How ArteVino Selects The Best Real Estate for Franchisees

In its six years as a franchise, ArteVino Studio has expanded carefully throughout New Jersey, executing a development strategy that prioritizes premium real estate over rapid openings. Now, the brand’s development team is relying on the same strategy as they prepare to expand the franchise’s footprint throughout the East Coast.

ArteVino Studio’s measured development strategy begins at the macro level, determining states and regions where the franchise is poised to thrive. According to ArteVino Co-Founder Jakop Eskinazi, the franchise is preparing to grow out in concentric circles from its existing locations. For now, that means plans for New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

“We want to be able to personally get out to each new location as quickly as possible so that we can offer hands-on support for anything they might need,” Eskinazi said. “Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York are all within a few driving hours, so those are the places where we can personally be on-call for our new franchisees. That’s going to allow us a seamless transition as we start to grow throughout the East Coast.”

Crucially, those three states also offer large bases of customers who align with ArteVino’s prime demographics, and each includes a large urban area surrounded by even larger suburbs, which Eskinazi says creates the perfect setting for ArteVino locations.

“Any suburb in these states has 100,000 people within five miles,” he said. “We do very well in heavily populated areas where people are looking for fun weekend and nightlife activities that they can do with their friends and families.”

When it comes to finding real estate for individual studios, Eskinazi says ArteVino looks for areas where the studios can become community hubs.

“We’ve seen our studios become integral to their local arts and business scenes, and that’s become a key component of our model,” Eskinazi said. “Our studios will host fundraisers for nonprofits, work with the local arts council, host events for parties and businesses and work with the city in any number of other ways.”

ArteVino’s development team typically targets downtown areas for new studios, Eskinazi says. Not only do downtown locations help owners get connected with other businesses, they also put the studios in front of potential customers who are looking for spontaneous recreational activities.

“Downtown areas work really well for ArteVino because it gives us the chance to build locations near other exciting things,” ?Eskinazi said. “People often make a night out of ArteVino, going out for dinner or drinks before or after, so it helps to be near bars and restaurants.”

Eskinazi says ArteVino can afford to be picky about the locations they choose because the specific building requirements for studios are so flexible.

“Our studios are not complicated,” he said. “There’s not a lot of equipment, and the space requirements are flexible, so it’s not hard for us to find a great studio space in most areas. That flexibility also helps us keep the investment low.”

Startup costs to open an ArteVino range from $99,800 to $123,850 and Eskinazi says the franchise is actively seeking owners in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut before branching out to the rest of the East Coast.

“We are thrilled to begin partnering with artists and entrepreneurs throughout the East Coast,” he said. “We’ve had so many people asking us, ‘when are you coming to my town?’ and we’re excited to say, ‘soon!’ ”