For young brands, franchising can seem like a great idea for rapid growth.
Many founders can be pulled into franchising when fans of their brand beg for an opportunity to bring the concept to their town or region. Then after launching franchising, those brands often find that passion for the brand may not be enough to sustain a strong franchising effort.
To attract more sophisticated (and well capitalized) operators, a franchisor needs to prove out the brand and be a “meaningful operator.”
Or so argues Vincent Ginatta, president of Dallas-based Bread Zeppelin, a 10-unit fast-casual chain that is gently pressing the accelerator on growth this year.
Two of the 10 Bread Zeppelin units are franchised currently. But Ginatta said growth going forward over the next two years will be company owned. Three new units are scheduled to open this year as the chain continues to fill out the Dallas market.
“We’re adopting a more long-term position,” said Ginatta. “I think we have a lot to prove. We’re working on optimizing a lot of parts of the model. Most of the types of franchisees we’re looking for—those with experience or the wherewithal, capital, to develop a large number of units, want to see more proven.”
He described the chain’s existing franchisee as more “entrepreneurial,” having opened the first franchised unit even before Bread Zeppelin had filed its franchise disclosure documents.
“We will still entertain conversations for that profile of franchisee, but we’re saying ‘no’ to the vast majority,” Ginatta said, or to those who don’t have the experience and might just want one or two units.
“The strategy is a little more forward looking, so the flywheel takes a little longer to get going,” he added. “But we think that eventually it will put us in a stronger position than growing with maybe single-unit franchisees, or perhaps those that don’t bring that restaurant experience.”
By 2028, Bread Zeppelin will get back to growing the franchised locations again, he said.
Launched in 2013 by Troy Charhon and Andrew Schoellkopf, Bread Zeppelin took a play on words from the hard rock/blues/metal band Led Zeppelin (for the kids who don’t know, look up “Stairway to Heaven”) and turned it into a salad concept with a twist.
Sure, there are freshly tossed salads. But the signature is the Zeppelin, a hollowed-out baguette into which said salad is stuffed. The Zeppelin category accounts for about 75% of the chain’s sales, said Ginatta.
And, because Panera Bread recently launched a similar sandwich called a Salad Stuffer, Bread Zeppelin’s version is getting more attention as the OG.
The chain has also been working on simplifying operations. The menu is scratch made, but Bread Zeppelin has cut service times by making some equipment tweaks. What used to require an open-flame grill, fryer and convection oven can now be accomplished with a smart combi oven, for example.
Bread Zeppelin has been working on developing more warm variations of the stuffed sandwich, which will likely roll out when the weather turns colder this fall. A Chicken Tinga limited-time offer last winter was a hit, for example.
Ginatta said they are also working to communicate that protein is already on the menu, a message that all consumers seem to need to hear these days.
Bread Zeppelin recently did a study looking at macros per dollar, for example, and the $10 to $12 Zeppelins actually stacked up quite well against peer brands, he said.
“We actually have a meaningful amount of protein,” said Ginatta.
Ginatta said Bread Zeppelin has an average unit volume of $1.5 million, with comparable sales growth up in high single digits last year, largely on transactions and without raising prices.
That speaks to the opportunity, but Ginatta said the brand continues to evolve.
Bread Zeppelin has long benchmarked against salad concepts, but guests actually see the brand equally as a salad and a sandwich concept.
“They see us as both,” said Ginatta. “It opens up the door to try many new things from a product perspective because there is that perception that it can be both.”