Toasted Yolk Cafe Looks To Grow in Home State of Texas With Plans to Cross the 22 Unit Mark by 2022

After a banner year, Toasted Yolk Cafe, the 15-unit better-breakfast franchise that provides a unique dining experience through chef-inspired takes on breakfast and lunch classics, is looking to expand into Dallas-Fort Worth. 

Last year, while restaurants around the world shuttered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas-based franchise not only saw an increase in sales but also opened several new locations due to a well-positioned consumer offering and affordable franchise opportunity. Now, the Toasted Yolk team is looking for savvy investors who are eager to join a proven concept and help the brand grow in its home state. 

“The Toasted Yolk saw significant growth over the past year and now, as real estate opens up in a number of markets, the brand is hoping to capitalize on our momentum for continued expansion,” said Chris Milton, co-founder of Toasted Yolk. “The Toasted Yolk was born in Texas, and we can’t think of a better place to promote growth.”

The brand already opened four new Texas locations last year: Cypress, League City, Fulshear and Beaumont. In addition, the Toasted Yolk has the following Texas locations slated to open over the next few months: College Station and Bellaire. They are also in the process of looking for real estate in Dallas and for an additional three units in Houston.

As indoor dining remaining commonplace in The Lone Star State, prospects in Texas have the opportunity to leverage the Toasted Yolk’s winning business model, which was created by restaurant industry veterans and includes low overhead costs, an affordable build out, attractive margins and a simplified menu — all factors that helped the brand grow despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our company had a fantastic year — a big reason we were able to navigate COVID-19 so successfully is because we are a restaurant franchise run by restaurant operators,” said Clay Carson, Toasted Yolk’s franchise development consultant. “Many of our primary competitors are run by corporate America investors, but our founders have a reputation within the industry for their experience and operational superiority. We are a franchise that is people-driven, and our hands-on approach to restaurant ownership has proven to be an amazing benefit over the past year. Our communication was great, our pivots were solid and as a result, we came out of COVID-19 on a very positive note.” 

The Toasted Yolk Cafe brand is based in Houston, which means incoming franchisees in Texas will have direct access to this kind of hands-on support. The team’s overall goal is to help maximize franchisees’ revenue potential at every stage through site selection, pre-opening training, operational management support and marketing assistance. As the team continues to build out this support infrastructure, the six newest franchise units are all now within its top 10 locations in terms of Average Unit Volumes. This is also why 90% of the existing Toasted Yolk franchisees have either recently opened or are in the process of opening their second or third unit despite the challenges of the pandemic. 

Cyril Thomas, the Toasted Yolk’s first franchise owner, is one of those franchisees scaling to multi-unit ownership in Texas. After opening his first location in Katy in 2018, Thomas has gone on to grow with the brand and open an additional two locations in the Lone Star State, and he says the area is perfect for the concept. Now, he is looking forward to an influx of on-site dining and is excited for the future.

“The Toasted Yolk taps into a specialty niche, and brunch has a special place in any community,” he said. “What makes us really stand out is our ability to offer choices that most other restaurants don’t have in Texas or anywhere else. Although there were several challenges along the way, this has been my most successful year with Toasted Yolk.”

Those choices include a diverse menu of Southern, Mexican, Californian and Americana cuisine, in addition to brunch cocktails, mimosas and specialty coffees. While many breakfast and lunch concepts tend to neglect the “lunch” aspect of the business, Toasted Yolk Café’s robust lunch and brunch menu also allows franchisees to tap into both the late-day breakfast and lunch dayparts, as well as increase off-premise revenue.

Now, Milton says the time has never been better for prospects looking to replicate Thomas’ success by bringing these delicious choices to new communities in Texas and beyond. The brand plans to open another six restaurants this year, with other specific target markets identified in Kansas City, Orlando, Nashville and Atlanta. There are currently 15 Toasted Yolk locations in operation, five in construction and four in site selection. 

Startup costs range from $788,000 to $1,155,500. Learn more about franchise opportunities here: https://thetoastedyolk.com/franchise-opportunity/.