Famous Toastery's Comprehensive Opening Support Has Helped New Franchisees Thrive

Mike and Kimberly Kenney are both hard workers. So when a good friend opened a Famous Toastery location in Cary, South Carolina, they couldn’t help but ask themselves why they couldn’t do the same.

“Both my husband and I loved the food and we loved the service. One day when we were dining at Famous Toastery for brunch, he turned to me and asked what I thought about becoming business owners. From that moment on, we never looked back—we dived right into becoming franchisees with Famous Toastery,” Kimberly said. “The only problem was, neither of us had restaurant experience going into this, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect.”

Fortunately, Famous Toastery offered the kind of support they needed to get their restaurant up and running. From the very beginning, the brand’s team worked alongside Kimberly and Mike. This started with pulling a handful of buildings that were available in their targeted territory—Columbia, South Carolina. Together, they went around and looked at different locations, ruling out the ones that didn’t work and noting that ones that had great potential. Ultimately, they all agreed on a historical building that had been part of the town for almost 70 years. It was this kind of support that helped squash the fears and misperceptions that the Kenneys had about franchising.

“The kind of support that Robert Maynard, the founder and CEO of Famous Toastery, and his team gave us during the opening process made all the difference. The fact that they were only an hour and a half away from us meant that they were able to be with us throughout development—we were never on our own,” Kimberly said. “The team and the culture behind Famous Toastery has helped make our dreams of restaurant ownership a reality. We’re not just a store number—everyone on the team took the time to get to know us. It reminded us that we’re a part of this much larger community that genuinely cares. That was the kind of support we needed.”

Kimberly admits that the opening process could get complicated at times—from dealing with lawyers and paperwork to making real estate negotiations, the Kenneys initially had no idea how much the entire process entailed. But that’s where the Famous Toastery came in to help. And today, both Kimberly and Mike are excited to announce that they’re nearing the grand opening of their first location.

“I can’t imagine going through this journey with any other team—they gave us the resources, documents and help we needed along the way. Neither one of us had done anything like this before. The great support of Famous Toastery has been our parental guidance,” Kimberly said.