adds. “We pride ourselves in the quality products we craft and the fun we serve up at each of our locations.”
HEADQUARTERS: WASHINGTON, D.C.
UNITS: 7
Call Your Mother Deli describes itself as a destination for playful and nostalgic comfort food, including its signature bagels, sandwiches, and baked goods. All stores combined, the brand makes 45,000 bagels each week. The company says its bagels are a mixture of the classic New York-style and the sweeter Montreal-style. Cofounder
Andrew Dana is Jewish and draws on the eclectic food from his childhood memories to inspire the menu. Meanwhile, cofounder Daniela Moreira has worked in several
The inspiration for Sip Fresh began, as the company likes to say, on a balmy evening at a local bar. Could a juice chain mirror the mixology trend that had taken over the beverage scene? Sip Fresh carried this mantra throughout growth and development. The chain crafts recipes in-house with “Sipologists” during the day in small batches. “Sipistas” greet customers with fresh samples of juices to narrow their choices akin to an ice cream shop. The fresh and interactive experience has set the chain apart in what’s become a $146 billion industry, the company says.
“The idea behind Sip Fresh is simple: create fresh, eye-stopping, delicious drinks that provide an
Sip Fresh, like many, had to close during 2020 lockdowns. It took the time to integrate new tech, optimize the menu, and enable online ordering as stores got back on line. These changes, it says, helped the business and provided a better platform to scale. Sip Fresh initially plans to pursue growth in the Western and Southwestern portions of the country.
“As a multi-unit franchisee for decades, my focus at Sip Fresh is to incorporate the key elements needed to run a successful business from the franchisee’s standpoint,” says Sharon A rthofer, Sip Fresh CEO and founder, and 27-year franchise industry veteran. “We have designed a business model that provides strong consumer traffic with manageable labor, highly streamlined operations to maximize profitability. Our goal is for our franchisees to succeed in this new space; prioritizing seamless processes in order to service more guests and establish a loyal following in their community.”
HEADQUARTERS: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
UNITS: 6
The start of COVID was particularly difficult for Chinah, which had two stores at the time located in the ground floor of office mid-rises. With the switch to work from home, sales predictably fell, dropping as much as 95 percent during Omicron. Realizing that office occupancy may never return to pre-pandemic levels, the fast casual is now pivoting to locations that offer sidewalk access in high foot traffic areas. Ghost kitchens are coming into the fold as well.
The company said it’s equipped with a low-cost operating model that will allow it to reach dozens of locations in the next two years and hundreds of stores by the end of the decade.
Chinah’s proteins—including tangy braised pork shoulder, crispy air-fried sesame and kung pao chicken, and spicy mapo tofu—are sourced from a commissary and finished onsite in combi-ovens, which don’t require any venting. Because of this, the chain can open new restaurants for as little as $50,000 in equipment, labor, and buildout costs. Chinah is planning to reach Washington, D.C. in 2023, while also growing in New York City. In 2024 and beyond, it will expand to other East Coast cities and ultimately, nationwide.
Twisted Kitchen is a great choice for franchising - offering fresh food, fast. Our guests can create-your-own meals or select one of our delicious choices prepared with high quality ingredients. Stay and enjoy your meal in our friendly inviting dining room or order to go. Our brand fits today’s lifestyle of “On-the-go”, health conscious and customized by the consumer.
Our staff enjoys the easy processes developed to deliver a seamless ordering experience for our guests. The employee training system makes it easy to get your new team member started.
• Founded in 2009
• Menu offerings of build your own pasta, wraps and salads appeals to all age groups
• Exciting design and multiple development opportunities
• Experienced support team
restaurants and grew up cooking campsite meals with family in Argentina. Almost everything at Call Your Mother is made in-house. If it isn’t, it’s sourced from a trusted partner, like Z&Z, Logan’s Sausage, and Liberty Delights.
During the height of COVID, Dana and Moreira grew their team to 200 workers and expanded benefits to feature language classes, practical skills workshops, and parental leave. Call Your Mother supports the local D.C. community through partnerships with Urban Alliance, AYUDA, Food Rescue, and Martha’s Table.
In 2023, Call Your Mother will expand beyond Washington, D.C., for the first time, opening three new stores in Denver.
HEADQUARTERS: HARLEM, NEW YORK
UNITS: 2
HEADQUARTERS: CENTENNIAL, COLORADO
UNITS: 28
Coffee of Hawaii will naturally garner some attention, but the Colorado-based coffee and cafe brand has the beans to back it up.
After relaunching under new ownership and leadership in 2018, Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii is making a name for itself as a rejuvenated 33-year-old franchise brand. Led by CEO Scott Snyder, the coffee company recently signed its largest deal in brand history to open 20 locations in Florida. With about 80 additional units sold and in various stages of development, the concept is well on the way to its goal of opening 150 new locations over the next five years.
“I saw its potential and knew what was missing to transform Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii to new levels of success,” Snyder told QSR in August 2022. “We knew
eight draught beers.
from the start that there would be a lot of change to manage in the organization, so leadership alignment around one common vision would be critical. Even after the pandemic started, we maintained our focus on the vision but were still able to execute efficiently and pivot as a team when met with challenges.”
In addition to aggressive franchise sales and development, Bad Ass Coffee also experienced a 66 percent increase in average unit volume in 2021 to $720,000, which is up 76 percent from 2019. The brand debuted new store prototypes in 2022 designed to ignite rapid growth, plus rolled out a new point-ofsale system that integrates online ordering and loyalty on one platform. And a significant menu innovation project with Denver-based Food & Drink Resources provided a road map for the brand’s future food and beverage options, which will be ontrend and inspired by its Hawaiian heritage.
“Bad Ass Coffee’s dedication to sharing Hawaiian coffee starts with its longstanding partnerships with multi-generational Hawaiian coffee farmers, including Greenwell Farms in Kona—the oldest coffee farm on the Hawaiian Islands and one Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii is proud to call a partner for the past 33 years,” says Chris Ruszkowski, senior vice president of marketing for the brand. “Through these partnerships, the brand embraces its unique practice of harvesting some of the highest-quality coffee beans in the world.”
Harlem Shake serves up burgers, shakes, “and good times” amid a backdrop of vintage diner decor and more than 200 autographed celebrity headshots, from Maya Angelou to P.Diddy and Asap Rocky. In addition to burgers made with custom blend Pat LaFrieda patties, Harlem Shake offers other made-to-order fare including allbeef hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, Jerk Fries, grilled cheese melts, entree-size salads, and an extensive beer and wine selection including
The retro burger joint was founded in 2012 by Jelena Pasic, who fell in love with Harlem’s warmth, charm, history and spirit of the Harlem Renaissance. Her own small-town Croatian roots instilled a strong sense of local community pride and passion for tradition in Pasic, so she ensured the dining experience would pay homage to Harlem’s history through careful design and an ongoing relationship with community members, which includes predominantly hiring folks living in the Harlem neighborhood. For example,
Dardra Coaxum is a Harlem native who manages the brand’s social media and community relations for the restaurant’s second location in Brooklyn, which opened in October 2021 despite pandemic-related challenges.
With a goal to expand the retro, fast-casual concept into more beloved neighborhoods, Harlem Shake is working on refining its franchise program and developing a sales team, though it will continue opening corporate-owned locations to grow its footprint. The brand has registered to sell franchises in 31 states.
HEADQUARTERS: CEDAR PARK, TEXAS
UNITS: 17
Smokey Mo’s BBQ offers its Texas style throughout the central part of the state, including low and slow-
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cooked brisket, which is smoked in-house for 10-14 hours each day at every location. A notable differentiation is that all stores have a trained pitmaster who’s an expert in the art of smoking, slicing, and serving meat, giving each restaurant a particular taste.
At the start of COVID, when everything was shut down, Smokey Mo’s was forced to lay off 40 percent of its staff. However, the fast casual was able to bring these jobs back within weeks. In fact, throughout the pandemic, the brand maintained nearly full staffing and amplified its catering, third-party delivery, and takeout channels to meet the needs of customers.
In January, the Texas chain announced it was purchased by private equity firm Switchback Capital. The company intends to help the restaurant debut 32 locations in the next three years and unveil a new brand look. CEO Craig Haley said the updated design streamlines operations, provides an open view of smokers, and develops clearer pathways for preparing and delivering food to guests during peak hours.
HEADQUARTERS:
As the self-proclaimed world’s most innovative donut and ice cream concept, Yonutz is on a mission to “smash the ordinary” by smashing donuts and ice cream together in a concoction perfectly designed for Instagram and Tik Tok. The sweet treat brand aims to transport guests “into a whimsical dessert wonderland,” where customers create one-of-a-kind Smash Donuts from an array of gourmet donuts, ice cream, and topping choices. A photo wall allows guests to capture the perfect pic for their social feed—providing free advertising for Yonutz, as a bonus.
Yonutz’s partnership with Kevin Harrington, original “Shark” on the Emmy-winning TV show, “Shark Tank,” plus being awarded “Best Dessert Shop in South Florida” by CNN has helped Yonutz quickly rise to fame, collecting loyal fans along the way. Winning Dessert Wars in 2019 and 2020 also aided in building brand name recognition.
After completing a company rebrand and renovation of its flagship location in South Florida during the pandemic, Yonutz began offering franchises and opened seven locations in 2022 that feature neon signs, colorful countertops, and revamped bar areas with additional seating. The brand has about 20 more new shops in the pipeline, with more promised to follow.
HEADQUARTERS:
CONWAY, ARKANSAS
UNITS: 25
TACOS 4 Life was founded with the mission to end world hunger. In 2009, cofounders Austin and Ash-
ton Samuelson learned that more than 18,000 children die each day due to hunger-related causes. Five years later, the duo created Tacos 4 Life, which donates a meal for every taco, salad, quesadilla, rice bowl, or nachos sold via nonprofit partner Feed My Starving Children. Unlike other concepts, the donation isn’t a limited-time offer or promotion. It’s a continuous program that’s resulted in 26.5 million meals sent to children. Even during the pandemic-ridden 2020, the fast casual was able to raise 4.3 million meals.
In 2022 alone, Tacos 4 life
projects hitting 5.5 million meals. With all the restaurants either open, under construction, and in development, the brand believes it will reach 10 million meals per year in the future.
Tacos 4 Life is known for its Korean BBQ Steak, Hawaiian Shrimp Taco, Chicken Bacon Ranch Taco, Firecracker Shrimp, and Sweet & Spicy BBQ Pork Taco. The company adjusted to COVID by growing its off-premises offerings, including a new mobile order system through its app and the addition of curbside pickup.
HEADQUARTERS: MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
UNITS: 8
My Burger, founded in 2004 by Larry Abdo, is a family affair. All eight stores are owned and operated by multiple generations, and thoughtful growth has been focused on the Twin Cities area. As the company expands, it’s dedicated to keeping the brand local and family-owned.
Restaurants blend old-school mentality with modern design; never-frozen burger patties are hand-pressed and hand-sliced, and vintage milkshake machines line walls that are covered with bold graphics and clever phrases. The decor is specific to each store to create a local feel.
Passion for the brand starts at the stop. CEO John Abdo and other executives regularly work in stores, whether it’s on the line, cleaning, or expediting. The corporate team passes that excitement to staff; several managers and cooks have been with the brand since the beginning or for more than 10 years.
For My Burger, takeout has always been a big business. The fast casual uses a special burger box with punch-out holes that was rigorously tested to ensure food would hold up for walks back to Minneapolis offices. Also, during COVID, the company pivoted to Toast’s POS system to align operations and track guest behavior.
HEADQUARTERS: SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
UNITS: 11
Chip Cookies was born in 2016 out of a rented kitchen in Provo, Utah, by husband and wife cofounder duo Sarah and Sean Wilson. Sarah’s late-night pregnancy cravings for warm chocolate chip cookies led to “a new category of cookies,” and the brand now touts itself as the original gourmet cookie delivery company with 11 locations in Utah and Idaho and $6 million in systemwide annual sales.
From the OG Chocolate Chip Cookie and Biscoff Chip to a Sugar Chip cookie with homemade cream cheese frosting, Chip’s cookies are all freshly baked and delivered locally as well as shipped nationwide. A focus on sourcing high-quality ingredients and mantra of providing “quality over quantity” helps differentiate Chip Cookies from competitors in the treat segment.
The delivery concept was in a favorable position when the pandemic hit, and managed to open a new store and convert some locations to temporary drive-thrus.
When Amir Mostafavi first got into the juice and smoothie business in 2006, he started in George Washington University’s campus gym. He had just left a corporate job he was not passionate about and wanted to delve into the world of entrepreneurship. That spot was called Campus Fresh, and jumpstarted his career in the restaurant space. In 2011, Mostafavi opened South Block in Arlington, Virginia, and he’s been in the juice game ever since.
“Our mission is to build healthier communities one block at a time,” he says. “Wherever we go, we want to be part of that community— making that community better, making that community healthier, not just in the food that we're serving, but through our involvement with other businesses in the community, with charities, making it a great place to work.”
South Block has since grown to 14 locations in the DMV area, bringing menu items like cold pressed juices, acai bowls, toast, coffee, and other superfoods to customers.
During the pandemic, the brand increased its digital footprint and made home delivery acai bowl kits. The focus paid off, with a leap from 20 percent online orders to 60 percent after app ordering was prioritized. The brand has also now implemented kiosk ordering into stores.
“We really saw a shift of people leaning into digital ordering through our app, through online ordering, through third party delivery companies,” Mostafavi says. “We want to make the ordering process for our guests as seamless as possible, but we still want to make sure that there's that element of culture in our store where we can connect with our guests.”
After being in business for over a decade, South Block is still looking to grow. It recently hired the brand’s first COO, Steven Fader, who previously spent 29 years at Whole Foods. The company was also selected to be in Amazon’s headquarters in Pentagon City, and will open that location in the summer of 2023. This will be the fourth location South Block has brought to market in a 12-month period. In addition, the brand is in the process of its first capital raise.
“We're really focused on finding the right capital partner,” Mostafavi says. “Someone who really first and foremost aligns with our culture and our vision wants to grow in a very positive way. We want to grow as fast as we can while still keeping the quality of product and the culture intact.”
“Although it was an uncertain time, we found that customers still need that small sweet escape and Chip was there to fulfill that need,” Sarah says. “We saw an uptick in our already thriving delivery business and for many, were a comfort that kept their family feeling happy and safe during a difficult time.”
In the spring of 2022, Chip Cookies launched franchise opportunities and has since sold more than 50 locations to expand the concept to cookie lovers across the U.S.
HEADQUARTERS: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
UNITS: 3
Twisted Kitchen believes it’s poised for growth with a new prototype and franchising program now in place. After opening three stores in the metro Atlanta area, the brand launched franchising to expand throughout the Southeast. The current footprint earns $2.2 million in annual sales. It was founded in 2009 in Marietta, Georgia, and became a cult favorite among Kennesaw State students, local workers, and residents. The second store debuted in 2015 in Midtown Atlanta and the third unit opened in late 2021. Guests start by choosing a pasta, salad, or wrap and then adding ingredients from a kitchen full of fresh meats, cheeses, vegetables, and sauces.
When COVID began, the restaurant slowed until it f igured out staffing. Twisted Kitchen was already involved in third-party delivery, but additional off-prem-
ises options helped sales rebound. Numbers have now fully recovered despite some markets not yet seeing a complete return of daytime employment. The company said its business model was diverse enough that there wasn’t a material change in operations. Beyond a few slow months, customers became comfortable with delivery.
HEADQUARTERS: IRVINE, CALIFORNIA
UNITS: 3
Apóla Greek Grill prides itself on serving the “most authentic Greek Gyro you can get without buying a plane ticket” to Greece, according to co-founder and CEO Yianni Kosmides, who co-founded the brand in 2017 with his brother, Stefano. Their traditional Pita Gyro Apóla comes with tzatziki, red onions, Roma tomato, and a handful of fries all wrapped in a warm pita. Apóla’s menu also offers vegan, halal, vegetarian, and gluten-free choices.
While Greek cuisine tends to provide healthier options for consumers with fresh ingredients, Kosmides feels the category is under-represented in the wider restaurant industry—which means space for an up-and-coming star like Apóla to rise up as a national player. During the pandemic, the Greek grill opened its first franchise location in Riverside, California; a
ghost kitchen location in Anaheim; and saw sales increases greater than pre-pandemic numbers. An additional 10 locations are expected to open by 2024 throughout Southern California and expand up the West Coast.
Driven by the Kosmides brothers’ values, Apóla employees are encouraged to pursue higher education and are guided on how to gain promotions, and the brand has financially supported local causes and organizations including Greek churches, public school foundations, local first responder organizations, and UC Irvine Health.
“Apóla continues to fine tune its overall operations to lower expenses, improve procedures for team members, and make sure to t reat all guests like family,” adds Kosmides.
HEADQUARTERS: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
UNITS: 2
Recess is pushing the boundaries of “food that makes you feel good,” led by CEO and tech expert Erik Göranson and culinary director and former True Food Kitchen executive Whitney Wood. While Fred Castellucci founded the concept as a food stall in Atlanta’s Krog Street Market, the pandemic forced the team to start operating the Recess menu out of its sister restaurant, Bar Mercado, to continue providing health-forward
options for customers when dine-in spots were shuttered. This sparked the idea to expand Recess nationally with the aim of redefining the fast-casual dining experience using a technology-forward approach, from convenient ordering and pickup to a thoughtful rewards program tailored to individual customers’ preferences.
W ith flavors from Mexico and the Mediterranean to the Southern U.S., Recess offers vibrantly colorful bowls and salads powered by a balance of nutritious grains, whole proteins, and seasonal vegetables. Don Diego, for example, features spanish brown rice, avocado, roasted corn, black beans, citrus red onion, cherry tomato, cilantro, lime, tortilla strips, and chipotle crema, with recommended add-ons including cotija cheese, spanish chorizo, and/or shredded chicken. Customers can add up to five premium toppings and remove any ingredients they want, and pick from a variety of “Functional Beverages” such as Enlighten Mint Yerba Mate, and Prickly Pear Mango or Peach Hibiscus Lavender Kea Kombucha.
The brand opened its second location in Buckhead w ith a walkup window, outdoor and indoor seating, and a streamlined ordering counter. While Atlanta is the first market, the team hopes to open
in additional cities in the Buckhead region and expand across the Southeast.
HEADQUARTERS: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
UNITS: 5
Roam counts itself as one of the pioneers in the “fine casual” space, sourcing high-quality ingredients for its burgers, fries, sides, and shakes from farms and ranches
committed to sustainable practices. Featured on the Food Network twice, Roam is a better-burger concept made fresh with mindful ingredients, and sets itself apart from competitors with its dedication to the well-being of both its customers and the planet.
For example, Roam recently launched a Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger as a new menu item, featuring Roam’s House-made Organic Veggie Patty, Umaro Plant-based Bacon, Violife Vegan Cheddar, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, ketchup, and mustard on a Pacific Coast Bakery Whole Grain Bun for $15. A rotating
Baya Bar has quickly arisen as a go-to smoothie, acai bowl, and fresh juice stop for New Yorkers. Founded in 2016 in Brooklyn, the brand quickly grew to 22 locations within the five boroughs and Long Island, and a location on the iconic Mulberry Street in Little Italy. A focus on high-quality ingredients, large portion sizes, and competitive pricing has driven the brand’s rapid expansion, in addition to its low start-up costs for franchisees.
During the pandemic, Baya Bar was well positioned as a healthy fast-casual food and beverage concept, and focused heavily on order ahead and delivery. Marketing efforts highlighted fresh juices and “booster” shots to aid customers’ immune systems and overall health.
The brand is in the midst of finalizing a co-branding deal with a well-known coffee company to enhance its product line-up, as well as finalizing multi-unit deals to expand Baya’s footprint to Michigan, Ohio, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Baya Bar plans to have upwards of 50 locations open or under development by the end of 2023.
f ried chicken sandwich and seasonal menu items keep Roam’s menu fresh for customers, such as autumn’s dish, which included a Firebrand Pretzel Bun, sauerkraut, Fra’mani Smoked Ham, caramelized onions, swiss, and Bavarian sweet mustard.
While COVID forced Roam to re-evaluate its urban locations where people weren’t going into offices anymore, a scaling up of the company’s pickup and delivery platforms helped to offset those challenges. With five locations open and running and $12 million in systemwide annual sales, Roam aims to expand its presence throughout the California Bay area and beyond while remaining focused on topquality products. The company also promises new menu items and a refreshed interior design in the near f uture.
HEADQUARTERS: SUNRISE, FLORIDA
UNITS: 26
Wellness-based juice bar Pure Green was founded in 2014 with the goal of building healthier communities. The brand serves menu items like cold pressed juices, superfood smoothies, wellness shots, acai bowls, oatmeal bowls, superfood toasts, and juice cleanses. Pure Green was engaging in an equity crowdfunding campaign when the pandemic first hit, and used some of $1 million raised to fund expansion efforts of corporate-owned locations and to find franchise partners to expand the brand. Now, Pure Green says it is on pace to have 100
franchised locations open by the end of 2023. There are also plans to open inside the Goodtime Hotel in Miami Beach in January.
HEADQUARTERS:
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
UNITS: 5
Rooted in a Northern Mexican style of cooking with “a feminine touch,” which inspires the name, Chicas Tacos is a health-forward fast-casual brand serving up tacos, burritos, and bowls. The brand received a Michelin Bib Gourmand award for its flour tortilla and balances its menu with traditional protein offerings such as steak, chicken, and fish with vegan options such as cauliflower, mushrooms, and plant-based queso. For example, Chicas’ Shrimp Taco includes a corn tortilla, sautéed marinated shrimp, shaved cabbage, morita aioli, pickled red onion, and cilantro, while The Crispy Supreme Taco features Abbot’s Butcher plant-based meat, iceberg lettuce, radish, citrus vinaigrette, and avocado crèma on a crispy corn tortilla shell. Combos pair t acos, quesadillas, or market burritos with a fountain drink and chips and salsa for easy ordering.
Chicas also prides itself on being an approachable and welcoming brand, exemplified by giving back to its local community focused on children and families in need. Aiming to bring joy, consistency, and healthy offerings during
a time of fear and uncertainty during the pandemic, Chicas donated more than 80,000 meals to schools and charities, which also enabled the restaurant to keep staff employed.
With check averages north of $22 per person and a high percentage of alcohol sales relative to the wider quick-serve and fast-casual sector, Chicas is poised for growth. The brand opened its second brick and mortar location in Culver City, California, in January 2020, followed by three more store openings. In 2023, Chicas plans to open six more restaurants between Los Angeles and Orange County and find a brand equity partner to help grow the concept to 25 locations and beyond.
HEADQUARTERS: WASHINGTON, D.C.
UNITS: 1 (U.S.)
Puro Gusto puts an international twist on the standard café with an operation that runs from breakfast until cocktail hour. Meaning “pure taste” in Italian, the first location opened in 2006 in Milan and has since grown to 30 units in Europe and Asia. In December 2021, the brand made its stateside debut in D.C., just blocks from the White House.
Given its location in a business district rather than a residential neighborhood, Puro Gusto launched delivery to drive off-premises business. As workers began to return to the office, the café introduced catering menus, with options spanning breakfast, lunch, and happy hour. It also created a loyalty program with
specials like Bottomless Aperitivo Happy Hour and Puro Power Hours, which offers $1 coffee before 9 a m Puro Gusto plans to open more stores in D.C. and beyond and eventually pursue franchising channels. In 2023, the restaurant will switch to eco-friendly takeout containers, packaging, and utensils.
UNITS: 16
This year, Viva Chicken turns 10, and it’s marking the occasion with a full roster of events—and a new era of expansion. Founded in 2013 by Peruvian-born chef Bruno Machiavello and business partner Randy Garcia, the concept features the chef’s family recipes but in a fastcasual format. The signature dish, Pollo a la Brasa, which is marinated for 24 hours in a proprietary blend of herbs and spices, can be paired with authentic sides like arroz chaufa ( Peruvian fried rice), plantains, and canary beans. A selection of salads, bowls, wraps, and sandwiches round out the menu.
Since its debut in Charlotte, North Carolina, Viva Chicken has expanded throughout the state and into neighboring markets as well as Utah. Last year, it opened a third unit in South Carolina (the second in Greenville) and made its Georgia debut with a location in Kernersville. The brand also went mobile in 2022 with the launch of its first food truck. Now it’s targeting 3–5 new units per year in existing markets and contiguous states, including a second Georgia outpost in 2023.
But even as Viva Chicken expands its footprint, the company remains committed to its people.
Last year, it expanded its benefits package, which now includes maternity leave, advanced access to earned wages, sick pay, 401K, and more.
HEADQUARTERS: IRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY
UNITS: 3
believes
has the potential to be the largest national savory soul food concept in the fast-casual space. Bayoh and her co-founder, Elzadie “Zadie” Smith, created Cornbread’s menu to be mouthwatering, comforting takes on Southern classics such as fried chicken, catfish po’ boy, yams, and of course, the brand’s award-winning cornbread.
“We’re essentially a line service like Chipotle, but we’re not serving you burritos, we’re serving you mac and cheese, baked chicken, barbecue ribs, and collard greens,” says Bayoh. “If you look at the segment of fast casual, we don’t have a competitor, we just don’t; no one is really doing this the way we’re doing it, and I pride ourselves in being the first to do it well.”
Bayoh opened the first Cornbread location in Maplewood, New Jersey in October 2017, a second location in Newark in 2021, and a third in June 2022, located on the ground floor of a luxury rental building in Brooklyn. The “farm to soul” brand’s fourth location is expected to open in Montclair, New Jersey, during the second quarter of 2023, with more to follow as Bayoh’s team begins offering franchise opportunities around the same time.
“I would like to do three to four more stores in Brooklyn, because Brooklyn’s love [for Cornbread] is so deep and so amazing. We’ve gotta spread love the Brooklyn way,” Bayoh says. She’s also eyeing areas such as Queens and Harlem in New York to expand into, as well as areas in Washington, D.C. and Virginia.
“We’re looking at growing our corporate-owned stores as
we’re growing our franchise base. I want to make sure we grow enough company-owned stores that we test out our concept,” she notes.
With a sweet spot ranging between 1,500 to 2,500 square feet, Cornbread’s optimized layout also includes self-ordering kiosks, and Bayoh is currently working with Lunchbox to beef up its app to integrate online ordering and delivery with their third-party exclusive partner, UberEats.
“We’re just really tackling meeting our consumers where they are and how they want to be marketed to,” she says.
Bayoh’s prior restaurant franchise experience has helped in her journey to becoming a franchisor. A Liberian native who escaped civil war when fleeing to the U.S. at just 13 years old, Bayoh went on to become one of the youngest IHOP owners in the country at 27. “Drawing on my experience as an IHOP franchisee—and understanding I’ve been with an iconic brand for the past 15 years and sat on several boards—have taught me to be flexible with people, but not on your processes and procedures,” she says.
Bayoh seeks to offer leadership positions and ownership opportunities to people of color, women, and other marginalized groups who have historically been denied access to positions of power in companies—including hiring mothers to give them flexible schedules as well as formerly incarcerated individuals. “As we grow our corporate-owned stores, that’s definitely something we’ll employ and implement anytime we can. We’re not turning anyone around because they have a criminal background, and we’ll encourage franchisees to look back and say, ‘hey, what kind of impact do you want to have on your footprint and community?’” Bayoh says.
“I want to make sure we leave a legacy that inspires people and inspires young women of this generation to go out there and do big things,” she adds.
HEADQUARTERS: BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
UNITS: 8
Billed as “Born in Korea, Raised in New York,” Chick-N-Bap was first conceived on a drunken college night in 2013. Founder and then-student Sung Kim was craving the chicken and rice plates that are so common in the Big Apple but virtually nonexistent at his upstate university town. The idea ended up being more than a mere lark; the next day, Kim stocked up on ingredients at Walmart and began experimenting with his own recipe. He sold these dishes (under the radar) out of his off-campus house for a period, and then in 2016, the brand made its grand debut at Binghamton University’s food court.
Unlike many brands on the 40/40 list, Kelly’s Roast Beef has been a household name for years, at least in the Boston area. Now, after seven decades in operation, the brand is ready to spread its wings.
“Kelly’s is a known brand that people love. People associate it with Boston similarly to the way people associate In-N-Out Burger with California. Customers have a passion for the brand, and there are very few franchise opportunities out there founded on over 70 years of history,” CEO Neil Newcomb said.
In addition to its four Massachusetts locations, Kelly’s Roast Beef has planted flags in Florida, Southern California, and New Hampshire, the last of which opened last October and marked t he brand’s entry into the world of franchising. At press time, two additional Florida stores were slated to open in early 2023.
Kelly’s has never converted to a commissary style, which Newcomb credits with maintaining its high quality ( he adds that at peak season, a single location may sell upward of 20,000 roast beef sandwiches in a month) That said, it is freshening up some areas. New locations will sport a modernized design while the larger company continues to embrace technology that streamlines operations.
Chick-N-Bap has since grown to five locations in New York state and a Pennsylvania unit—all on college campuses. Indeed, the brand’s expansion plans are rooted in franchising with university dining operators, like Sodexo, which was its original partner at Binghamton. At press time, Chick-N-Bap was closing a nationwide licensing deal
with a foodservice provider while also pursuing plans for brick-and-mortar locations and a franchising arm. Still, Kim emphasizes that growth will never come at the expense of quality. During the pandemic when locations were forced to shut down, the brand worked to improve all recipes and introduce more complex add-ins like cucumber kimchi, soy jalapeños and onions, bibi sauce, and Korean Fried chicken sandwiches and wings.
MODERN MARKET KEEPS PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES WITH ITS SEASONAL
WHEN COVID-19 HIT, fast-casual restaurants transformed their parking lots into dining rooms in the form of curbside service, and concepts that once prided themselves on not offering big chain-associated drive-thrus promptly began adopting the format to serve customers. Then, the industry saw restaurant groups start partnering with third-party delivery providers, despite many claiming they would never do so because of the steep fees. ¶ “I thought that honestly once COVID was dwindling down, that part of the business would subside a little bit and people would go back to their normal routines. Well what we’ve seen is, delivery is now a part of the normal routine, and that part of the business has not dropped off,” says Sam Rothschild, chief operating officer of 200-unit Slim Chickens. ¶ Indeed, consumers are now conditioned to expect food delivered to their front doors at the tap of a touchscreen, and study after study keeps proving the steep fees are no match for the value of convenience. Delivery orders now account for about 10 percent of Slim Chickens’ business, while curbside, take
out, and catering make up about 20 percent. Drive-thru business is 50 percent, and the other 20 percent is dine-in—whereas pre-pandemic, dine-in accounted for about 35 percent of sales.
“We had to come up with new standard operating procedures, because you grew entirely overnight a whole new daypart or segment of your business that really wasn’t there before, because delivery in our segment was very small, and takeout was OK,” Rothschild says.
That meant reevaluating packaging, staffing, design layouts, and more. If “pivot,” “unprecedented,” and “new normal” were the buzzwords of 2021, “optimization,” “efficiency,” and “new prototype” are gaining cause to be called the popular clichés of 2022—for good reason.
Now that dining rooms are filling up again, yet off-premises channels remain far elevated to prior levels, restaurateurs are grappling with how to balance their various business formats in a way that satisfies consumers and their labor force—groups with higher expectations and standards than ever, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Pandemic-related pressures continue to force the restaurant industry to make progress with new, creative solutions to improve customer and employee experiences, which in turn make for better systems overall.
Slim Chickens, for example, reconfigured its restaurants’ kitchens and designated parking spaces for delivery drivers to help optimize the flow for employees and guests. After recently bringing on a new vice president of technology, the brand is also looking at implementing new technologies in the drive-thru and adding staff members a rmed with order entry pads in parking lots to increase throughput.
“We spent a lot of time over the last year retooling our prototype, then going back and starting to do some work in the kitchens we
already have, looking at new equipment and new processes,” Rothschild says, which also included reengineering cook lines, and moving around existing equipment to increase food quality, accuracy, and speed. “We’re just trying to get more efficient and keep costs under control with lots of out of the box thinking.”
Rothschild isn’t alone in thinking beyond conventions. Kevin King, president of Donatos Pizza, says automation will be critically important for the restaurant sector as the labor market remains tight post-pandemic. With digital orders now accounting for about 60 percent of Donatos’ business versus 40 percent before COVID, anything the company can do to make restaurant employees’ jobs easier is welcomed. As such, Donatos’ latest investment was implementing a piece of equipment in restaurants that applies sauce to pizzas—apparently one of the hardest skills to teach.
“It sauces pizza as fast as a human could do it, does it way more consistently, and the portion control is spot on; there are no peaks and valleys in the sauce,” King says. The Smart Saucer, made by Agápe Automation, rolled out to more than 15 stores as of press time, and was on track to be in about 100 more Donatos and Red Robin restaurants by early 2023 and eventually throughout the entire system, he says.
Columbus, Ohio-based Donatos partnered with Red Robin in 2020 to bring its pizzas to new markets. With 172 traditional stores and 250 Red Robin “nests,” Donatos’ footprint has now exceeded the 400-store range in about 27 states. “I think it’s a fabulous partnership for both, and it’s clearly been incremental in sales for them which is great,” King notes. “Donatos has an operating system that’s easy for [ Red Robin] to execute at an extremely high level in their stores.”
Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee also found a way to improve on its operating system and drive-thru experience. By introducing a “Cabin” prototype with drive-thru lanes and walk-up windows at a smaller footprint and lower investment, the 460-unit coffeehouse brand was able to “offer speed and convenience without sacrificing quality or service,” says John Butcher, Caribou’s president and CEO.
Caribou also completely refreshed its Perks loyalty program while simultaneously launching a new app, which allowed customers to save customizable beverages and frequently visited stores, as well as a revitalized points and rewards system.
“To remain relevant in today’s climate, a brand must be able to adapt to consumer preferences and continue to improve its business model,” Butcher adds.
At Modern Restaurant Concepts, which owns 28-unit Modern Market Eatery and 20-unit Lemonade, the leadership team decided to lessen
the pressure on restaurant team members by fielding all calls to their in-house corporate guest relations team. Callers can place takeout or catering orders through guest relations, who also can give them directions or information on hours. Modern Restaurant Concepts tested out a call center years ago, but they found it too difficult to continually train people at a third-party company about their menu and operations, says Robin Robison, chief operating officer at Modern Restaurant Concepts.
Dine-in represents about 30 percent of MRC’s sales, while all other channels account for the remaining 70 percent of business, which includes sales from MRC’s app, website, third-party channels, guest relations, and catering.
“[ Restaurant operators] wouldn’t know what to do if the phones started ringing in the restaurants again,” Robison says. “They have a huge appreciation for us being as innovative as this so they can focus on their operations, and guests are very appreciative of it.”
Despite progress being made in so many areas, the restaurant industry still faces strong headwinds, from supply chain and labor to inflationary pressures. The National Restaurant Association published a survey in November 2021 t hat found 95 percent of restaurants experienced significant supply delays or shortages of key food items, and 75 percent of restaurants have made menu changes because of those issues.
At Slim Chickens, having a menu centered around one protein helped, Rothschild says, plus boasting an experienced supply chain team who developed great relationships with vendors.
“We were chasing some supply stuff around, but we never had a real issue where we couldn’t serve our menu,” Rothschild says. “Where we ran into issues like my peers was the cups, the lids, the straws, and plastic ancillary items in supply chain,
which was one of the most challenging we saw.”
Issues with plastic ancillary items had more to do with manufacturers being understaffed and not b eing able to keep up with orders, he notes. While restaurants experienced issues with stocking enough of their inventory earlier on in the pandemic, it’s now transitioned to feeling the effects from sta ff ing challenges hitting broadliner and supplier partners.
“There’s a greater incident potential for new people at a broadliner pulling product or mispicking, so we could get romaine instead of spring mix,” Robison says. “We’re going to have to continue to work on this industry side by side with our broadliners to understand what they’re facing, yet also hold them accountable for what we need from them to take care of our guests.”
King echoed Robison’s comments about food distributors’ labor challenge in competing for truck drivers.
“There’s not a lot of excess capacity in supply chain distribution, so it’s time to really work with those partners, because there really are no options to go anywhere else. It’s been a real challenge for us to have to think about it differently than we’ve ever thought about it,” King adds.
Aside from trying to find out about food shortages and changes in advance, King is also pushing stores to make sure inventory levels are higher than ever, and be “more flexible on when those deliveries are going to come, because we have to be,” he says.
According to the National Restaurant Association, no other industry has faced a longer road to reaching a full employment recovery. As of April 2022, eating and drinking places were still down 794,000 jobs, or 6.4 percent below pre-pandemic employment levels.
For King, one post-COVID trend he sees is the need for companies to market their mission statements and values— and demonstrate those with actions—in order to attract the younger generation of employees and customers. In August, Donatos tapped Christina Jackson to enhance company culture and develop an inclusive personnel plan as chief people officer.
“If you want to be successful in today’s world, guests want to know what you stand for and what’s important to us as much as our team members do,” King says. “The younger you are, the more important it is for you to say, the brands I do business with need to align with my values, and I think it’s a fantastic thing.”
With that being said, restaurants that showcase how they value their staff members—by increasing pay or bolstering benefits packages, for example—are gaining a leg up on competitors in their space. Donatos, for example, has raised wages and created opportunities for employees to learn more skills in the workplace, especially since Donatos is a big employer of 14- and 15-year-old staff members where it’s allowed.
“We’re constantly looking at quality of life and what we’re asking our team of people to do in the stores,” King says. That means outsourcing certain tasks when necessary, such as embracing third-party delivery companies to supplement locations where they don’t have enough drivers on staff, or at peak times on Friday nights and on Superbowl Sunday. “Five years ago, third-party delivery was just a tiny thing that was super expensive for the restaurant operator, but together, we figured out a way to make it work,” he adds.
Though King believes the labor crisis will still last for years to come, a combination of competitive pay, flexibility, and opportunities for career advancement will help restaurants become employers of choice. The last point is crucial, because career development allows employees to grow within an organization and hopefully stay longer.
Rothschild thinks the restaurant industry has a retention issue, not necessarily a hiring issue. For him, the key to increasing retention rates in restaurants is hiring exceptional general managers as leaders, who inspire employees in a fun environment.
“They want to work in a really nice place where they’re appreciated for the work they do and have great team members to work with. When I see great GMs who know how to take care of their team and run a restaurant, they don’t have problems hiring or retaining people, because good people want to work for good people,” Rothschild says.
“Make sure you have great leaders and people running your restaurants, and staffi ng should help itself,” Rothschild adds, though he admits there are areas of the country within smaller population pockets where companies need to be creative about recruiting and sometimes offer unusual incentives. “One prong is attracting people to get them to apply, and the other is taking really good care of them when they do decide to work for you.”
At Lemonade, Robison notes general manager turnover rates dropped to 17 percent last year—“which is unheard of in this industry,” she says, where hourly crew rates can be upward of 200 percent. Increased retention was driven by gathering feedback from general managers at retreats and at regular town hall meetings, where any employee at the company can ask questions and make suggestions.
“If you don’t stay connected with those people, you don’t find out what makes them tick and excited and what their pain points might be, so you’re never going to find the right things that help them be better in their roles and make the restaurant better,” Robison says.
The increased benefits MRC has rolled out have directly come from employee suggestions, from paid time off for volunteering to time and half pay on certain holidays.
“I think every business has the opportunity to look at what their current standards and benefits are and be able to say, what else can we afford to do to take care of our people?” she adds. q
Callie Evergreen in a Senior Editor at QSR She can be reached at cevergreen@WTWHMedia.comCross-flow ventilation protects taste by maintaining temperature and texture for up to 30 minutes.
Durable, stackable, single and multi-compartment designs mean meals arrive looking great.
Clear, anti-fog lids help the kitchen avoid order errors without opening the packages and releasing heat.
Patented design maintains meal quality while offering reuse and recyclability in microwavable, dishwasher-safe material.
experience labeled “Starbucks Odyssey.” The coffee giant already has a hugely successful loyalty base through its mobile offering—it was downloaded 1.4 million times in November alone—and plans to allow users to collect “stamps” (NFTs) after completing interactive experiences, or “journeys,” through Starbucks Odyssey.
Wow Bao—known for its quick Asian street food and over 700 dark kitchen footprint nationwide—has also played into that traditional loyalty, launching its initial rewards program in May 2022 through Paytronix.
That program is for customers who order third-party delivery through the brand’s website. For every dollar spent, the customer gets a point. Once the user earns 100, $7 in “Bao Bucks” are added to their account, which then can be used as money off their order.
Have you ever ordered an NFT with your takeout? Well, Wow Bao may just let you do that—kind of. The brand, which mainly spreads through “dark kitchens” and third-party delivery services, plans to connect its rewards program to Web3, which is the third iteration of the world wide web. Web3 is different from past versions of the internet; information is decentralized on Web3, and its applications run on blockchains or decentralized “peer-to-peer networks,” according to Investopedia. Buying NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, from Wow Bao allows users to buy into the brand, which can redefine what “loyalty” means, especially in the digital arena.
Rewards and loyalty programs have been a necessary part of the quick-service industry for a long time. Most recently, mobile apps that house these platform (versus the punch cards of old) have been the common iteration, and for good reason.
In November, the top 10 quick-service restaurant apps were downloaded 11.4 million times. Year-over-year in November, downloads of the top 36 apps were up 18.6 percent. In December, Starbucks launched a beta version of its own NFT rewards
Because the program directs users to Wow Bao’s website in order to access the rewards program, the brand is able to own its customer data, Geoff Alexander, CEO of Wow Bao, says. “Wowbao.com is powered by DoorDash storefront, which is still marketplace ordering,” he says. “But because the orders come through our website, we are able to own the customer data as opposed to the third-party delivery platforms, owning the customer data so we can have better demographic information.”
In order to join in on the Web3 extension of the Bao Bucks program when it launches, users will purchase an NFT-based access pass. There will be three tiers of passes that unlock increasing levels of different rewards for the customer.
Unlike some other NFTs, where a crypto wallet is needed for purchase, customers can purchase one from Wow Bao with a credit card. Alexander says people have shown interest in the program. “Our hope is that early Q1 to start minting—and to be building that community,” he says.
Alexander says the goal in adding NFTs and Web3 into the Bao Bucks setup is to transform it from a rewards to a loyalty program. Because most of the brand’s locations are “dark kitchens,” he says the loyalty aspect can get lost.
“I don’t call it a loyalty program because loyalty is really where you know the people where you’re going and they know you,” he says. “With third party delivery you don’t really
Perhaps the evolution of the restaurant labor market needs to start from within.
1. Facilitate ongoing communication with employees
The restaurant industry is an incredibly people-centric one, and the quick-service vertical is no exception. With numerous competing demands, focus on the hourly worker often gets outcompeted. This leads to a breakdown in communication between employers and employees that can leave workers feeling unheard, unappreciated, and unengaged, which is especially critical in the first 90 days of employment, according to data.
The solution is surprisingly simple: create a means of communication that is ongoing, purposeful, and provides an open forum for employees to voice their preferences, concerns, and questions. Facilitating two-way communication is a sure way to show employees they are cared for and valued. Expressing interest in their work as well as their personal lives helps humanize corporate culture and create more of a sense of belonging in the workplace. When companies prioritize communication, actively listening and quickly addressing feedback, they will see retention, engagement, and overall happiness of their employees increase.
As operators in the quick-service space hope to solve the industry-wide labor shortage, the best solution might just be to focus on who’s already in restaurants. It costs at least $1,500 to hire and train a new employee, so finding a retention solution is a financial game-changer. But how can you keep employees happy and motivated, with the table stakes for those seemingly shifts by the hour? As someone who worked more than a dozen hourly jobs while making ends meet and supporting my family, I learned that what motivates hourly employees differs person to person. There is tremendous value in learning the preferences of your staff and adjusting your management to motivate and incentivize in line with those ticks. This early life experience shaped the way I approach work, and has fueled a lifelong passion to help transform and improve the lives of hourly workers and revolutionize what it means to work in the fast-food industry.
Based on data and conversations with individual franchise owners who are seeing lower turnover rates and higher employee engagement, here are three ways to increase retention of your top talent this year.
2. Increase flexibility for employees to create preference-based, on-demand and accommodating schedules
A d riving force in “The Great Resignation” and concurrent labor shortage was an increase in people taking more control of their lives by quitting roles that weren’t fulfilling to them. It’s not that people don’t want to work, it’s that they want to work with purpose, feel valued, and have more work flexibility to offer more of a work-life balance. The gig economy is proof. During the pandemic, many restaurant workers left the industry to pursue gig work, finding the flexibility they were looking for while driving for Uber or delivering for GrubHub, where they could work on-demand, at their own pace.
Despite promises of better wages and more flexible hours, many people who left the fast-food space for rideshare work have been let down by their new jobs. Quick-service owners need to focus on recruiting former employees and enticing them back to work. Returning employees bring along previous training and knowledge that speeds up or even eliminates the onboarding process. Creating a revolving door can ensure that your brand’s investment in training does not go to waste and that “new” hires
sippi, he understands the opportunities and power of the brand. Rodriguez also recognizes that if a chain doesn’t “go in full force” into those markets, it’s difficult to compete. He knows that strategy sounds counterintuitive to successful growth, but he explains that Dunkin’ relies on consumer accessibility. If a customer can’t obtain it, they will go elsewhere. But if it’s available and a habitual breakfast pattern is created, Dunkin’ becomes “one of the most powerful brands in that arena,” Rodriguez says.
He estimates that Tasty Restaurant Group’s real estate and construction department spent six to seven months mapping the markets, so finding locations won’t be an issue. Rodriguez says the bigger concern is striking the right real estate deals and providing a valuable return on investment for investors. He refers to higher construction costs “as bad as I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.” He adds, however, that the beauty of Dunkin’ is that customers are loyal, and if stores deliver the basics, they will not leave. For that reason, Rodriguez has great confidence in the significant 45-unit agreement.
“I think that market is a Dunkin’ market,” Rodriguez says. “It really is. Dunkin’ is about the blue-collar individual—the way you think about yourself. That’s a market right up their alley. And so the question is, can we execute and can we execute quickly, and can we grow successfully in a manner that makes sense? So we have the confidence, we have the experience. And if you put all things together, we feel that this is a great win for both of us, for Dunkin’ and for us, and allows us the ability to really grow, and put the brand on the map in that part of the world.” Having switched between corporate and franchising multiple times in his career, Rodriguez understands the arguments of each side. From the franchisee perspective, he says, there may not always be clear sight on all the data and research that went into a decision. Operators may not realize several other ideas were vetted and rejected before the brand presents a certain one. He compares it to a military operation in which generals in Washington, D.C. are giving commands to soldiers on the ground.
Franchisors make the ultimate decision,
but the important thought is whether franchisees’ voices are being heard. Rodriguez says Tasty Restaurant Group does its part by serving on committees.
“The question is sometimes, you’re in the middle of the battle and you just don’t see the forest because of the trees and that’s a part of you as a franchise,” Rodriguez says. “Sometimes we got to pull ourselves out and say, ‘Help me understand how you got there. What’s the conclusion you’ve drawn?’ And we may agree to disagree.”
When Rodriguez was an executive, he faced the same issues. He remembers coming to franchisees and telling them next steps, only to be met with “we shouldn’t do this.” But what Rodriguez learned as a longtime corporate employee is that sometimes you have to choose a route without knowing 100 percent; on some occasions, it has to be 80 or 90 percent. And that’s because first to market wins, and second loses every time, he says. Looking back on these decisions, the worst thing a brand can do is justify mistakes to franchisees, Rodriguez notes.
“You have to say, ‘I made a decision, let’s move on,’” he says. “If you do that, you continue to gain the trust and confidence of the community because you are going to make mistakes. You’re human, you’re not perfect in any way, shape, or form. But again, I think it’s this trust factor where everything starts from.”
Moving forward, Tasty Restaurant Group is eager to add concepts. Rodriguez hints that growth may come from more quick-service chains under Inspire Brands, which parents Sonic, Jimmy John’s, Arby’s, and Rusty Taco, in addition to Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins. Discussions are active, but nothing has been cemented.
The franchise’s goal is to reach 1,000 locations within 10 years.
“We’re very confident that in spite of the all the inflationary pressures, in spite of the fact that economic and political things are going down in the U.S., this is a very strong, vibrant industry and I’ve been doing this for 50 years and we faced a lot of things in this industry,” Rodriguez says. “And as we get involved with a ll these brands, you can see that they’re seeing the same challenge that we’re seeing and they’re trying to get in front of it.” q
have that loyalty, you don’t have that interaction.” Adding this dimension is a way for users to feel more connected to the brand.
One drawback of using Web3 and NFTs is that there is still a long way to go in terms of public awareness and knowledge about the technology.
Many people are not aware of what goes into the platform and how to use it. Wow Bao is ready to take education into its hands once it launches its program, however. “I think education is always going be part of the Web3 space,” Alexander says. “There’s too many people out there who don’t understand what it is, and I think it’s still evolving, so there’s always going to be an education factor.”
Building that aforementioned community is going to be a key part of educating people, he says. “I think that our job is going to be to grow that community, and in order to grow the community, we need to educate, we need to create content, we need to create fun,” Alexander says.
The community the company is building will also help Wow Bao evolve in new ways, such as helping to choose new flavors or giving direct feedback on the brand, a level of engagement that is usually missing in the third-party delivery space.
Adopting new technology early in the game is part of Wow Bao’s brand, and the framework of the fast casual company, and has been for some time.
Alexander says the fast-casual was using self-ordering kiosks in 2010—now, they are everywhere.
The “dark kitchen” concept that uses other restaurants’ kitchens and third-party delivery is also gaining more and more popularity.
Wow Bao is planning on putting its hot food vending machines in the metaverse in 2023 as well, allowing customers to use them from their homes, and get food sent right to their door. Alexander says being at the forefront of new technology is important and key to where Wow Bao will invest going forward.
“You have to evolve and you have to innovate, that’s part of our DNA— it’s always been right for us,” he says. “Part of our brand is to be early adopters of technology, and by being those early adopters you can learn quickly and be forgiven because it’s new.” q
get up to speed quickly. Additionally, the number of hours employees are receiving can serve as a motivator. A top complaint from workers is that they don’t receive enough and are then less engaged in the limited time they spend in-store. Employees are looking to maximize their income, and often will take lower wages at places that can guarantee more hours. Understanding the number of hours front-line people want to work and then being able to provide them will go a long way to lift engagement. Employers can accommodate these sentiments by allowing employees to create preference-based or on-demand schedules to work as many or as little hours as they like. Many hourly workers are also parents or students, and need a schedule that can accommodate them.
As I said earlier, the first 90 days of employment are essential. According to HourWork’s data, employees are five times more likely to quit within the first 90 days due to lack of training, miscommunication, and not feeling prepared for the role. A new employee who is not properly onboarded and engaged within that time is likely to walk away. Create a clear training program that sets expectations with new employees and provides them with resources to overcome the challenges of adapting to a new environment. Help them to develop the skills needed to succeed within your organization, communicate with them regularly to understand their needs, and actively listen to their feedback. Ensure the training program has a clear ending, and celebrate its completion with employees, ideally recording it in some way that allows people to look back on their hard work and be proud of what they accomplished.
Unfortunately, there is a societal stigma around fast-food jobs, even among those who choose to jump in. What happens then is people don’t take the job seriously, leading to high turnover and a vicious cycle that prevents owner-operators from increasing wages. Creating a workplace culture that supports growth, values employees, and provides engaging work opportunities can help to end this approach. q
What was your first job? Mowing lawns and delivering papers were technically my first paying gigs, but my first professional job was selling commercial waste disposal services in college.
What’s your favorite menu item at Eatzi’s?
The Idaho Ruby Red Parmesan Crusted Trout is our Wednesday grill special, which I almost never miss.
What’s your favorite cuisine aside from Eatzi’s? I love barbecue. Most people don’t know this, but we also own and operate Slow Bone BBQ in the Dallas Design District. It’s very popular and the food is fantastic. It’s even been voted as one of the best Texas barbecue restaurants by Texas Monthly.
Who inspires you as a leader? I’ve had the privilege and great fortune to have worked for two of the most impactful restaurant legends, Norman Brinker and Phil Romano. They did so much to establish the validity of the casual dining industry when it was still nascent.
What’s the best piece of advice that other restaurant executives should hear? Unequivocally, it has to be about the food. It could be the coolest and most unique concept there is, but if the food isn’t great, customers won’t come back on a regular basis, or worse, won’t come back at all.
What interests you outside of work? I’m literally on the clock 24/7, but when you love what you do it doesn’t really feel like work.
Ilanded in the foodservice industry accidentally. After graduating with my business degree from The University of Texas, I began my financial career at KPMG. When I joined KPMG, I always assumed I would spend my entire career there. It was a fantastic environment to hone skills such as financial discipline, accountability, leadership, client relations, and teamwork. I was promoted to senior manager in the Retail Industry Group and was responsible for one of the firm’s largest public company accounts. But I found myself increasingly intrigued with the operations side of businesses.
By chance, I was presented with the opportunity to join the renowned restaurant company Brinker International, led by the legendary Norman Brinker. I had no particular affinity for the food service industry, but at the time, Brinker was the fastest growing casual dining restaurant company in the country owning and operating both venerable and high-growth brands such as Chili’s Bar & Grill, Romano’s Macaroni Grill,
Maggiano’s Little Italy, Corner Bakery, and On the Border, just to name a few. Over time, opportunities to work more closely with the various brand presidents provided me with more exposure and experience with the operations teams. One of these opportunities brought me to where I am today: Eatzi’s Market & Bakery.
Eatzi’s—a European-style craft food and beverage market—was born of a partnership between Brinker and another restaurant legend, Phil Romano. It was the first of its k ind as far as a meals-to-go concept, and it was an instant consumer blockbuster. Eventually, the decision was made to structure Eatzi’s as a separate company with its own management team. I was tapped as the CFO, and the development took off. I ended up pursuing a stint of other opportunities, but, coming full circle, Romano and I reunited when I rejoined Eatzi’s to lead a new expansion strategy as its CEO.
For over a decade now, the brand has successfully expanded and continues to thrive. q
The last couple of years have been a roller coaster for the franchising industry as a whole, even for brands that don’t necessarily fit within the quick-service restaurant space. As consumers gradually returned to dining out and enjoying more time away from home, brands have also had to contend with supply chain issues and chronic labor shortages throughout the hospitality industry.
efficient in serving high-quality food in minutes.
In spring 2022, the burger brand announced its worldwide franchise initiative, backed by its franchising company, Intelligration Capital BB, LLC. With five open locations and several in the development pipeline, the world-class executive team led by Michael McGill, president of Intelligration Capital BB, is propelling the growth of Bobby’s Burgers through 2023 and beyond.
“The opportunity to work with a world-renowned chef and entrepreneur like Bobby Flay is once-in-a-lifetime,” McGill says. “We’ve brought together a highly respected team that is dedicated to the vision of excellence for this franchise system. Now is the chance for experienced operators to Franchise With Flay, and bring our better burger experience to new markets both domestically and internationally. We’ve created a solid foundation to scale Bobby’s Burgers, and the entire team is looking forward to making the unforgettable Bobby Flay dining experience accessible to communities worldwide.”
IF YOU ASK BOBBY FLAY WHAT MEAL he craves the most, the answer might be surpising—it’s a burger. Inspired by Flay’s love of Americana and the many places in the U.S. he has enjoyed living in and traveling to, Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay is the exclusive concept that the world-renowned chef is franchising. Uniquely crafted by Flay himself, the new fast-casual burger concept offers guests the ultimate burger experience.
Capturing an array of bold flavors, the Flayvorful menu features seven mouthwatering burgers, including the signature Crunchburger®, spoon-bending milkshakes, and tasty sides. Each craveable menu item is served in a quick and convenient restaurant model.
NET WORTH: $1 million $500,000 liquid
TOTAL INVESTMENT: $500,000–$2.8 million
Customers and franchisees are top of mind with the thoughtful restaurant design, as the model eliminates common pain points for operators. The flexible footprint and efficient kitchen layout cut back on build-out cost and staffing issues. Additionally, the simplicity and low-prep time for menu items allow operations to remain streamlined and
McGill joins Bobby’s Burgers with an impressive background, including more than 30 years in senior-level, global, multi-cultural leadership positions within the restaurant and retail industries.
Additionally, the team is backed by a dream team board of directors, made up of best-in-class executives from the restaurant and franchise industries, respected investors, and experienced advisors, to guide and support the expansion. Dan Beem serves as chairman of the board, bringing 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry to the table and has a track record of success in expanding multiple concepts internationally. Notable board members also include Jeff Vinik, Bill Allen, Bill Pellicano, and principals from Arlington Capital.
Executing the first license deal in October of 2022, the franchise team is preparing for the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport restaurant opening in early 2023 and several new markets to follow. With plenty of opportunity for growth, the team is seeking experienced multi-unit operators that share a passion for growing Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay in key markets. RF
To learn more, visit bobbysburgers.com/franchise.
BONCHON
2022, including the twentieth anniversary of the brand’s now 400-unit chain. The Korean chicken concept attributes its success in the past 12 months to a strategic menu approach combating inflation and creative marketing campaigns reaching new consumers. This is evident with its 24.7 percent increase in AUV over the last few years.
Bonchon has grown domestic units by 10 percent in 2022 and plans to more than double unit growth in 2023. The brand is prioritizing expanding in key markets like the DallasFort Worth area. A fourth location opened in November 2022 and several are scheduled to open throughout Texas before the end of 2023. But Bonchon isn’t just developing in the south, it’s also continuing to grow its footprint in the Midwest (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota), as well as on the East and West coasts in states like California, Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
As the crunchy chicken concept rolls out new locations, the brand has received recognition for its growth and strategic approach to drive sales. Nation’s Restaurant News noticed Bonchon for its menu innovation to combat inflation and ranked it No. 181 on its Top 500 Restaurants list. This adds to Bonchon’s spot on the list of brands projected to make the QSR 50 in the coming years.
With inflation driving food prices higher in 2022, Bonchon focused on finding a solution for both franchisees and consumers. It prioritized sourcing ingredients domestically to decrease overseas shipping costs. The brand also introduced the Crunchy Chicken Bowl, an LTO that outperformed Bonchon’s bibimbap, which is an item on its menu that featured similar ingredients and was on 5 percent of all checks. This bowl was created out of existing ingredients on the menu—cutting food costs for franchisees and allowing it to be offered to consumers at an affordable price.
AUV: $1.57M* 5 YEAR GROWTH RATE: 21%** TOTAL GLOBAL LOCATIONS: More than 400
“Our attention remains on strategically strengthening our menu and satisfying our loyal customers,” says Flynn Dekker, CEO of Bonchon. “We value franchisees who represent our brand’s
mission to deliver top-tier customer service. That’s why we are concentrated on finding franchisees who are committed to customer service, product quality, and operational excellence.”
As chicken concepts continue to pique franchise interest, Bonchon brings a strong presence through unique positioning in the chicken segment, an innovative menu, expansion in key territories and customerfocused mentality. The brand’s marketing strategy and operational adaptations drive the brand’s mission forward: to share the joy of Korean comfort food around the world. RF
For more on franchising with Bonchon, visit franchising.bonchon.com.
The Korean fried chicken concept continues to strategically push growth and increase sales.
Restaurant industry veterans Heritage Restaurant Brands purchased Huckleberry’s in 2016 and, instead of immediately jumping into expansion mode, spent the first 18–24 months investing in the brand and streamlining key systems and processes. Once the blueprint for success was in place, the brand grew from seven–31 units, with plans to reach 100 restaurants by 2026.
“We spent necessary time, energy, and resources on the very foundation of the brand before pursuing expansion,” says Heritage CEO Greg Graber. “The insights from our existing franchise owners were incredibly helpful, and their willingness to adapt and execute at a high level has positioned us well for accelerated growth.”
THERE’S SIMPLY NO PLACE LIKE HUCKLEBERRY’S IN the breakfast and lunch category. Walking into a Huckleberry’s is like stepping into the bayou where diners are captivated by the weeping willow tree, sparkling of fireflies, and Zydeco music and are greeted by charming people with a genuine desire to serve guests. And the food? Huckleberry’s calls its cuisine “Southern Cookin’ With a California Twist,” and the menu is filled with signature items such as Mardi Gras Beignets, Fried Green Tomatoes, Huckleberry Stuffed French Toast, N’awlins Sandwiches, and so much more.
FRANCHISE FEE: $35,000
ROYALTIES:
6 percent; no marketing fee
AUV:
More than $2 million
UNITS:
31 with plans for 100 by 2026
Operating hours of 7 a.m.–3 p.m. assist with finding quality team members, talented managers, and multi-unit operators. Having a set schedule and the ability to be home every night helps to create work-life balance that can be quite elusive in other segments of the restaurant industry.
Huckleberry’s has a comprehensive site selection process and flexible restaurant footprint options. With flexible sizing from 3,500–5,000 sq. ft., the brand has prospered with various building types including in-line, end caps, and free-standing buildings and had particular success converting previous restaurant concepts over to Huckleberry’s.
“The best proof that Huckleberry’s is economically appealing is that our existing franchisees continue to want to build more,” Graber says. “We’ve found tremendous value for them converting from other concepts that serve three dayparts to our 7 a. m.–3 p. m. model. AUVs went up with less operating hours, and those franchisees are very happy—and when they’re happy, we’re happy.”
The brand has set its sights on expanding throughout the U.S. and is seeking existing multi-unit operators who are looking to expand their portfolio and take advantage of this fast-growing segment within the restaurant sector.
Multi-Unit franchisee Raman Dhillon says, “Huckleberry’s has a unique and compelling niche in the restaurant space. The unit economics, captivation ambiance, great food, and the fact that we are open for breakfast and lunch make adding more restaurants a no-brainer for us.” RF
For more on franchising with Huckleberry’s, visit Huckleberrys.com.
FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, PIZZA FACTORY has stayed true to its roots. Hardworking owners and staff, family-friendly dining and a highquality product that reminds us all of our favorite hometown pizzeria.
Today, the brand is thriving greater than ever before, serving as a community staple in over 100 hometowns across seven states. In 2022 alone, 25 restaurants hit a milestone of $1 million in sales, demonstrating the proof of concept and adoring customer base.
Rather than targeting over-saturated major metropolitans, the brand found its bread and butter specializing in small town markets— primarily on the West Coast, where the operators become a fabric of the community and establish relationships with local schools and sports teams.
Since stepping in as Pizza Factory CEO in 2012, Mary Jane Riva has been influential in modernizing this legacy brand with an innovative tech-stack to lead the next generation of franchisees. While carrying on the brand’s community-centric values was of utmost importance, the brand invested heavily in technology and operations. In recent years, the franchisor added a smaller carryout-only Pizza Factory Express model, enhanced online ordering with a state-of-the-art loyalty app, and added innovative vendor partners to remain competitive in the $54 billion pizza marketplace.
AUV OF TOP 50 PERCENT OF RESTAURANTS: $ 825,000–$ 2.13 million
NET WORTH: $ 250,000 OVERALL INVESTMENT: $ 274,000–$ 542,000
“We want to remain on the cutting edge in the pizza category and have provided our franchise operators the resources to build relationships with their customers whether it’s dine-in, takeout, or delivery,” Riva says. Since its inception, the Pizza Factory loyalty app has generated nearly $20 million in loyalty sales.
Pizza Factory’s incredible expansion is credited to the corporate team’s dedication
to continuously innovating from a tech, operations, and menu standpoint. Following a recent partnership with PepsiCo, the brand released a Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Chicken Pizza, which debuted in all restaurants for a limited time.
Rounding out a banner 2022, the brand signed 20 franchise agreements with experienced operators in markets across the country, including Levon, Texas; Southern and Central, California; Redmond and Woodland, Washington; and Mesa, Arizona. These double-digit agreements surpass the brand’s 12 franchise agreements from 2021, marking a new wave of growth for the award-winning pizzeria.
From multiple fast-casual prototypes to a new Express quick-service model, Pizza Factory maintains its reputation for family-friendly dining and high-quality products. With aggressive development efforts underway, Pizza Factory is actively growing and seeking operators to develop nationwide and is offering new development incentive programs. RF
For more on franchising with Pizza Factory, visit pizzafactoryfranchises.com.
openings across the U.S. and internationally. In the U.S., Slim Chickens has become a household name for Americans with a strong rapidly growing footprint. In Texas, the brand has 27 existing locations with plans to open five more in Houston and several locations in San Antonio and Dallas. Adding to its domestic expansion, franchisees are taking note of the brand’s growth in Oklahoma, Utah, Ohio, Florida, and the Carolinas to name a few. The chicken brand is looking to continue to drive growth in the Northeast and across the U.S. Slim Chickens is also extending its Southern hospitality atmosphere to various international markets, such as the U.K. and more recently opening its first location in Northern Ireland. The brand anticipates another year of strong international growth spearheading an international expansion initiative with plans to grow in France, Spain, Germany, Poland, and the GCC.
record-breaking year and is soaring into 2023 with promising growth. The renowned brand, best known for its Southern comfort food and hand-breaded chicken tenders, is making its mark across the U.S. and internationally.
As the leading fast-casual chicken concept continues to strike interest with seasoned multi-unit operators, established restauranteurs are particularly enticed by the franchising opportunities Slim Chickens provides. The widespread interest can be attributed to the brand’s impressive systemwide sales, market potential, and high touch executive team that’s in tune with franchisees’ bottom line.
In 2022, Slim Chickens rolled out 50
To top off the brand’s 50 openings in 2022, Slim Chickens also solidified 150 signed agreements established multi-unit operators. These franchisees are eager to franchise with the brand given its impressive $3.8 million AUV*—listed as Group 1 in the 2022 FDD Item 19*—and more than 1,100 units in development. Slim Chickens’ robust franchisee system also contributes to the brand’s year-over-year comp store sales increases every single year, including a 40-percent increase in the last three years alone.
Restaurant and franchise trade publications continue to recognize the striking development Slim Chickens achieved throughout the year, naming the brand a “Breakout Brand of the Year” and a “Top RecessionProof Business.”
As the momentum resumes, the brand is projected to sign 200 more locations in 2023. Slim Chickens’ upward trajectory in 2022 indicates that 2023 will be another promising opportunity for the brand to leave a dominating presence in the global chicken segment. RF
For more information about franchising with Slim Chickens, visit slimchickensfranchise.com/get-started.
WHILE THE HUMAN BEAN ACKNOWLEDGES IT HASN’T mastered the art of fortune telling with a cup of coffee— yet—the 25 year-old coffee franchise has bags-full of experience to reference when talking about future growth.
“We’ve been really fortunate to work with smart franchise owners, passionate coffee growers, and the very best staff we could imagine,” says Dan Hawkins, co-founder and CEO of The Human Bean. “It’s an equation that works.”
Over two decades after opening its very first singlelocation coffee stand in Ashland, Oregon, The Human Bean family spans 300 locations open or in development in 20 states throughout the U.S. The majority of locations are independently owned by small business owners whose values align with those at the coffee brand’s core.
“We’ve learned the importance of partnering with people and places that fit with our culture of quality, kindness, and giving back,” Hawkins says. “Because at the end of the day, it’s about the authentic connection we have with guests and our drive-thru communities, and it’s about delivering something exceptional during each and every visit.”
True to the coffee brand’s unique name, company-wide giveback days throughout the year center on human interests—like breast cancer support and food bank stocking— as well as bolstering a sustainable coffee industry.
“Our giveback days are really the highlights of the year,” Hawkins says. “Some of them, like Coffee for a Cure, are now 17-years strong. All locations participate, and the funds raised are given to hospitals chosen by each franchise owner and their team. So they stay local and benefit each community.”
ROYALTIES: 0 percent BRAND FUND
1 percent
AUV: $916,432
FRANCHISE FEE: $30,000
YEARS IN BUSINESS: 25
In total, The Human Bean has raised over $3 million for breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and education. Drive thrus around the U.S. were also able to fund the planting of 67,075 trees through a nonprofit that works with coffee growing communities.
“The more locations we have, the greater the impact every year,” Hawkins says. “Our giveback numbers tell a really compelling story: that our communities are excited about purchasing drinks for a cause and that they keep coming back year after year.”
With numerous coffee awards and current ranking as a top franchise opportunity by Entrepreneur and Franchise Business Review, The Human Bean is one of the fastest growing coffee franchises in the U.S.—a designation that Hawkins says is owed to the brand’s amazing team at the support center and forwardthinking franchise owners.
“We’ve had 90 percent of franchisees say they’d recommend franchising with us to a friend. I think a large part of that is the support they receive, includ-
ing training, marketing, and even location identification and design. Franchisees come to us with a passion, and we supply the expertise and a proven model. The personal connection is really the icing, or, we should say, the bean on top.” RF
Learn more at thehumanbean.com.
that strong entrepreneurial passion and spirit,” Krause says.
The portfolio powerhouse just launched a new, all-inclusive development website to help prospective brand franchisees tap into the Focus Brands system and understand where they can grow and who to contact to get started both domestically and internationally. It streamlines the research process with brand stats, such as Auntie Anne’s average net sales for fiscal year 2021 ($636,952).
Franchisees can expect real estate, construction, and marketing support, supply chain packages with competitive pricing from single-source vendors, flexible footprints and nontraditional venue options, and cobranding and franchising experts.
WITH SEVEN ICONIC BRANDS MAKING UP MORE than 6,400 global (more than 4,600 in North America) restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and ice cream shoppes, Focus Brands is primed for growth and seeking brand franchisees to fill those markets.
Whether you’re a single-unit owner new to the field or a multi-unit developer with broader infrastructure, Focus Brands, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, can seamlessly fit all passions into its portfolio that includes Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, Moe’s Southwest Grill, McAlister’s Deli, and Schlotzsky’s.
“We love all our brands the same,” says Brian Krause, chief development officer.
“With the ability to tap into our brands’ enterprise-level resources, you’re going to share best practices. You’re going to leverage purchasing power with our suppliers and marketing agencies, and obviously technology and digital innovation is a big part of that. We also share consumer and loyalty customer insights. All of these benefits give us better capabilities and allow us to make larger investments that one brand quite frankly couldn’t afford on its own,” Krause says.
Nationalizing resources while globalizing its reach allows room for massive market differentiation within the Focus Brands portfolio, as well as culinary innovation to cater to international flavors and regional palates, whether in the Middle East or middle America.
ICONIC BRANDS: 7
LOCATED IN: Over 55 countries
GLOBAL LOCATIONS: 6,400 and growing
“That’s the beauty of being a portfolio company. When you have the strength of multiple brands, there’s something for everybody.”
Focus Brands houses one of the largest development teams in the industry, designed to grow and support multiple brands. “The requirements are all different, but at the end of the day we’re looking for folks who have
“We produce over $1.2 billion in retail sales through our global channels and licensing business, which adds clout to our already iconic brands,” Krause says. And when fans called for more access points, Focus Brands answered with dual branding, street-side real estate, opening the first ever Auntie Anne’s drive-thru paired with a Jamba in Wiley, Texas, last year.
The future is bright for Focus Brands and franchisees of its seven brands, with an eye on platform expansion, increasing access, and driving franchisee returns on investments. RF
To learn more, visit development.focusbrands.com.
“THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF BEING A PORTFOLIO COMPANY. WHEN YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH OF MULTIPLE BRANDS, THERE’S SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY.”
This unforgettable, retro-dining experience is on the franchising fast track.
HARLEM SHAKE, THE NEW YORK CITY BASED fast-casual restaurant concept best known for high-quality burgers and shakes, is ramping up its franchise program and breaking the mold with an unforgettable retro-dining experience entrenched with iconic cultural influences.
From baby boomers to Gen Z, Harlem Shake restaurants feature a welcoming space that serves up a true Harlem-inspired cultural experience that appeals to people of all backgrounds. Amid a backdrop of hundreds of autographed celebrity headshots and vintage diner details, burger and shake lovers make lifelong memories with friends and family. Honored to be ingrained in the Harlem community, Harlem Shake prides itself on employing neighborhood faces and supporting a variety of local non-profits, a value which they will extend to new franchise territories.
Since 2013, the success of the two corporateowned restaurants in Harlem and Park Slope, Brooklyn, has shown that the future of Harlem Shake lies in expansion, without compromising the brand’s award-winning fare and retro, quirky vibe. As the brand develops a franchise sales team, it’s launching a program to meet the needs of future stakeholders and build upon community engagement.
“Harlem Shake continuously strives to maintain its standing as a community meeting place for Harlem and beyond,” says founder Jelena Pasic. “Whether creating an experience for customers to gather over Harlem Classic Burgers, Jerk Fries, and shakes or take part in our philanthropic initiatives like the annual Miss or Mr. Harlem Shake competition, Harlem Shake always collaborates with our communities to make them stronger whether we’re in New York or working with a franchise partner.”
voted best in class by customers and media alike, setting it apart and proving it’s one of the most exciting fast-causal concepts in the country. With technology-driven restaurant management systems, the brand is fully developed to accommodate high customer volume and support quick, efficient service.
HARLEM YEAR-OVER-YEAR SALES GROWTH: 13 percent*
HARLEM LOCATION REVENUE: Over $3.2 million*
FRANCHISE FEE: $40,000*
As a female-led and majority owned franchisor with a diverse ownership structure, year over year, Harlem Shake has been
Catering to both simple and sophisticated tastes and featuring awardwinning, unique twists on fast-casual, classic fare with loaded portions and tantalizing sauces, Harlem Shake has taken the classics and turned them into icons. The critically acclaimed burgers and shakes have earned Harlem Shake some serious local cred along with international brand recognition status and a strong, loyal following. As a result, Harlem Shake has been honorably dubbed a “NYC must,” but this memorable dining concept would perform well in any community.
With available territories in eight North Eastern states and an additional seven South Eastern states coming soon, Harlem Shake offers franchisees the chance to build their own legacy within their community with burgers, shakes, and good times, the Harlem Way. RF
For more information, visit harlemshakefranchise.com or contact franchisesales@harlemshake.com.
three people in the world. How well-guarded is that recipe? Drew doesn’t even know it, despite being the son of the company’s President, Gail Drew.
Making its product fresh daily in small batches, every Abbott’s stand churns out a wide variety of flavors. The menu boasts everything from classic sundaes to Root Beer Milkshakes, custom-made cakes, and other take-home items. Abbott’s signature novelty item, however, is its Turtle. Invented by Drew’s grandmother in the 1960s, the Turtle features layers of Spanish peanuts, fudge, and chocolate or vanilla custard, all frozen on a stick and coated in a dark chocolate shell. Hence the name—Turtle.
“FROZEN CUSTARD IS NOT A FAD, IT HAS STAYING POWER, YET THERE’S SO MUCH WHITE SPACE IN THE INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW.”
FOUNDED BY ARTHUR ABBOTT IN 1902, AND rooted in Rochester, New York, since 1926, Abbott’s Frozen Custard has been serving up frozen treats to its fanatical following for 120 years. Now, it’s in growth mode: The brand has 37 stands and has inked franchise deals that will bring its unit count to well over 100 over the next several years.
LOCATIONS: 37
FUTURE LOCATIONS SIGNED: Over 100 FRANCHISE FEE: $37,000
TOTAL START-UP COSTS: $346,258$654,646
One of those agreements was with a former member of the Papa John’s brand, whose group signed a deal to open 100 Abbott’s stands. That’s one of seven multi-unit agreements Abbott’s has signed in the past few years.
Brenden Drew, vice president of franchise development at Abbott’s, reports the brand is growing thanks to, first and foremost, an exceptional product. Abbott’s menu is built around a secret family recipe known to only
Drew believes a second reason Abbott’s franchising model is taking off is because of its exceptional team. Abbott’s owners, and, in turn, crew members, are fiercely passionate about the brand, and that enables them to deliver a very memorable “Abbott’s Experience.”
Finally, Drew says Abbott’s Frozen Custard is on the verge of something big due to the segment’s potential. “Frozen custard has been around for more than 100 years, but it’s still a growing niche in the market,” Drew says. “Frozen custard is not a fad. It has staying power, yet there’s so much white space in the industry right now. You might have four or five true frozencustard-only brands, and we’re all a little different. But there’s only one that’s been around since 1902 and has a secret family recipe.”
Drew notes that every Abbott’s store owner can expect several days of immersive training at a corporate-owned stand in Rochester, New York. Then, once construction is complete on a new owner’s location, owners and crew members receive intensive, handson, in-stand training. According to Drew, training is conducted by one of the most experienced teams in the industry.
“We believe we can grow to more than 500 stands someday,” Drew says. “We want to grow the right way: by finding the right people, in the right place, at the right time, in a way that makes sense for everybody. That way, our owners and guests alike can live ‘Happily Ever After,’ as we like to say.” RF
For more on Abbott’s Frozen Custard, visit abbottsfranchise.com.
Since 1902, Abbott’s Frozen Custard has held its custard recipe longer a secret is the success enjoyed by Abbott’s franchise owners
Success begins with an exceptional, delicious frozen custard made fresh daily to create a diverse offering of flavors served in cones, sundaes, cakes, novelty items and more. It continues with a franchise system dedicated to operational excellence and the intensive training and marketing support needed to ensure it. It culminates in a Happily Ever AfterR experience for our owners and their guests.
THE COMPANY IS A LEADING MULTI BRAND RESTAURANT company that develops, markets and acquires fastcasual and premium-casual dining restaurant concepts around the world, including corporate-owned stores and franchises.
As of December 31, 2021, we were the owner and franchisor of the two following brands:
BurgerFi. BurgerFi
is a fast-casual “better burger” concept, renowned for delivering an exceptional, all-natural premium “better burger” experience in a refined, contemporary environment. BurgerFi’s chef-driven menu offerings and eco-friendly restaurant design drive our brand communication. It offers a classic American menu of premium burgers, hot dogs, crispy chicken, frozen custard, hand-cut fries, shakes, beer, wine and more. Originally founded in 2011 in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, the purpose was simple – “RedeFining” the way the world eats burgers by providing an upscale burger offering, at a fast-casual price point. BurgerFi is committed to an uncompromising and rewarding dining experience that promises fresh food of transparent quality. Since its inception, BurgerFi has grown to 118 BurgerFi locations, and as of December 31, 2021, is comprised of 25 corporate-owned restaurants and 93 franchised restaurants in 2 countries and 22 states, as well as Puerto Rico.
• All natural approach finding the highest quality ingredients: angus & wagyu beef never ever treated with antibiotics, italian tomatoes for pizza, garden fresh properitary tomatoes for salads, properitary flo ur by general mills, fresh jumbo chicken wings, fresh mozzarella hand made in Wisconsin
• Flawless execution of our burgers, pizza, wings, fries, onion rings, milkshakes and vegefi quinoa
• Valued relationships -we value our teams, our guests, our community, our vendors, local colleges & universities, charities and service organizations.
for serving “no antibiotic beef” across all its restaurants, and Consumer Reports awarded BurgerFi an “A-Grade Angus Beef” rating for the third consecutive year.
Anthony’s is a premium pizza and wing brand, operating 60 corporate-owned casual restaurant locations, as of December 31, 2021. Anthony’s prides itself on serving fresh, never frozen, high-quality ingredients. The concept is centered around a 900-degree coal fired oven, and its menu offers “well-done” pizza, coal fired chicken wings, homemade meatballs, and a variety of handcrafted sandwiches and salads. The restaurants also feature a deep wine and craft beer selection to round out the menu. The pizzas are prepared using a unique coal fired oven to quickly seal in natural flavors while creating a lightly charred crust. Anthony’s provides a differentiated offering among its casual dining peers driven by its coal fired oven, which enables the use of fresh, high-quality ingredients with quicker ticket times.
BurgerFi was named “Best Fast Casual Restaurant” in USA Today’s 10Best 2022 Readers Choice Awards for the second consecutive year, QSR Magazine’s Breakout Brand of 2020, Fast Casual’s 2021 #1 Brand of the Year and included in Inc. Magazine’s Fastest Growing Private Companies List. In 2021, Consumer Report’s Chain Reaction Report praised BurgerFi
Since its inception in 2002 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the Anthony’s brand has grown to 60 corporateowned locations, as of December 31, 2021, primarily along the East coast and has restaurants in eight states, including Florida (28), Pennsylvania (12), New Jersey (8), New York (5), Massachusetts (4), Delaware (2), Maryland (1), and Rhode Island (1).
Anthony’s was named “The Best Pizza Chain in America” by USA Today’s Great American Bites and “Top 3 Best Major Pizza Chains” by Mashed.com in 2021. RF
For more information on Burgerfi and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings, visit burgerfi.com and acfp.com.
MR. PICKLE’S SANDWICH SHOP, A BELOVED NORTHERN California brand that has grown from one to 56 locations over the course of almost 30 years, recently announced plans to expand franchise opportunities nationwide.
“We are bringing quality back to the sandwich segment,” says Michael Nelson, CEO of Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop. “The brand is special in that it doesn’t turn to big-box vendors for its core ingredients such as its bread and best-in-class proteins—instead, we partner with artisan bakers, regional farms, and ranches to source those key products.”
Mr. Pickle’s core ingredients are unique by design. Its specialty bread isn’t bound by the sizing scrutiny seen for decades in the rest of the sandwich segment. Rather than the bland uniformity seen so often in other concepts’ breads and meats, Mr. Pickle’s prides itself on premium quality. For example, it offers the only Santa Maria Tri-Tip on the market that’s free from liquid smoke.
The menu features a range of popular hot and cold sandwiches, notably the signature Mr. Pickle sandwich: chicken breast, bacon, Monterey Jack, avocado, and veggies. It specializes in salads and catering as well, and the brand is committed to maintaining close-knit relationships with its vendors as it grows.
Mr. Pickle’s is also a leader in online ordering technology. It’s invested in infrastructure for loyalty, order, delivery, mobile, and gift programs with a goal of getting to 50 percent online sales in the next 36 months. “We have the support to make that happen without sacrificing on quality,” Nelson says.
The Mr. Pickle’s concept is well-positioned for explosive growth. In the last few months, it’s already garnered commitments for 25 additional locations in California and six in Arizona. It’s looking for experienced multi-unit restaurant franchisees across the country to sign on.
All franchisees receive strong and consistent support. “We stand with and behind our franchisees every step of the way,” Nelson says. “We use
KARA PHELPSour long-term relationships with regional commercial brokers to assist with site selection. We also provide construction support, lease negotiation support, in-store training, mentorship, and more.”
The store design is adaptable to nontraditional construction and centers—it isn’t limited to a standard rectangular space, and very little build-out is required. Mr. Pickle’s also does not use traffic counts for site selection—instead, it refers to state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology that is free for the franchisee.
“The Mr. Pickle’s leadership team has a background both as successful multi-unit franchisees for several brands in the quick-service restaurant space, as well as decades of experience in franchise leadership and support,” Nelson says. “They are marrying everything they have learned through decades of hard work into this brand to ensure its long-term success. They have systems in place that will change the game, ensuring viability and profitability.” RF
To learn more, visit mrpickles.com.
/BY
Anchor Packaging ................................49 800-467-3900 | anchorpac.com
ChiNah ...................................Inside Back colinvalentine@chi-nah.com
District Taco .........................................35 855-234-9985 | franchising.districttaco.com
Ecolab ....................................Back Cover 800-529-5458 | ecolab.com
Fatz Foodz ............................................... 3 202-840-8958 | fatzoodzrunners.com
FIFO Innovations ....................................6 fifoinnovations.com
Ghirardelli ............................Inside Front 800-877-9338 | ghirardelli.com
Harlem Shake .......................................39 harlemshakefranchise.com
Intellihot................................................9 877-835-1705 | intellihot.com
J&J Snack ............................................25 Churros.com/ideas-guide
Loomis .................................................27 713-435-6700 | loomis.us
Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee .................13 800-638-1884 | mother-parkers.com
NorthAmerican Bancard .......................53 866-481-4604 | NYNAB.com
Red Gold ..............................................19 866-729-7187
Redgoldfoodservice.com/sample-request
RF Technologies ..........................5, 15, 80 800-598-2370 | rfdrivethru.com
Robot Coupe ........................................55 800-824-1646 | robot-coupe.com
Smokey Mo’s ........................................10 Smokeymosbbq.com
S-Net ..................................................80 844-986-1949 | qsr.snetconnect.com
For more information on these companies, visit www.QSRmagazine.com/connect/
Texas Pete ...........................................21 Texaspetefoodservice.com
The Kebab Shop ...................................45 TheKebabShop.com
Twisted Kitchen ...................................31 404-585-5449 | TKFranchising.com
Vitamix ................................................33 800-437-4654 | vitamix.com/ourdifference
Vito Fryfilter ........................................47 847-859-0398 | vitofryfilter.com
Worcester ............................................54 800-533-5711 | Shortening-Shuttle.com
| bonchon.com
BurgerFi ......................................76, 77 561-312-1661 | Franchising@BurgerFi.com Franchising@ACFP.com
Focus Brands .................................70, 71 800-227-8353 | development.focusbrands.com
Harlem Shake ...............................72, 73 Harlemshake.com
Huckleberry’s ..............................62, 63 Huckleberrys.com
Mr.Pickle’s Sandwich Shop............78, 79 mrpickles.com/franchising
Pizza Factory................................64, 65 franchise@pizzafactory.com
Slim Chickens ...............................66, 67 630-300-4798 | slimchickensfranchise.com
The Human Bean ..........................68, 69 888-262-2215 | TheHumanBean.com
