Franchising
WOWorks growing co-branded locations
December 3, 2021
The WOWorks family of restaurant brands — Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh and The Simple Greek — spent 2021 growing its co-branded locations, opening six and signing franchise agreements to add six more by the end of the year.
"We are seeing an accelerated growth in co-branded WOWorks restaurants because our healthy-halo brands meet growing menu and flavor demands, and have the flexibility in size and operation to open alongside current restaurants and inside many non-traditional spaces," CDO Eric Lavinder said in a company press release. "By sharing a front and back-end, co-branded restaurants can build-out more efficiently to open quicker, have lower operating costs, and cover more dayparts to attract more guests and generate sales."
In December, a Saladworks and Frutta Bowls co-branded restaurant will open in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a first for both brands in the state. Another co-branded location will open in Middletown, Delaware, where an existing Saladworks restaurant will add Frutta Bowls. And, for the first time, a Frutta Bowls restaurant coming to Hermitage, Pennsylvania, will add Saladworks to become a co-branded restaurant.
Several store-within-a-store co-branded restaurants are also part of this growth, such as Saladworks and Frutta Bowls co-branded restaurants opening in grocery stores in and around the Philadelphia area. In addition, an existing store-within-a-store Saladworks restaurant in a ShopRite store in Staten Island, New York, is also adding Frutta Bowls to create a co-branded restaurant. A current Philadelphia-based Fresh Grocer already has a co-branded Saladworks and Frutta Bowls restaurant as well.
On top of the co-branded openings in 2021, WOWorks signed additional co-branded restaurant agreements this year, including locations in Reno, and San Juan Capistrano, California. Both will open in the spring. An existing Saladworks restaurant in Morgantown, West Virginia also signed an agreement to add on Frutta Bowls in 2022. Other Saladworks and Frutta Bowls co-branded restaurant agreements include a location in Norfolk, Virginia, and a three-location signing in Draper, Utah, which will open one co-branded restaurant in 2022 and the other two at a later date.
