Utah-based Savory Restaurant Fund is preparing a franchise program to expand Swig, a drive-thru specialty soda concept purchased about five years ago and now ready for its next growth phase, Savory CEO Shauna Smith told Franchise Times at the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference last week.
Savory has 10 brands under the umbrella, including Hawaiian food concept Mo’ Bettahs and R&R BBQ, acquired via two $100 million funds. The first fund is completely deployed; the second is about 30 percent invested and there are talks about raising a third, Smith said.
With 47 units and average unit volumes of $1.1 million, Swig is the first of Savory’s brands to be franchised, and Smith said they’re using it as a “test run” to see if they can “change the world of franchising and make it a great relationship between franchisors and franchisees.”
Smith and her husband, Andrew, owned and operated 72 Little Caesars and 50 Kneaders Bakery restaurants before selling them to launch Savory Fund in 2018 with Utah-based investor Greg Warnock and his private equity firm Mercato Partners. Read here about Savory and Andrew Smith’s acquisition strategy.