Franchise Focus

Famous Toastery relaunches franchising, doubling presence by 2024

After surviving the pandemic, Famous Toastery is poised to grow out of its home market of Charlotte, expanding into Virginia and Tennessee, and two of its executives are taking their own pieces of the action.

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November 18, 2021 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

After surviving the pandemic, Famous Toastery is poised to grow out of its home market of Charlotte, expanding into Virginia and Tennessee, and two of its executives are taking their own pieces of the action. CFO Adam Gordon, for example, owns two locations, and the chain's executive, chef Julio Heras, owns two as well.

"Originally, it was opportunity-driven," Gordon said in an interview with FastCasual. "There was a good opportunity to get a store that I thought was undervalued. The first location was corporate-owned and 10 minutes from my house. The second location was also corporate-owned but intended to be a franchise location that they had planned to sell. I knew there was opportunity and value based on what our restaurants are capable of considering."

For Heras, he wanted to work for himself and found that with the 26-unit breakfast-focused brand.

"I decided to be my own boss, and it was a great opportunity since I have been in the restaurant business for many years," he said. It is a great concept, but I no longer work for corporate anymore."

Gordon said he has also seen the company become an opportunity for people who haven't owned their own restaurants.

"For example, my managing partners are able to have equity and potentially become an owner eventually, as well," he said.

Staying afloat
Last year, the chain opened three locations, including a ghost kitchen in Warrington, Virginia, despite multiple challenges including labor shortages and closings, said CEO and founder Robert Maynard. Forced to make several adjustments such as using paper menus and QR codes, he rolled out contactless payment and limited-menu items as well.

The most important advancement, however, was an online ordering platform launched in four days.

"I'm looking at that as a positive thing now — not negative," Maynard said. " A lot of people and brands go through this. It's not about what happened. It's how you move the brand forward. Own your wins and own your failures."

Focusing on franchisees
Maynard's strategy for Famous Toastery has always been to focus on the franchisees and the customers.

"We are focusing on opening new locations with franchise partners rather than growing corporately," he said. "We want everyone to have a profit and to figure out their goals and how to hit their goals. We didn't have that before, and our role in the corporate office is to help support our franchisees to achieve those goals."

With a marketing plan to saturate the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee, Maynard's vision is to sell eight to 10 deals in 2022 and to feasibly open four to five restaurants next year. Looking long-term into 2024, the brand is aiming to have 50 locations open.

North Carolina's market will come first, as "a lot of people know us here," Maynard said. The rollout strategy is to first target Charlotte, then the Triangle, then the mountains and then any other areas of possibility.

"Finding the right person is really exciting, and giving them the right tools is exciting, but we're going to be patient and grow in a smart way with the right partners," he said.

About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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