Franchising

Teriyaki Madness expanding thanks to FranShares partnership

Provided

March 15, 2023

Teriyaki Madness, which has 130-plus shops and 90 in development, is partnering with FranShares to grow its national footprint.

The agreement gives the Colorado-based fast casual brand access to an initial round of $12 million for qualified operators — which have opened multiple units and proven their capacity to run a profitable business under the rules of the franchise system — to open additional multi-unit contracts, according to Teriyaki Madness CEO Michael Haith.

"Out of the thousands of franchisors, (FranShares) has only deemed two franchise concepts worthy of investing in to start, due to our historical profitability and ROI," Haith said in a company press release. "Teriyaki Madness has already proven to bring the heat. With FranShares in our franchisee's corner, we're going to take it up a notch."

FranShares was created by industry Kenny Rose, whose career started in finance at Merrill Lynch before he turned to franchising.

"There are so many things people love about franchising — passive income, tangibility, high-yield cash returns — but most people don't have six or seven figures of cash lying around, nor the time to manage the business or the right skill sets to get started," Rose said in the release." So, the idea was to create an alternative investing platform that would allow anyone to invest in franchise ownership for as little as $500. If you are smaller than the type of franchisee that private equity is willing to fund, it is hard to get that expansion capital. We saw a way to fill that gap while also investing in great operators building a great brand."

Rose said he hopes to be able to look back in five years and feel proud FranShares helped Teriyaki Madness franchisees build their franchise empires.

"Having been in the franchise world for almost 10 years, I've seen thousands of brands, but Teriyaki Madness isn't your average concept," Rose said. "For one, the Asian food category doesn't have any huge staple brands that are offering the same quality—made-to-order dishes, sauces made from scratch, convenience. When you look at unit-level performance, Teriyaki Madness has superior returns. In addition, Haith and the experienced leadership team have a solid track record of success in franchising. Teriyaki Madness is in a high-growth position, with hundreds of locations in development, but plenty of available territory still out there. It was really a no-brainer for me."

"This is no chump change," Haith said. "Our successful franchisees are going to be able to aggressively expand in a financial environment that is currently more challenging to operators. As opposed to relying on banks or private equity, this is a great way to grow, and we are excited for what the future holds."