Top Players in Franchise Development: Robert Maynard

Famous Toastery is having a pretty good year so far. The better-breakfast brand was recently named one of the top six food franchises in America by CNBC. They’ve consistently won best breakfast and brunch for over a decade across the greater Charlotte, North Carolina market—Famous Toastery’s hometown. To date, they boast more than 14 locations throughout the Southeast. Now, the brand is celebrating another important milestone—Famous Toastery is poised to open an additional 30 new locations in 2016 alone, and they’re aiming to do so in both new and existing markets.

Most recently, Famous Toastery opened their very first Florida location in Jacksonville Beach. New restaurants are also in the pipeline for Philadelphia, New York and Virginia. The remaining new development will be scattered throughout South Carolina and North Carolina.

1851 Franchise spoke with Robert Maynard, Famous Toastery’s founder and CEO, to learn more about his brand and the inspiration fueling its continued growth.

What makes your brand’s franchise development process tick?

Experiencing the brand is the No. 1 way to sell a franchise. You can’t sell someone on a big investment in the brand, but you can sell them on the experience they have with the brand. When they walk in the door and experience it for the first time, that’s the sell. Their decision to work with the brand is in your control because it is all about the experience you create at every location for every customer.

What have been some of your brand’s major milestones?

I think the recent growth has been a milestone. The number of people who have reached out to us saying they're interested in bringing Famous Toastery to their hometown has just skyrocketed, which speaks to the way locations are operating and how the product is resonating. We should have about 40 stores open by the end of next year and I would say that is a pretty big milestone.

What are you most proud of?

The people. The franchisees, the team members at every location and the people who make it happy a happy place every day. They do a phenomenal job, and without that, nothing would happen. If we didn’t have individuals who foster this experience for every individual who walks in, we would never sell a franchise.

What specific steps do your most successful franchisees take in order to build and grow their respective businesses? And what do you do to set them up for success?

This business is habitual, and many customers come more than once a week. Franchisees can establish this loyalty through everything from choosing the right real estate, to providing the right training for the team, to making sure every customer who walks through that door is happy. We assist them from the get-go by helping them to fully hone the concept we have created so that they can then take this and translate it into their hometown.

What are your goals for your brand in the next few years and how do you plan to grow the brand?

The No. 1 goal will always be continuing to make franchisees successful. We are truly franchisee driven, so it always has to be more about the franchisee than it is about us. They are out there swinging the bat every day, and to allow them to succeed and to grow the brand as a whole, we need to make sure they are ready to take the plate. We can do this through doing things that help the bottom line, such as continuing to create new products, which is another goal of ours. We are already the only breakfast franchise that has specials every day, which allows for customers to have a new experience every day. But in order to continue evolving this experience, we need to keep pushing ourselves creatively, and make sure that we are setting ourselves apart from the rest.