Why Franchisees Stick with Their Brand

One of the most efficient paths toward franchise growth is multi-unit ownership. The costs of recruitment, vetting, on-boarding, and training for new-store openings are all but eliminated with new openings from existing franchisees, as is the risk of partnering with a poor steward of the brand.

But just like new franchisees, existing franchisees have a wealth of investment options to choose from when they are looking to grow their business. The strongest franchise brands have refined their model to encourage existing owners to grow with the brand rather than diversify. 1851 talked to single-brand, multi-unit franchisees from five different brands to learn why they continue to grow with their brand.

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Lou Chicateli, Johnny Rockets

This year, Lou Chicateli, a semi-retired real estate attorney in New York City, opened his third Johnny Rockets location, the brand’s first to feature dual-branding with Chicateli’s own concept, Handcrafted Drafthouse. Chicateli told 1851 that his growth with the brand has been facilitated by an open line of communication with Johnny Rockets’ corporate team, a benefit many development professionals have pointed to as essential for fostering multi-unit growth.

“I’ve always been so impressed with corporate’s open lines of communication,” Chicatelli said. “If I need Jim Hicks [Senior Vice President, Domestic Operations at Johnny Rockets] at 9 p.m. tonight, I can get him. They are always available for their franchisees. I can email, call, or text, and I always get a quick response.”

Now that Chicatelli has worked with Johnny Rockets for a few years, he doesn’t rely on the corporate team for day-to-day operations like he used to, but he still calls them for help with anomalous issues that pop up.

“In the beginning, corporate gave us a ton of training, and I had weekly, often daily conversations with their team,” said Chicatelli. “Now I talk to them maybe once a month if an issue pops up. It might be a point-of-service question or a construction issue for the new store. I don’t need them for much, but they’ve got a solution for any and everything I do need them for.”

Chicatelli sees that support from the corporate team as the single most valuable benefit that the brand offers, and he advises all franchisees to make the most of it.

“In the beginning, every franchisee should soak in the training,” Chicatelli said. “You want to learn everything they have to tell you. Once you understand the brand, you have a rock-solid base, and you can roll with any operational changes or hiccups you might face. After that, keep using corporate whenever you need them. They’ll tell you, ‘call us anytime,” and they meant it.”

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Rob Chinsky, Penn Station

Rob Chinsky has been a Penn Station franchisee for over 20 years, opening his first location in Cincinnati when he was just 22 years old. Now Chinsky owns 17 locations throughout the Indianapolis area. Chinksy’s growth with Penn Station has been accommodated by a flexible corporate team who have helped Chinsky operate his restaurants in a way that fits his lifestyle.

“I’ve changed a lot over the past few years, my family and employees would all tell you that,” Chinsky said. “I love to work, but I’ve decided to change my pace. It’s important to me to have time with my family. So I work less, and I take a lot of vacations.”

When Chinsky decided to start taking more time off, Penn Station was more than happy to help him make the necessary operational adjustments.

“They’ve supported me every step of the way,” said Chinsky. “They helped me grow, and now they are helping me transition into a new kind of lifestyle. I have more overhead now than I used to. That’s by design. I have a full-time office manager, a full-time accountant, two operations directors, and full-time GMs in each store. So I’ve got a lot of extra help, and the process is still streamlined. All my team members are part of this really simple, well-oiled machine that Penn Station has engineered.”

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Dana Linden, SoBol

With two SoBol units, Dana Linden may have a smaller footprint than the other franchisees on this list, but she is an early multi-unit owner for a brand that is growing fast and placing an emphasis on multi-unit ownership. Just entering their second year of franchising, SoBol has already signed more 35 franchisee contracts, a number of which signed additional agreements to become multi-unit owners within their first months of ownership. Linden said that conversion from single- to multi-unit ownership is hastened by an efficient opening process that gets new stores up and running quickly.

“It’s a great model for new franchisees,” said Linden. “The initial investment is low, the store buildout is inexpensive, and they offer great training. You really start to see results from day one. I’ve opened other businesses before, and there are normally so many variables that you don’t see coming, so it takes a while to get on your feet, but with SoBol, you are set up and ready go the day you open.”

Linen decided to open her second SoBol store after a successful first summer with the brand. She believes that the location of her first store has been essential to its success, so she was careful to pick an equally fertile location for her second store.

“We’ve seen an enormous amount of business this summer,” Linden said. “We’re in a beach town, so there’s a ton of foot traffic and lots of people looking for a treat. We’re also right next to a gym, and we get a lot of business from the post-workout crowd, which we expect to stay active throughout the winter months.”

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Jeff, Tim, and Frank Cohen, Togo’s

Brothers Jeff, Tim, and Frank Cohen own 14 California Togo’s locations, more than any other Togo’s franchisee. Their growth with Togo’s has been encouraged by a supportive but never overbearing development team, reflecting another common piece of advice we’ve heard from development pros: don’t push.

“Togo’s always let us know what kind of opportunities were available,” said Jeff, “but they never put any pressure on us to expand. They leave it up to us, and when we’ve decided to grow, they are there to help us in any way we need them.”

That freedom to manage the growth of his business has been crucial to Jeff in recent years as he’s started a family of his own.

“I met my wife a few years into this experience,” Jeff said. “That changed the way I approached the business. In my first few years, I was totally hands-on, every day. Now I have kids and more responsibility at home, so I’m not as involved in the day-to-day work at our stores. The great thing about Togo’s is that I was able to make that adjustment easily. I’ve been able to pull back and work more through my managers. I’m happy with my level of involvement, but if I decided to scale back next week, I could.”

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Keith and Myron Allen, Toppers

Another family operation, Myron Allen and his son Keith oversee three Minnesota-area Toppers restaurants. The Allens told 1851 that they have very different levels of interaction with Toppers’ corporate team, Keith relying on them frequently to support day-to-day operations and Myron getting in touch only occasionally, but both Allens maintain very close relationships with other Toppers owners, and those relationships have been key to their growth with the brand.

Keith said that the network of Toppers franchisees has become more than a support system, and his devotion to the brand is defined in part by his personal relationship with other owners.

“It’s a close community,” said Keith. “I’ll help out in their stores when they need it, and they’ll help out in mine. It’s like helping out friends. It is helping out friends. We have annual events where franchisees get together, and we’ve been going to those for five years. It was especially important in those first couple of years when we were building relationships. Those relationships really have become friendships.”