Grégoire Franchise Information

Grégoire is a newly launched restaurant franchise that combines the chef-driven quality of fine dining-style food with the convenience of a quick carry-out experience. Located in Berkeley, California’s foodie neighborhood coined the “Gourmet Ghetto”, the original Grégoire location has become a beloved institution as the home of the famous potato puff. Now, after two decades of serving the local community, founder Grégoire Jacquet launched Grégoire's franchise opportunity, inviting prospective franchisees to bring the brand's unique combination of fine dining and streamlined carry-out operations to the Greater Bay Area market. 

Jacquet hopes to grow Grégoire to 10 locations in the next two years, accelerating growth and establishing a presence from Santa Cruz to San Francisco to Napa. This presents a unique ground-level opportunity for prospective franchisees in the Bay Area, as there is already a built-in customer base of residents who have relied on Grégoire to fill the fine-fast-casual niche.

In 2002, Jacquet opened Grégoire after 15 years as a French-trained chef at several five-star-rated restaurants around the world, including the Ritz Carlton. Jacquet set out to transform the tradition of carry-out food by opening the first high-end takeout restaurant — one that would be rooted in the community and that would serve high-quality food using farm-fresh and house-made ingredients. When he and his wife moved back to his wife’s home state of California to start their own restaurant, he built just that — a fine-fast-casual restaurant concept that serves gourmet sandwich and salad dishes, along with his famous potato puffs and scratch-made french fries, all served in a custom-built box ideal for take-out.

Today, consumers don’t want to choose between quality and convenience — they are eager for higher-quality options that don’t require full, sit-down service. Grégoire fills that void with a unique rotating menu, which changes quarterly to reflect the seasonal availability of locally sourced ingredients, and consistently fantastic housemade recipes, available on-the-go.

The ideal Grégoire franchisee will have a deep passion for serving food and a thorough understanding and appreciation of where food comes from. Owners should also be well-versed in customer service and love interacting with the people of their community. Grégoire franchisees will have the opportunity to follow a proven system and benefit from decades of experience in the restaurant industry.

Grégoire franchise owners will spend their days building relationships with their staff, customers, community and the Grégoire family, executed through a shared passion for food and customer service.

Over the last 20 years, the Grégoire team has perfected how to make the business efficient and profitable, without compromising food quality, customer service and employee satisfaction. 

For example, Grégoire’s unique culinary hub-to-store kitchen model creates even simpler, more streamlined operation than traditional fast-casual restaurants. These hubs will serve as preparation and distribution centers for the fresh, housemade ingredients that make Jacquet’s offering stand out against the competition. This means the concept requires a minimal brick-and-mortar footprint and staffing. Franchise location staff simply build the dishes the culinary hub has prepared, utilizing the Grégoire Culinary Hub software system to guide essential functions such as production, availability, delivery, invoicing and more. This streamlined process will make franchisees’ jobs easier, giving them the freedom to completely focus on the customer and engage with the community.

In terms of support, the franchisee/franchisor relationship at Grégoire is designed to provide everything the franchisee needs to succeed, regardless of their knowledge of franchising or food service. Training will include initial and ongoing support in operations, marketing, technology and more. 

Now, with its newly launched franchise opportunity, franchisees have the chance to invest in Grégoire on the ground floor and partner with a brand that is poised to disrupt one of the biggest segments in foodservice. Early franchisees will have their pick of prime real estate and work closely with the brand’s executive team as they build one of the most promising franchises in the industry.