🍟 Week 20: Nautical Bowls
An affordable acai bowl concept is off to a hot start
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To franchise fans,
Good morning and hope you had a great weekend!
Today’s newsletter includes:
Headlines: California Pizza Kitchen
Breakdown: Nautical Bowls - A Booming Acai Concept
Twitter Watch: A successful exit from an OrangeTheory owner
Let’s get right to it!
Franchise Headlines
California Pizza Kitchen Is Now Franchising
The Scoop
The casual-dining chain is starting a new growth campaign to build on their 200 unit presence in America. This move comes after some recent struggle however.
Its footprint decreased by about 13% from 2019 to 2020, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2020. They emerged from bankruptcy status in October of last year.
This will be the first time in their 35 year history that they’ve offered franchises.
The Wolf’s Take 🍟
Pizza elitists will scoff at the thought of dining at CPK, but that’s because they haven’t eaten the grilled steak or chicken-bacon-ranch pizza (trust me, both are 🔥).
This is a concept that’s well-known for their unique menu offerings, and has built a household name brand over their 35 year history.
I’ll be interested to see what the buildout cost will look like on one of these, but either way, buying a brand with established mindshare in consumers is a big advantage.
Read the full story here.
More Headlines
Teriyaki Madness Headed to San Antonio with 3 Store Deal
We covered this emerging QSR in week 3!
McDonald’s Commits $250 To Improve Franchisee Diversity
The burger giant has received scrutiny from minority franchisees
FAT Brands Is Building 10 Restaurants in Libya
The parent company of Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, and 13 other restaurants will be building co-branded restaurants
Breakdown: Nautical Bowls
Fast Facts
Background
Founded in 2018; franchising since 2021
Based in Minnesota; 31 locations open/in development
Nautical Bowls is a fast-casual restaurant that combines healthy, fresh superfood bowls with an uplifting atmosphere
Fees + Investment
Royalty: 6% of gross sales
Brand Fund: Floating, but will never exceed 2%
Franchise Fee: $30,000
Initial Investment: $150,000 - $249,000
Financial Performance
The below table illustrates the performance for the previous 2 fiscal years for their first location in Minnetonka, Minnesota
*Labor Costs does NOT include an owners salary
The Wolf’s Take 🍟
Nautical Bowls caught my attention right off the bat with its low investment range and impressive performance through the pandemic.
In addition to the unit economics, the founders partnered with Peter Taunton to head up franchise development - Peter previously worked at Snap Fitness, and helped bring that brand to over 1,000 locations.
With already 31+ units in development in its first year of franchising, Nautical Bowls is off to a great start and is definitely a brand to watch!
Recent News
Twitter Watch 👀
The multi-unit playbook 🙌
Follow @franchisewolf
The Wolf Of Everything Else 🌎
A couple legit got married in the metaverse 🤦♀️
Michael Strahan went to outer space over the weekend 🚀
SPAM sales hit a record high for the 7th year in a row - who actually eats this stuff? 🤢
That’s it for this edition of The Wolf Report. Feel free to reply with any questions or feedback, or leave a comment. If someone sent this your way and you haven’t subscribed yet, you can also do that below. Thanks and see you next week!
NOTICE REGARDING FRANCHISE INFORMATION
The Wolf of Franchises does NOT guarantee the financial performance of any franchise mentioned. The decision to purchase a licensed affiliate or franchise must be based on your own independent research. The Wolf of Franchises is not liable for any representation made by an affiliate, associate, marketing material, or Franchise Disclosure Document of a franchise with respect to real estate, financial, operations, or marketing performance of the business being acquired.
This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for informational purposes only, and any financial data is based upon information provided by franchises in their respective Franchise Disclosure Document. The offer of a franchise can only be made through the delivery of a franchise disclosure document, from a certified seller of the brand, which The Wolf of Franchises makes no claim to be. Do not consider any information here as a guarantee of financial performance. The Wolf of Franchises has no affiliation or relationship of any kind with any of the brands covered in this newsletter, but simply provides data that is publicly available online or in Franchise Disclosure Documents.
All data from Franchise Disclosure Document’s is based on past performance, and if you were to purchase a franchise covered in the Wolf of Franchises newsletter, there is absolutely no guarantee that your business will perform similarly to existing owners of said franchise.
Please reach out to as many Franchisees before committing to this franchise model. Don’t just call the stores that corporate suggests. Call as many as possible.