🍟 2/21/2022 – Hot Yoga, Hot Numbers

FRANCHISE HEADLINES

Mountain Mike’s Co-CEO’s Buy Back the Company

The Scoop

In 2017, LA-based private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired Mountain Mike’s when it had about 180 units.

Since that acquisition, the concept has expanded to 250 restaurants in California, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada. 

This move comes after Mountain Mike’s best year on record, with AUVs topping $1M in 2021, 18 new store openings, and development agreements for 60 more stores.

The Wolf’s Take 🍟

I absolutely love this power move from Mountain Mike’s CEOs. As far as I’m concerned, this is the same as a CEO of a public company going irresponsibly long on their own stock.

It’s a bullish indicator for Mountain Mike’s system, and after the year they had in 2021, it’s the best time they could have doubled down.

Mountain Mike’s boasts an initial investment of $226K – $596K, and has average unit volumes over $1M, with the top quartile averaging ~$1.6M in sales. 

More Headlines

Aloha Chick-Fil-A  🏄
The brand is developing 4 locations in Hawaii

Tim Hortons Eyeing US Expansion to Florida 🇨🇦
More than 3.5M Canadians live in Florida at least part-time to escape harsh winters (see our Tim Horton’s franchise breakdown here)

Multi-Unit Dunkin’ Owner Signs Deal with Habit Burger 🍔
The owner sees potential in the northeast for the California-based brand

FRANCHISE OF THE WEEK

Domino’s

  • Founded: 1960
  • Units Open: 17,644 
  • Investment Range: $144,450 – $582,500
  • Average Revenue per Location: $1,177,696

Did You Know?

Domino’s gives out branded Rolex’s to a select group of their best-performing franchise owners. Check out the pic below…that is some BIG pizza energy 🍕

FRANCHISE BREAKDOWN 

Real Hot Yoga

Fast Facts

Background

  • Founded in 2012, franchising since 2020
  • Based in Knoxville, Tennessee; 6 locations open as of 2022
  • Provides hot yoga classes in 1,000+ square ft yoga rooms

Fees + Investment

  • Royalty: 7% of gross sales
  • Brand Fund: 1% of gross sales
  • Franchise Fee: $49,000
  • Initial investment: $153,800 – $229,600

Financial Performance

  • The below information contains performance data from an affiliate-owned location in Knoxville, Tennessee. The affiliate outlet is 2,100 square feet and first opened in 2012.

The Wolf’s Take 🍟

When it comes to the financials, I’m disregarding 2020. It was a fluke year that required shutdowns, and this brand, in particular, was closed for multiple months, and then had capacity restrictions upon opening up again.

In regards to the 2019 & 2018 numbers, however, the performance is pretty stellar. I’d be curious to know the ramp-up over the first few years as the location did originally open in 2012, but regardless it’s a great return profile.

Why a Yoga Franchise?

From a content perspective, I haven’t covered one, but more importantly, there are a handful of yoga franchises out there, most notably YogaSix (owned by Xponential Fitness).

Yoga went through a big wave of growth from 2012-2016, with the total number of Americans practicing yoga increasing from 20 million to 36 million people. Today the number of American yogis (YO-GEES) is closer to ~40M people, indicating growth has slowed a bit.

This is a niche that has staying power though unlike some other boutique fitness trends.

Some anecdotal points:

Thinking as an owner, a successful yoga studio would likely be a pretty reliable source of income given that yoga is inherently a ritualistic exercise.

Also, given that your primary labor is yoga teachers, I’m thinking that could be an easy group to manage.

You tell me folks, but yoga teachers pretty much practice inner peace for a living…I’m gonna guess they don’t cause too many problems as long as you treat them right and pay them market rates.

Overall, real hot yoga is early in its franchise expansion, but the original studio shows the potential of this business.

Resources

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