Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2011 | Page 56

WellCoordinated
By Tracy Staton

Balance your portfolio with
complementary brands

T

he inspiration for Randy Elias’s he says. “We had a strong dinner concept
expansion into a new franchise con- in Moe’s and now a very strong dessert
cept came from a restaurant he’d concept with Menchie’s.”
been frequenting for years. In a prosperous
Like Elias and Paton, franchisees
area of Atlanta, a Mexican eatery called across the country are finding that exJalisco sat next door to a Baskin-Robbins pansion doesn’t have to mean opening
ice cream shop. With the help of custom- more locations of their existing concepts.
ers looking for something sweet after a Sometimes, the best chance for growth
spicy meal, that Baskin-Robbins
location was the number-one
shop in that company, says Elias.
“Scott Paton, my business
partner, and I saw the success
with those two restaurants, and we
modeled our business plan after
that,” says Elias. Good plan: today
the two operate a very successful
Moe’s Southwest Grill in the Atlanta area, consistently coming in
among the top 5 percent of the
franchisor’s 70 locations in the
area. When a space opened up
a few doors down from that resMike Blass
taurant, they decided it was time
to expand. “We had to come up with the comes with a complementary brand. That
right concept,” says Elias.
new business might capitalize on current
That concept turned out to be customer traffic, as Elias’s does.
Or it could broaden the product mix,
Menchie’s, a frozen yogurt shop franchise based in Los Angeles. Given that his offering clients more choices. That’s what
Moe’s location was very family-oriented, Mike Blass has achieved with his new
the fact that Menchie’s caters to the 5- Miracle Method franchise. The bath fixto 15-year-old crowd was ideal. Already, ture resurfacing business adds an entirely
some three months after opening, Elias new line to Blass’s existing construction
says the spot has become the local malt company in Lima, Ohio. “For me, the
shop. “That’s who we’re serving anyway,” refinishing business made a lot of sense,

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Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue III, 2011

because it gave my customers a different
set of options at a different price point,”
says Blass. “It gave me as a business owner
an opportunity to more effectively solve
problems. And they feed each other. If I
go in to do a Miracle Method job, that will
lead to a construction job down the line.”
Adding a new type of franchise can
also be a financial diversification strategy, as Steve Reimer’s
new Einstein Bros. Bagels business has proven to be. Already a
multi-unit hotel franchisee, with
two Marriott brands and one Hilton flag, Reimer FV6