With legacy brands like Red Lobster and Cracker Barrel clinging to relevancy, it’s important to remember there is one constant in the restaurant world: There are new brands born every day.
Even as established restaurant chains struggle to keep the attention of cash-strapped consumers, new players are constantly joining in the race. Many of them fail, or never go beyond a certain point in their growth. Others get acquired, or absorbed into platform companies.
And a lucky few become the established brands of tomorrow.
It’s a journey that is not for the faint of heart. It is rarely a smooth ride, and the factors that make or break a growing brand are many and varied.
But the next great emerging brand has likely been designed for growth from the start.
Here’s a look at five potentially emerging brands—let’s call them pre-emerging, because they are all quite small still and have a long road ahead. These brands, however, show promise and we believe they are ones to watch.
Brick City first opened as Urban Vegan, but the name was changed. |Photo courtesy of Brick City Vegan.
Brick City Vegan
Adenah Bayoh is a believer in solving problems.
Born in Liberia and raised in New Jersey, she got her start as an IHOP franchisee, and now operates four of the family- dining units. In 2017, she also founded the fast-casual soul food concept Cornbread, which also has four units and is positioning to begin franchising next year.
But when she made the decision to go vegan a few years ago, she found that the crowded world of plant-based restaurants relied heavily on what she felt were overly processed alternative proteins. And few of those brands were choosing to locate in underserved communities—neighborhoods in dire need of fresh, whole food offerings.
So in 2021, she added another concept to her growing portfolio: Brick City Vegan, which now includes two units in New Jersey.
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Partnering with “attorney-turned-chef” Emeka Onugha, who is the concept’s creative director and culinary designer, Brick City launched first in Bayoh’s hometown of Newark, with a second unit in Montclair.
Emeka Onugha (left) and Adenah Bayoh. | Photo courtesy of Brick City Vegan.
Both are about 900-square feet, offering a menu of plant-based sandwiches, customizable bowls and fruit shakes. The core proteins include patties made with various base options, like chickpeas, black-eyed peas or sweet potato—though a Beyond Burger is available for those who want something more meat-like. The average meal is about $14.
There are from-scratch biscuits made with vegan buttermilk, and sweet potato fries or plantains on the side.
Bayoh expects the stores will each average about $1 million in sales this year. Her goal is to launch franchising for Brick City Vegan, but currently she’s in fundraising mode, looking for “patient capital” that sees opportunity for plant-based options to go far beyond the initial wave of interest that flooded the market with concepts over the past few years.
The plant-based niche was saturated, she said. “Some were good and some were not.”
But for Bayoh, “It’s as much about the business as it is this mission to put this in communities that don’t have this kind of option,” she said.
“I believe if you’re built on doing something really, really good, it will stand the test of time,” she added. “If it’s coming from the heart, you can weather a lot of storms.”
The three-unit Chop5 is a salad concept that franchises. | Photo courtesy of Chop5.
Chop5
Years ago, while operating Papa Johns units as a franchisee, Brian Mills and some fellow operators of other brands started talking about developing their own franchised concept.
They wanted to open something healthy but still great tasting, they said. Like salads, for example.
But then life got busy, and 10 or so years went by.
Finally, the idea of creating a new franchise concept reared its head again. The five franchise operators decided to take action.
And, in 2016, Chop5 was born. It’s a chopped salad concept where guests can walk the makeline and watch crew members chop the five ingredients of their choice and toss that mix with their selected dressing.
They opened the first in Columbus, Ohio, where one of the partners had the Papa Johns territory, to test it out.
The pandemic came and went, Mills said. But the nascent brand survived. And with consumers clearly making a move toward more healthful concepts, Chop5 is now ready to grow.
Mills sold his Papa Johns territories in Colorado and Minnesota, though others within the partner group are still operating Papa Johns and other brands. Together, the experienced group has operated more than 400 restaurants.
The fast-casual Chop5, meanwhile, has grown to three company-owned locations—two in Ohio and one in Florida—and the brand is launching franchising, now that they have proof of concept.
Salad brands are growing across the country, but few are franchised.
Mills said developing a salad concept was in part a real estate play. Finding a location for a burger, sandwich or pizza chain is more challenging, given the abundant competition, but salad concepts are less likely to be shut out by landlords.
“And salads and bowls are something you can eat three or four times a week,” he added. “With burgers and other food, if you’re trying to be reasonably healthy, you can’t eat that every day.”
Digital ordering has also been built into the Chop5 model, he said. Already a high percentage of sales comes from digital channels, and Mills predicts the next generation of Chop5 units will likely include a drive-thru.
Those who dine-in, however, get the full Chop5 experience. Mills said they look for team members with personality to really engage with guests as they chop ingredients or add proteins.
Chop5 signature salads. |Photo courtesy of Chop5.
“We don’t give them a script, but we want them to have a conversation,” he said. “They can ask for ingredients to be more or less chopped, or ask for more or less dressing.”
Salads are generally priced between $10 to $15. The menu includes bowls, soups and wraps, and a kids’ menu. Signature salads include offerings like the Asian Chop with romaine, Napa cabbage, red cabbage, green onions, carrots, red bell pepper, edamame and chow mein noodles with a sesame-ginger dressing and peanut drizzle.
Mills said they are not looking for explosive growth, but rather to find the right franchise partners.
“We’re patient,” he said. “We all started with relatively nothing, our group. And all have become relatively successful. We want to pay that forward. We want to give that opportunity to other people.”
Sip Fresh's Cha Cha Chamoy line. | Photo courtesy of Sip Fresh.
Sip Fresh
Sharon Arthofer was one of the first franchisees of Wetzel’s Pretzels and, over the years, she also operated co-branded Coldstone Creamery units. Working with those brands, she learned that simplicity is key.
When she set out to launch her own franchise brand, Arthofer saw the tsunami of beverage concepts coming. One day, watching a mixologist create an experiential cocktail, she saw an opportunity for a beverage concept that invited the same type of engagement—without the booze.
So Sip Fresh was born.
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It’s built around a menu of fresh juices that are mixed or blended by “sipologists” or “sip-istas,” right in front of guests.
There are Fresh Sips like fresh guava blended with strawberries; “Shakin’ Teas” with chunks of whole fruit; smoothies and specialty drinks, like a lineup featuring the popular Mexican condiments Chamoy and Tajin. Juices are displayed on the bar in attractive glass barrels, and guests can customize their own blends.
The first opened in a Southern California mall. “I did it initially as, ‘I’m going to have some fun and see how it turns out,’” said Arthofer.
It soon became clear the concept had legs. Now there are four units open—three company owned and one franchised. By the end of the year, Arthofer expects to have 10 to 12 units open.
It’s a concept that can fit in 400- to 1,400-square feet, with low labor and no need for ovens, grills or fryers. Build out costs are generally under $300,000.
With concepts like McDonald’s CosMc’s, Swig, Dutch Bros. and more fighting for attention in the beverage space, Arthofer says Sip Fresh offers something different.
The fresh juices and fruit deliver a health halo. Sip Fresh’s menu stays away from the artificial flavorings and overly sweetened ingredients that define so many beverage brands, she said.
“We try to stay away from the dirty sodas with more sugar and syrup,” she said. “I think that will be more of a fad then a trend.”
But Sip Fresh is also more fun than the juice-cleanse and avocado-toast concepts that position as healthier alternatives, like Clean Juice, which is facing supply chain challenges.
Arthofer would like to see Sip Fresh in high-volume malls, but she said the brand would also do well in transportation hubs, near universities or in sports-and-entertainment arenas.
So far, nine franchises have been sold, mostly in Southern California, but one agreement will bring the brand to Florida, and she expects to see more in Phoenix and elsewhere in the West.
The concept has attracted experienced franchise operators, but also “a new breed of franchisee,” Arthofer said, “bright, ambitious entrepreneurs who bring excellent questions and foster innovation within the system.”
A pastry box from Le Dix-Sept. | Photo courtesy of Le Dix-Sept.
Le Dix-Sept
While working in marketing, Michelle Hernández took night classes to learn French just so she could train in pastry at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.
She graduated with the coveted Le Grande Diplôme degree, and stayed in France to work at Michelin-starred restaurants there, including L’Angle, La Table de Joel Robuchon and L’Agape before returning to her hometown of San Francisco.
Family issues brought her back, but she said she felt it was time to create her own style in the U.S. And so her bakery concept Le Dix-Sept was born—named for the arrondissement where she lived in Paris.
She started first offering baked goods at farmers markets and popups. Her brand is defined by pastries that are unique, often spiked with fruit and other botanical flavors, like a Yukon Gold Potato Galette, or the Berry Butterscotch Brownie.
Her petite cakes might include a citrus cake with vanilla bean buttercream on one day, for example, or kumquat chamomile and strawberry rose the next. And they look like magical sea anemones.
Larger celebration cakes are bold and colorful, with ruffles that seem windblown, perhaps reflecting her earlier career in fashion. They are so in demand, she books four to six months in advance.
In 2020, she found a space to open her first storefront—one that initially would have had baking production capacity with some buildout. But the pandemic halted construction, and then subsequently increased building costs so much, she decided it wasn’t feasible to bake on site anymore.
So the bakery opened as a storefront, with baking done in a separate commercial kitchen. But, even with that challenge, Le Dix-Sept was embraced as a Bay Area marvel. A clear fan favorite are her canelés, a signature sweet with a distinctive shape from the Bordeaux region.
Now Hernández is getting ready to open a second location, this time with a kitchen that will allow her to do the production for the shops, a growing shipping business and catering.
With the second version of Le Dix-Sept, scheduled to open this summer, she’s expanding the menu to include focaccia sandwiches, breakfast and coffee. The unit will be in a luxury apartment complex with patio dining—and parking, which in itself is a luxury in San Francisco.
Hernández wants to settle in and get production up and running, but she does see this second location and production facility as a platform to grow the business more.
She declined to disclose sales numbers, but said her 10-person team will grow to 15.
Fundamentally, any growth would include her uncompromising commitment to quality. Canelés are best the day of, for example, so she won’t bake ahead.
“If someone says I need 30 for tomorrow, I say come back tomorrow,” said Hernández. “For me, quality is the top-of-the-line importance of our mission.”
Jenny Nguyen (right) and investor Alexis Ohanian at The Sports Bra. | Photo courtesy of FLI Social.
The Sports Bra
Jenny Nguyen has clearly struck a chord.
When she opened The Sports Bra two years ago in Portland, there weren’t really any sports bars that focused exclusively on women’s sports.
But Nguyen wanted to create a place that was as comfortable and fun as any sports bar. Only this one has female athletes on the TVs and decorations that celebrate WNBA teams, Women’s National Soccer and other sports played by women, rather than the usual male-focused sports.
And it couldn’t have come at a better time. Stars like Caitlin Clark helped propel viewership of the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament earlier this year to record levels. (She was recently drafted by the Indiana Fever.)
In April, The Sports Bra won an investment from the 776 Foundation, a venture firm founded by Alexis Ohanian. He’s a co-founder of the tech platform Reddit, but he’s also a principal owner of Angel City Football Club and the Los Angeles Gold Club.
Oh, and he’s married to one of the winning-est female athletes of all time: tennis champion Serena Williams.
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With the deal, The Sports Bra plans to launch franchising. Nguyen is hoping to open a second Portland location, she said. “Dream scenario!”
“This is an exhilarating time for women’s sports and The Sports Bra has proven the strong need for more places to celebrate them,” Nguyen said in a statement. “I envision a future full of Sports Bras everywhere doing what we do best: supporting women.”