Chop5’s founders have decades of franchising experience under their belts and are using that experience to be franchisors.
Franchisees often muse about what they’d do differently if they were the franchisor. Few ultimately make the leap and create their own concept, however, but that’s exactly what a group of Papa Johns franchisees did when they launched salad franchise Chop5.
Brian Mills, Allen Hertzman, Patrick Guance, Wade Oney, Phillip Horn and Donald Bauer are drawing on their decades of experience as franchisees to build the franchisor they always wanted.
“We’ve all been in the restaurant business for a long time, too long,” said Hertzman. “Many years ago, we thought it would be great to start our own concept that was more franchisor-franchisee friendly.”
Allan Hertzman.
The founders are all current or former Papa John’s owners. Oney, who is a former chief operating officer for the pizza brand, operates 51 stores and is also a Qdoba franchisee, while Horn also counts Jersey Mike’s, Huey Magoo’s Chicken Tenders and Glo30 in his portfolio.
In making the switch to franchisor, their main focus was conceived before the concept: being a franchisor that shares—and appreciates—the perspective of franchisees.
“As you go to conferences and meetings, you walk out sometimes and think, ‘Holy smokes, we can do better than this,’” Mills told Franchise Times earlier this year. “For like 10 years, we were saying we were going to do our own concept and finally the right time came.”
Looking through the lens of the team’s experience in the pizza, Mexican and sandwich segments, the white space for a salad concept and the growing consumer interest in healthier options proved attractive. As its name suggests, Chop5 restaurants feature a menu of chopped salads, plus rice bowls and build-your-own options with dozens of ingredient choices, dressings and drizzles.
No matter the concept, the founders knew they wanted to focus on the people involved.
“The franchise business, whatever it is that you’re doing or franchising, the bigger deal is about the people,” said Oney. “Because there are so many good concepts out there, it all comes down to the people. You have to have good people and good partners.”
The founders chose a salad concept after seeing the market interest and potential for growth.
Related: Chop5 Execs Leans on Franchisee Experience to Develop New Salad Concept
Chop5’s leaders are aware of what franchisees tend to struggle with because they’ve faced similar challenges, namely securing real estate and ensuring the financials make sense. While costs and interest rates climbed, sales across the restaurant industry haven’t kept up, Oney said. Educating franchisees on what to expect for their first few years, as well as staying in close communication with them, is key to Chop5’s strategy.
Guance echoed Oney and said the team is more than willing to talk and answer questions from franchisees.
“We wanted to turn the pyramid upside down,” said Guance. “Have the castle at the bottom rather than the top.”
To boost growth for the fledgling three-unit brand, Chop5 partnered with investment firm Conscious Capital Growth in late 2023. Launched by Heather Elrod and Christo Demetriades, Conscious Capital is an investor in Main Squeeze Juice Co. and recruiting franchise Patrice & Associates, and last year joined with Exaltare Capital Management to acquire Uni K Wax. The firm is working with Chop5 in a franchise development role.
Generally, the firm has a set of qualifications for the kinds of franchises it works with, said Elrod, a managing partner. Seeing at least $1 million in average sales as well as a strong growth plan are some of the criteria Elrod uses. The partnership with Chop5 is a little unusual for Conscious Capital since the brand is so new.
Conscious Capital Growth’s partnership with Chop5 is a little unusual considering the brand’s age, but the collective acumen from the founders caught the firm’s attention.
“We really focus on businesses in high growth segments,” said Elrod. “We chose to partner with Chop5 because of the team, because of the group who started it, because the quality of the product is phenomenal.”
Conscious Capital’s contribution to Chop5’s growth is fairly straightforward: finding franchisees through its growth accelerator program. The program is designed to kickstart franchise development for emerging brands without outpacing a brand’s infrastructure.
Lauren Wanamaker, the firm’s chief growth officer, helped Chop5 update its website to better tell its brand story, also working with the team to finalize the franchise disclosure document. Highlighting the Chop5 founding team and their experiences is a key part of the marketing strategy for Conscious Capital.
Conscious Capital aims to generate leads from among multi-unit operators and those experienced in business ownership, regardless of industry. Single-unit operators with a strong business background are also being considered. The firm has a set of qualifications franchisees need to meet, which are especially important in the early life of a franchise, Elrod said.
“It’s always important, but it’s even more important that we’re selecting the right franchisees,” said Elrod. “Especially for a newer brand.”
The cost to open a Chop5 ranges from $356,700 to $873,700.