Philly Pretzel Factory featured in QSR

Philly Pretzel Factory was featured in an article in QSR titled, “Honey, I Shrunk the Store.” The article was built from interviews with Marty Ferrill and franchisee Dave Grimaldi discussing the new kiosk option launched by Philly Pretzel Factory. Dave was the first of the existing franchisees to purchase the new model and has plans to open in it Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia. Marty discusses the decision to finally launch the kiosk to reach a greater number of potential customers and open in more heavy traffic areas. In addition, the new model also allows entrepreneurs to open the kiosks more quickly and only cost about $100,000 for the build-out. Click here to read the full article, or begin reading below.

Honey, I Shrunk the Store
By John Morell

One concept hopes an inexpensive, portable kiosk will jumpstart expansion.

As the U.S. economy shows signs of new growth in 2012, many quick serves are cautiously looking at expansion plans to see if they can jumpstart the growth that stalled with the recession.

Some franchise concepts are banking on the fact that cheaper, smaller footprints might be more attractive to potential franchisees in this rocky lending environment. One in particular, Philly Pretzel Factory, is hoping a new kiosk offering will draw new franchise partners and excite its existing franchisee base.

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Philly Pretzel Factory featured in Nation's Restaurant News

Philly Pretzel Factory was featured in an article in Nation’s Restaurant News titled, “Growth Concepts: Restaurant executives share franchising, growth strategies.” The article had a section built from Philly Pretzel Factory COO, Marty Ferrill, who discussed how the brand poised themselves for growth over 2012 and the coming years with a goal to open 25 locations this year. Philly Pretzel Factory just launched its new kiosk prototype to help new and existing franchisees open more quickly at a lower investment cost in malls, theme parks and transportation stations. With the kiosk costing just half of the traditional build-out, this now offers qualified franchisees the opportunity to open their Philly Pretzel Factory without having to looking for large business loans and makes it easier to secure financing. Click here to view the full article, or begin reading Philly Pretzel Factory's section below.

Growth concepts: Restaurant executives share franchising, growth strategies
by Mark Brandau

Marty Ferrill, chief operating officer, Philly Pretzel Factory
System size: 122 units
Growth targets: 25 openings this year, agreements for 25 more
Source for optimism: Small-footprint kiosk prototype

Our normal investment for a full bakery is typically $250,000 to $275,000 all in, and we were running into some challenges financing that. So we shrunk everything, from our ovens to our mixers, and made the footprint smaller, from about 1,400 square feet into a kiosk as small as 300 to 400 square feet. It’s a dramatic decrease in rent and build-out costs; people are now looking at a total investment of $125,000 including the franchise fee.


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