How did you get into the industry?

I learned to cook at an early age and in my family I have always been the person who plans all the family gatherings and it’s usually all about the food! I opened the bakery in the town I grew up in because there wasn’t a true bakery and I like to feed people. After several years my husband and I moved the business to a new location and added the restaurant. Now we are a full service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and award winning pies!

What’s new in the business or in the franchise model?

I don’t know that I understand this question fully, but we are looking forward to expanding an bringing our signature style of high quality food and pie to new locations across the country.

Where do you see opportunities or challenges for the franchise/business moving forward? 

There is a great opportunity in the market for this model to be successful as there isn’t much like it available today in the franchise arena. It is hard work, but very rewarding and  others that are passionate about food and feeding people will be successful.  There are always challenges to growth primarily in the training and operations part of the business but we plan extensive training and a hands on approach from the franchisor to guide franchisees through the process until they are comfortable running their own units.

 

What is your goal for the business moving forward? 

Our goal is to expand eventually to between 50-75 stores.

 

Talk to us about training and support and how you deliver

We have extensive training planned including training in our corporate location, an opening team of trainers and helpers that will go to the locations to help get them open. Ongoing support training through a hotline, video training series, and annual refresher training. We will have an R&D Department that will develop new products and a Marketing department that will design promotions for the franchisees. We plan to visit regularly in an effort to help streamline processes and ensure consistency. We are planning a weekly call for franchisees and additional training opportunities which will arise from these frequent contacts. As well we have an excellent merchandise support opportunity for branded merchandise that franchisees will sell

Your most difficult moment at the business?

The difficulty in the restaurant business always stems from staffing. Each area of the country has its own challenges and we have weathered most of them with the corporate store.

 

Define your franchise model:

  1. Training and Support Model?See above
  2. What is the Fee Structure? $35000 initial franchise fee and 5% gross royalty. 3% marketing
  3. Territory Definition? Unknown at this time. We plan to expand regionally first
  4. Day in the life of a Franchisee? We require our franchisees to be owner/operators and spend a good deal of time in the business itself. A typical day would involve rising early, heading to the shop to begin the baking and set up the cooking line. Serving guests all day in addition to other tasks that management performs like staff management, scheduling, ordering, etc.

What does your franchisee do in the business every day?

Our franchisees are owner/operators and will work in the restaurant doing a variety of jobs along with the staff. Some will be more focused on the kitchen and have paid staff that handle the front of house. Others may be more front of house focused and have staff that runs the kitchen.

Who is the ideal franchise candidate?

Have a great work ethic

Have a customer and community focus

Have great communication skills

Are a motivated team player, willing to work hard to make things happen

Have a positive can-do attitude

Love baking, cooking and feeding people as much as we do

Wants to be a part of a franchise system with a strong brand identity

Able to meet financial commitments

What goals do you have for the franchise model in the future?

We hope to grow and expand the brand over time.

For more information on You Need Pie and our franchise offering, visit www.youneedpie.com.