Starpoint Brands has had a busy couple of weeks.
The United Franchise Group subsidiary acquired Florida-based Cannoli Kitchen Pizza, launched a new division called Big Flavor Brands and rebranded its coworking franchise network, CoWorks, as Vast Coworking Group.
Cannoli, founded in 1996, has seven locations open with more on the way. The brand started franchising recently. Cannoli serves not only pizza, but pasta, subs, wings and, of course, cannolis.
Austin Titus was named the brand’s president. “The idea is to kind of build and grow a team around myself,” he said. Austin’s brother, A.J. Titus, is Starpoint’s president. Their father, Ray Titus, is CEO of United Franchise Group.
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Austin Titus said his goal is to have 50 Cannoli restaurants open by the end of 2024. Starpoint is looking to grow the brand in Florida and the southeastern United States. Not much will change about the brand.
“It’s a brand that’s been around for 27 years, so we definitely want to capitalize on the brand recognition that the brand has already, especially here in South Florida,” Austin Titus said. “We have tweaked a couple of things to make it more duplicatable and easier for signage, and things like that.”
Big Flavor Brands was formed to give “additional support and framework for our shared services, so we have our different food brands underneath the same umbrella,” A.J. Titus said.
Other brands under the Big Flavor division are The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill and Graze Craze. Starpoint is looking to further diversify its portfolio.
“If you look at our different brands, we’re in fast casual, we’re in pizza, we’re in Mediterranean … So we’d like to diversify,” A.J. Titus said. “We’re always looking at diversifying our group.”
Starpoint was seeking out a pizza concept “for a while now,” he said. Cannoli’s numbers fit the bill, “and we’re excited about where they’re headed.”
Starpoint recently launched a perks program for its franchisees. Now, owners will get deals and special rates for brands under the Starpoint umbrella. Other benefits include discounted rental cars, travel perks, ongoing training and education.
“At the end of the day, what we want to do is try to find value for our franchise owners and bring value to them to help them not only in their business and run really profitable, awesome businesses, but in their day-to-day life,” A.J. Titus said. “So they enjoy what they’re doing. And they enjoy being a part of Starpoint Brands and Big Flavor Brands.”
CoWorks’ New Name
Vast Coworking Group, formerly CoWorks, was announced this week at its 2023 summit. Vast comprises Venture X and Office Evolution. The brands ranked No. 472 and No. 494 on the Franchise Times Top 400 lisst, respectively. Ray Titus founded CoWorks earlier this year. Jason Anderson is the division president.
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Collectively, Vast has opened nine new locations this year, for a total of 133 units open in the United States.