Emerging brand Jeff’s Bagel Run launched its franchise system earlier this year and is getting its growth on track with the help of a Venezuelan race car driver.
Enzo Potolicchio, who’s raced on winning teams at International Motor Sports Association Events and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a team FIA World Endurance Championship, is also CEO of VHP Retail Holdings. Through his company, Potolicchio signed a 30-unit agreement with the Florida-based bagel concept to continue building its presence in the Sunshine State.
The new units will join Potolicchio’s portfolio of car washes and uBreakiFix stores in the southeast. Potolicchio began with the latter, a mobile device repair brand, in Florida, before expanding with it to Georgia and South Carolina.
“We wanted to get into the food market next and we wanted to find something that we would eat ourselves,” Potolicchio said. “Then we came across Jeff’s. Their story and the quality of their product impressed us. We also knew this market was big on bagels, but there was no one doing it like they are.”
New York-style bagels from emerging brand Jeff’s Bagel Run
Another winning factor was a familiar face at the company: Justin Wetherill. The co-founder of uBreakiFix joined Jeff’s Bagel Run as president earlier this year. He started uBreakiFix in 2009 and grew it to more than 500 stores before selling the brand to insurance giant Asurion in 2019.
Before coming on board as president, Wetherill and his family office, 1337 Capital, invested in Jeff’s in 2023. Since its start in founder Jeff Perera’s kitchen in 2019, Jeff’s Bagel Run has grown to seven locations in Central Florida, with franchising now the preferred expansion vehicle.
“With uBreakiFix, we were corporate for three years and then grew the brand with franchising,” Wetherill said. “We feel to build a brand with great value, there’s a tremendous benefit in splitting up strategy, marketing and supply chain efficiencies, and the daily operations of the store. Franchising allows us to do that. It also allows us to find someone invested in the local community.”
With VHP and Potolicchio, Wetherill said the brand has a proven operator.
“He was our largest franchisee in the uBreakiFix system,” Wetherill said. “He was that kind of operator that’s involved in the business and is constantly trying to make sure the experience is good as it can be for the guest while also holding us accountable, ensuring that we’re providing good support and sufficient systems so he can make the most of his business.”
Potolicchio likewise called out the business acumen of the leaders at Jeff’s Bagel Run.
“We know the people behind the franchise” he said. “We know how they operate and how they do business. It made us very good about getting involved. We went deep into their process, saw how clean and efficient everything is, and we felt comfortable with it.”
The deal Potolicchio signed covers nine counties across southern Florida and will set up the franchisee to open 10 locations per year over a three-year span. He said it’s a schedule that’s ambitious, but doable. The first units are slated to open in Boca Raton, Coconut Creek and Pembroke Pines later this year.
“It will be more about finding the right locations than opening doors,” Potolicchio said. “It’s doing the work of studying the locations and doing simulations to see if our audience is there. I think in the end it will be more than 30, too. We have several counties to develop, so, there’s definitely room to double that.”
Jeff’s Bagel Run President Justin Wetherill
“We feel it’s aggressive, but I think we’re well on our way,” Wetherill said. “We’re hitting the ground running. One of the realities of 2024 is the commercial real estate market is pretty tight. So, in order to get 30 stores open in three years, you have to have a pretty broad area to look into, and a lot of flexibility, but this is across nine counties.”
The initial investment to open a Jeff’s Bagel Run is between $415,000 and $712,500, with the average square footage ranging from 900 to 1,500. The brand reported 2023 gross sales of $985,928 and $636,100 for two company stores in Ocoee and College Park, Florida, with a net profit of $142,604 and $112,378, respectively.
Beyond Florida, Wetherill said the brand is also expanding in North Carolina and Texas. The growth strategy, however, isn’t necessarily geographical.
“We’re using a similar strategy that we had at uBreakiFix,” Wetherill said. “People are our most important part of our business. We’re going to chase good operators and assist them wherever they want to bring our brand. The supply chain and marketing can be replicated, whether you open a store in the Southeast or Northeast.”