Three agreements with Shipley Do-Nuts will bring more than 50 units to Georgia and Maryland. Dallas-based ARFD Foods, operated by Andrew Robertson and Franklin Diaz, signed for 25 locations in Georgia, while Oziel Rodriguez, operating Sweet Donuts Investments, has an agreement for five stores. In Maryland, cousins Brian Lemek Jr. and John Egan signed a 25-unit agreement through their Mid-Atlantic Do-Nuts. Founded in 1936, Shipley Do-Nuts franchises more than 330 restaurants across 10 states.
Dave’s Hot Chicken is expanding in Minnesota, signing an agreement with Michael McGuire to open six locations in the Twin Cities. McGuire, a franchisee with 34 years of quick-service restaurant experience, has operated brands such as Domino’s, Jersey Mikes, Krispy Kreme and Little Caesars.
Technology reseller PayMore will open locations in the Milwaukee area after signing a multi-unit agreement with Tim VenHause. Also a multi-unit operator of uBreakiFix (which is rebranding as Asurion Tech Repair), VenHause plans to open his first PayMore store in West Allis, a Milwaukee suburb.
The exterior of a Bad Ass Coffee shop.
Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii inked an agreement with business partners Ankush Agrawal and Rushik Solanki and their Makers group to develop five units in the Dallas metro. They expect to open their first store in Sachse, an eastern suburb of Dallas, in late 2022 or early 2023, with the others to follow in the next two years. Agrawal has experience in construction and property management, while Solanki has a background in business management and operations.
RCI Hospitality Holdings, which has several strip club and restaurant establishments, signed a franchise development agreement with Jerry Westlund to open three Bombshells Restaurant & Bar units in Alabama. Westlund is a Nashville entrepreneur and managing partner of BMB Huntsville who has experience owning 30 nightclubs, bars and restaurants in 12 states. The agreement calls for the three military-themed sports bar locations to open over five years.
Ellianos Coffee is planning to expand its existing Jacksonville footprint with two new locations in Nassau County, Florida. It signed a two-unit development agreement with existing franchisees Spencer and Kacie Hutchison, who own three shops in Georgia, with another in the Peach state expected to open soon. Founded in 2002, Ellianos Coffee is a Florida-based company with 22 operating locations.
Dog Haus signed a multi-unit agreement to bring 15 locations to the state of Maryland. Existing franchisees Faizan and Adila Khan, who operate three restaurants, will open new locations in Annapolis, Baltimore and other Maryland communities, as well as the greater Washington, D.C., area over the next five years. A franchisee since 2018, Faizan has a 25-year background in the technology industry.
Everbowl CEO Jeff Fenster, left, with retired NFL player Drew Brees.
Super Bowl champion and legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is expanding his partnership with the acai bowl concept Everbowl. Brees, who already signed a 60-unit agreement for locations in New Orleans, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, will now open 15 stores in Tennessee and 10 in Virginia. Brees is working with Alex Yeater, an Everbowl area rep, to jointly manage and operate the locations. Launched in 2016, Everbowl has 46 stores open and is signing large multi-unit development agreements.
A new agreement will expand Quiznos and Taco Del Mar. Parent company Rego Restaurant Group signed a development agreement with Dominik and Monica Mendoza to build 10 restaurants across Denver. The recent agreement isn’t the first for the Mendozas, as their CF Lifestyle Investments company also has a two-unit deal for restaurants in New Mexico. The Mendozas also acquired six Quiznos restaurants in the Denver market, making them one of the largest franchisees for the brand. High Bluff Capital acquired the Quiznos and Taco Del Mar in 2018.
The Dog Stop, a dog care concept, signed agreements to bring 12 new locations to cities including Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Long Island, New York, Orlando, Florida, and Lexington Kentucky, as well as the central New Jersey area. Signing a three-territory agreement is Dennis Hill, an attorney in Frisco, Texas. The other three-territory deal was signed by franchisee David Weinberg in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. The five-territory deal, meanwhile, was signed by franchisee Justin Steiner of Orlando.
Steve Christensen and Reid Richards, who already have a 12-unit agreement to develop Big Chicken in Arizona, signed a separate deal to bring the Shaquille O’Neal-owned chicken brand to Idaho and Utah. Former Five Guys franchisees, Christensen and Richards are also developing brunch restaurant Another Broken Egg Café in Arizona.
Goldfish Swim Schools signed a four-unit franchise agreement for new locations in the greater Houston area. Franchisees are Alex and Jaime Mesa and Bret Beitler, as well as Jonathan Spindler of Waterslake Capital. The Mesas and Beitler own an Urban Air Adventure Park and three and Kids ‘R’ Kids franchises in the Houston market. Spindler, meanwhile, is another Urban Air franchisee who also operates Code Ninjas and Scooter’s Coffee locations.
Steve Zeigler, a multi-unit Jersey Mike’s franchisee, is going into the pizza business, signing an agreement to open three Mountain Mike’s Pizza restaurants in Texas. The agreement is one of two three-unit deals signed for Texas. The other is with Robby and Varinder Basati. Robby is the largest Mountain Mike’s franchisee in California.
Twin Peaks is opening in Pittsburgh.
Twin Peaks signed a multi-unit agreement with franchisee Shamsu Charania of The Falcons Group, with three locations set to open in the Pittsburgh area over the next year. A franchisee of Dunkin’, Baskin-Robbins, Checkers/Rally’s and TGI Fridays, The Falcons Group operates more than 90 restaurants in seven states and recently acquired 30 Rally’s from Joe Hertzman.
Korean fried chicken brand Bonchon signed an agreement to open three locations in the Los Angeles area. The deal is with entrepreneur Kenneth Park, who plans to open the first location in early 2023.
Jeremiah’s Italian Ice has set its sight on the state of Tennessee, with more than 20 locations planned. The development comes with the signing of an agreement with DT Ventures, owned and operated by Brad Davis. In total, 22 units are planned, with five locations expected to open in the next 18 months. Davis operates 10 Macro’s Pizza locations in Tennessee and is a Scooter’s Coffee franchisee.
International Development News
Xponential Fitness is continuing its international expansion, signing a master franchise agreement in Mexico for its StretchLab, Rumble and AKT brands. The master franchisee, a division of Mexican construction and hospitality company Grupo ITISA, plans to open at least 60 studios across the three brands over the next 10 years. In addition to Mexico, Xponential, which went public last year and has 10 brands, is expanding in Australia, the Dominican Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and Spain. New studios are also planned for Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Subway signed two master franchise agreements, in Brazil and Malaysia. SouthRock, a Brazil-based multi-brand restaurant operator, is one of the franchisees, with an agreement for the exclusive rights to manage and develop all Subway locations in the market. A licensed operator of Starbucks and TGI Fridays, SouthRock will expand Brazil’s Subway footprint, which already has 1,600 locations. In Southeast Asia, existing partner Pegacorn signed an agreement to develop 500 new Subways across Peninsular Malaysia in the next 10 years, development that would triple the number of restaurants in the market.
Sola Salons signed three multi-unit agreements for new locations in Canada. Larry Lloyd and Mike McDonald plan to open three locations in Ontario’s Durham region. Ammar Aboulnasr, founder and CEO of electronics distributor Basatne International, signed to open two locations, in Hamilton and Barrie, Ontario. And opening Solas in North York, Richmond Hill and Markham is new franchisee Mike Ruthard.