Nathan’s Famous Master Franchisee Alex Flit has big expansion plans in his home country of Brazil.
Alex Flit remembers the first time he bit into a Nathan’s Famous hot dog. He was 9 years old when his parents took him to Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, where it all started for the iconic hot dog company.
“There’s picture someplace in my mom’s house of me as a young boy at Nathan’s in Coney Island. I remember the hot dog was juicy, it had a crunch. It tasted like nothing I ever had growing up in Brazil,” Flit said
Now the Nathan’s master franchisee in Brazil, Flit is on a mission to make it a national brand in his home country. Flit wants to expand his operation of four Nathan’s restaurants and 16 kiosks in convenience stores and gas stations by adding 60 franchise locations this year. He also plans to sell Nathan’s frozen hot dogs and condiments in more than 6,000 supermarkets starting in April.
It’s all part of Nathan’s plan this year to refocus on international expansion, said Phil McCann, vice president of marketing. The brand, which ranked No. 326 on the Franchise Times Top 400 with $104.4 million in global sales in 2022 from its 177 units, opened virtual kitchens in Belgium and France last year along with a a full-service restaurant in Mexico City and a food truck in Egypt, he said.
Nathan’s, which operates in more than a dozen countries, is also soon opening two locations at Punta Cana Airport in the Dominican Republic. Along with Flit, the 108-year-old company which began franchising in 1988 is also working with master franchisees in Great Britain, Egypt and Ukraine to expand in those markets while targeting organic growth in Honduras, Ecuador and Chile, said McCann.
“While we are still looking to grow domestically, the international markets are a big priority for us now because the demand is so great there,” McCann said. “We have incredible brand awareness around the world, and we want to take full advantage of that.”
Phil McCann, vice president of marketing at Nathan’s Famous
McCann said a big part of Nathan’s international development plans is being able to manufacture its 100 percent, uncured and minimally processed beef hot dogs overseas. He said Nathan’s has manufacturing plants in São Paulo, Brazil, Cologne, Germany, and Dubai, and is actively seeking additional food prep facilities in other countries.
Flit, whose company did about $1.8 million in sales in its first year of franchising, said partnering with a local manufacturing plant opens the door for enormous growth in Brazil.
His optimism was further fueled when he hosted a food tasting at the Brazilian Consulate in Sao Paulo earlier this month that he said attracted a number of prominent Brazilian restaurateurs.
Flit said he was able to secure verbal agreements with at least three of them to become Nathan’s franchisees and open restaurants throughout the country.
“Before we brought Nathan’s here, you couldn’t get good hot dogs in Brazil,” Flit said. “They were made with crappy meat and they tasted so bad you had to cover them up with condiments.
Master franchisee Alex Flit holds up a Nathan’s Famous hot dog outside one of his restaurant locations in São Paulo, Brazil.
“With Nathan’s, we’re going to change the future of hot dogs in Brazil and create a new history,” he said.
McCann said a similar Nathan’s tasting was hosted recently by United Kingdom master franchisees Reza Aghajanzadeh and Brad Armitage. The owners of Nathan’s Famous UK operate three restaurants outside of London, and are now preparing for big expansion in Britain, said McCann.
“We will also soon be working with a virtual kitchen partner in greater London as well, Rebel Foods,” McCann said.
Meanwhile, Nathan’s continues to grow in the U.S. with recent restaurant openings in Bristol and Trumbull, Connecticut; Croton Park, New York; and Jupiter, Florida; along with virtual kitchens in Ohio, Nevada and Michigan.
At the end of 2022, the company launched a franchise sales initiative to entice restaurant owners of other concepts to convert their existing locations to Nathan’s and benefit from additional revenue opportunities from its ghost kitchen delivery brands, Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips and Wings of New York.
The average cost for a Nathan’s free-standing restaurant is $851,000, according to the company’s franchise disclosure document.