Most downtown areas are made for walking. Mark Toth, the founder of an emerging Asian restaurant concept, hopes that phrase will soon have a double meaning—albeit with a different spelling.
Toth launched Urban Wok in 2018, opening the first location in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. Toth said the concept was inspired by European brand Wok to Walk in Amsterdam, which he wanted to replicate in the United States.
“I knew that wok just takes one piece of equipment, there’s an ease to it, that was a motivation,” Toth said. “I also liked the urban nature of the idea. A lot of cities have rebuilt their downtowns in terms of more people living in downtowns and having ballparks in those neighborhoods.”
The first Urban Wok, a proof-of-concept location, is in an area known for music festivals, events and is near a baseball stadium. The unit is 2,700 square feet, although Toth said franchise locations will be smaller, ranging from 1,500 to 1,800 square feet.
While the concept started in a northern state, the first franchise location opened in the South, with a group bringing Urban Wok to Atlanta. There are now six locations open, with four in the Twin Cities, one in Atlanta and another in South Carolina.
Minnesota-based Urban Wok, launched by Mark Toth, above, offers a menu of global flavors and signature sauces, which require limited prep in the kitchen to ensure operations stay simple.
“It’s all happened organically with the southern states,” Toth said. “When we started up here, I had a call from a friend of a friend, who’s an entrepreneur in Atlanta. They expressed interest in doing an Urban Wok there and once we opened in Atlanta, it attracted interest,” which led to the opening in Columbia, South Carolina.
Because of its headquarters in Minnesota, Toth said Midwest expansion is still the area intended for expansion, but the southeast has been worked into the growth strategy with more interest coming from the region.
Toth said Urban Wok went to work on establishing its franchise system not long after the brand was launched. Knowing he wanted the brand to get units into the hundreds, Toth said franchising would be the best way to go about doing so.
“I started this concept with the idea of building it to scale,” Toth said. “I want to be at 500-plus units. We’re working on doing that in a year-by-year basis so it’s done properly. But as we take on more units, and have more under our belt, we can reassess every year to see what we have the manpower and resources to do next.”
George McCorkell, the director of growth and expansion, said the brand has had success in finding new franchisees through general interest, but noted that they’re going to have to do more recruitment.
“I think we’ve done well so far in organically bringing in new people,” McCorkell said. “The biggest thing we want to focus on now are the partners we’re bringing in, trying to find those really savvy business partners.”
George McCorkell
One aspect Toth said should attract potential operators is the efficiency that comes with the model.
“The beauty of Urban Wok is it’s a really simple concept,” Toth said. “It’s always helpful to have restaurant experience, but even if you don’t, it’s very easy to teach what we do here. We only have about 16 minutes of prep, while most restaurants have 90 minutes. It makes things a lot easier for potential franchise partners to come in, run the business and be successful.”
The concept should catch in on in most markets, too, Toth said, as it incorporates three key elements: health, convenience and flavor.
“They are big trends that you see consistently,” Toth said. “Healthy food has evolved for different reasons. Some do it as a lifestyle and others do it for dietary needs. Your food also has to taste good, so we have 20 sauces, with gluten free and vegan options, and they have a very bold, ‘out there’ taste profile. And finally, we’re trying to be very fast, even though we’re very customizable.”
The customizable, Asian-inspired menu allows customers to choose a base, whether it be noodles or rice, before selecting meat and/or vegetables. From there, consumers can select from a variety of specialty sauces.
The St. Paul location had gross sales of $308,156 in 2019, $526,190 in 2020 and $492,000 through August of 2021.
To open an Urban Wok location, the initial investment ranges from $264,500 to $400,500.