An experienced franchisee group is set to expand the presence of Sweet Paris Crêperie Café in Florida, signing a 15-unit agreement for several markets including Tampa and Orlando.
Sweet Paris, founded in 2012 and franchising since 2015, already has locations in Doral and Coral Gables, Florida. Sweet Paris’ newest partner in the state is the Virentes Group, a Tampa-based multi-family office investment and operating organization.
Virentes Managing Member Jim D’Aquila said the group is a franchisee of Jimmy John’s, Massage Envy and Orangetheory Fitness. With their latest endeavor, D’Aquila said the group was looking for something different.
“We decided we wanted to go heavy into QSRs and I studied 50 to 60 concepts,” “D’Aquila said. “I don’t know how many observation days I went to, but I saw a plethora of hot chicken, tacos and pizza. Our goal was to find things that are fresh, both in terms of the product and its appeal to customers.”
Virentes Group Managing Member Jim D’Aquila
D’Aquila said they found their match with Sweet Paris, a concept that creates its product fresh in front of customers.
“We also think they’ve built a killer management team at the franchisor level,” D’Aquila said. “Their head of operations is one of the best I’ve met in the industry and the brand has managed to keep the food costs down. Their head of finance is brilliant, too. They excel at it all, from financial controls to the POS and menu ideation.”
D’Aquila said the locations will be built in markets between Naples and Jacksonville, with units planned for Tampa, Orlando and Sarasota. Because of the growing population in the Sunshine State, D’Aquila said the group has confidence in developing the Sweet Paris brand.
“The population is migrating to the southwest and the southeast,” D’Aquila said. “You take the states of Florida, the Carolinas and Tennessee, and you have some of the highest growth states in terms of population. You also have tax-friendly states, which is good for business for us and other corporations.”
The south is where most of Sweet Paris’ 15 locations are now, with spots in Austin, College Station and Houston, Texas, as well as the Florida units and two in Mexico. The only location in the north is in Woodbury, Minnesota.
Of the open locations, seven are company-owned and eight are franchised. Co-founder Allison Chavez said they believe they’ve found the right partners to increase their number of franchised restaurants.
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“Jim is incredibly knowledgeable in this space, and in other consumer and retail spaces,” said Chavez, who started Sweet Paris with her husband, Ivan. “He is a serial entrepreneur as well, and is really on the beat when it comes to new concepts. I think we both quickly realized we could learn a lot from each other and that this partnership will help evolve the Sweet Paris brand”
Sweet Paris Co-founder Allison Chavez
In addition to its Florida expansion, Chavez said the brand has multi-unit deals signed in Arizona for continued expansion.
“We have momentum and we’re headed in the right direction in terms of building franchise partners,” Chavez said. “We look strategically at where to place corporate stores in various locations while also benefitting from the local expertise of our franchise partners. That’s where we’re looking to continue doing in the future, a mix of multi-unit partners and corporate development.”
Over the next 10 years, Chavez said they’re considering the possibility of national expansion, but will look to fill in the southern states because of the potential.
“There’s so much population growth in the south, with a lot of interest and real estate opportunities in the markets where we’re growing over the next few years,” Chavez said. “I continue to see those markets filling out while still building nationally.”