FROM THE WOLF DEN

1. Crumbl Launches New Franchise Brand

I did not have Crumbl acquiring, and franchising a new brand on my bingo card this year! Crumbl made the acquisition in stealth last year, and the 1st Crust Club franchise opened up last week.

The restaurant was founded in 2016 and is based out of Utah, close to ol’ Crumbl HQ. The brand has flagship “take and bake” meals like Chicken Pot Pie, BBQ Mac Pot Pie, Ham & Cheesy Potato Pie, and more.

Crumbl & Crust Club haven’t integrated headquarters yet, as they’re keeping the teams separated. 

However, Crust Club has already taken a page out of Crumbl’s playbook, as Crust Club now offers a weekly rotating menu.

My thoughts on this?

One of the most impressive (and advantageous) aspects of Crumbl is the operating system they built from scratch. CEO and co-founder Jason McGowan discussed it when I had him on the podcast a year or so ago, but it allows Crumbl corporate (and all their franchisees) to be dialed into every aspect of their business.

From customer wait times, to cook times, supply chain management, all the way through  customer ordering via their proprietary POS system…Crumbl effectively built “franchise ops in a box” software. 

Time will tell, but it’s not crazy to think that Crumbl can plug new brands into the franchising machine they’ve built, and eventually become a multi-brand platform some day.

2. McAlister’s Deli Hits $1B in System-Wide Sales

This headline surprised me when I read it – mainly because I’ve honestly rarely seen a McAlister’s Deli.

Yet, the brand has 525+ locations that are generating $1.9M on average in revenue. With an investment of 921k – $1.57M, this (at a surface level) falls into the category of food that I personally wouldn’t be too interested in owning.

BUT…I have an upcoming podcast with a big multi-unit owner of this brand, so I’ll be excited to learn from him.

The other aspect of this that is surprising is that this brand hit $1B before other brands under the GoTo umbrella (previously FOCUS brands). That means McAlister’s Deli hit $1B before Auntie Anne’s, Cinnabon, Jamba Juice, Carvel, and a few others.

That’s the power of a higher average unit volume. From a brand standpoint, Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon are the most widely known (between store footprint and their sales into grocery stores and other CPG avenues), but looking solely at franchise locations, Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon typically aren’t churning out more than $600-$750k at one of their mall locations where they primarily exist.

More to come on McCalister’s Deli with my upcoming podcast!

3. The Original Celebrity Franchise

Mark Wahlberg launched Wahlburgers and has seen it grow to ~100 locations. Shaq has  launched Big Chicken and has hundreds of units worth of development deals in play.

But it hit me last week, that the OG celebrity backed franchise is from the late great, Jimmy Buffet!

He opened his first Margaritaville restaurant in Key West in 1985, and the 1st hotel in 2010. 

Today, the company has roughly 60 restaurants and 20 hotel resorts (not all are franchisee owned however). The Margaritaville brand is expanding too, with a recently launched “Camp Margaritaville” concept, that is a resort for RV parks.  

All in all, the Margaritaville brand generates (as of 2022) ~$2.2 billion in annual revenue, and Jimmy Buffet’s personal 28% stake (RIP legend!) is worth about ~$180 million.

P.S.

I can’t fathom what it takes to get a hotel resort up and running (the initial investment is listed at a whopping $21 MILLION TO $196 MILLION). Hoteliers…..y’all are a different breed 😂

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EXTRA SAUCE

Roy Rogers is Re-franchising Restaurants
The legacy brand has been struggling to grow. I’m too young to have been a customer during their heyday, but we’ll see if selling corporate units can be enticing enough for new entrants to buy in! 

New Franchise Alert: Aircraft Detailing Concept Called ‘RealClean’

RealClean is (from my understanding) the first franchise to launch in this space. They detail planes by revitalizing the paint job, window polishing, interior leather repair, and a few more services. I haven’t gotten my hands on the FDD yet but you best believe I’m hunting for it! 👀

Is Big Fast-Food in Cahoots With The Government?

I’m normally not one for conspiracy theories…but I was tipped off to a crazy, little-known government funded marketing agency called “Dairy Management Inc” (DMI). This agency utilizes big fast food as a vehicle to offload a massive 1.4 billion pound cheese reserve the government has accumulated (yes, you read that right). So yeah…the next cheesy quesalupa ad you see from Taco Bell is probably being paid for by DMI!