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Franchises? Ie: chipotle


351mach11647545510

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So I've been seriously thinking about quitting my job and taking my retirement money and opening up a chipotle franchise in NC. I saw no chipotle's down there and based on the traffic of them up here, I figured it would be a good way out of my current job and to bring in decent money so I can eventually do something more to my liking. Anyone know much about this or any other franchise opportunities where I could provide a stable income for my family and not a real high risk? I was thinking of the Fayetteville/ fort Bragg area where you have the army base and a fairly large college campus nearby, providing approval by corporate.
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Chipotle isn't franchised. All locations are company owned, built, and managed.

 

But anyway:

Restaurants are pretty high risk, but being a franchise lowers that somewhat. You'll need a lot of capital ($75k-$100k) before a franchise will even consider helping you. Lack of experience will also hinder you. If you're really serious about it, look up how to do market analysis and business plan so you can form a portfolio to demonstrate the validity of opening a new franchise location.

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something to think about:

 

http://www.donatospizzafranchise.com/CostCriteria.html

 

that's way cheaper than Mcd's. If you want to look into something inexpensive to get started check out Fox's Pizza Den.

 

And I looked at the map on their website - Chipotle has 11 locations in NC, one being in Fayeteville.

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I wanted to open a Tilted Kilt in Columbus way before the one here opened. You needed like $1m and previous experience so that was that...

 

Open up a Dickey's.There was one in Delaware, great place but it was staffed by a bunch of fools. With a good staff and management, I think one would do well in Cbus, not sure about NC.

http://www.franchisedirect.com/directory/dickeysbarbecuepit/5597/

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Chipotle isn't franchised. All locations are company owned, built, and managed.

 

But anyway:

Restaurants are pretty high risk, but being a franchise lowers that somewhat. You'll need a lot of capital ($75k-$100k) before a franchise will even consider helping you. Lack of experience will also hinder you. If you're really serious about it, look up how to do market analysis and business plan so you can form a portfolio to demonstrate the validity of opening a new franchise location.

 

Most all of the top 10 will require $1M plus per store up front just for the brand and you won't be buying just one. McD's BK, Dunkin's all require $2m per location and Dunkin here in Ohio sold a batch of 15 as their minimum. Panera is like that too. The guy who owns the 75 here in Ohio is one of their most successful owners.

 

Typical build-out costs on a 1,500 sqft. wings and rings or like is about $750k and that's just the hardware/building. The CEO there is a car guy from Sweeden. Like's Audi's though. Came to our meeting and as he drove in the was doing like 60mph and did some crazy as spin to park his car and make an entrance. We were all like WTF? but he's not arrogant, just crazy fun in a kid like way. :)

 

It's risky and for the lower costs ones like subway, they don't rake in what you think. The avg. Subway pulls in about $400k per year.

 

Franchises are good ideas filled with lots of risks and potentials for failures. Papa Murphy's is a decent one and the build out costs are slightly less as are the labor and ops costs given their model. They however have only the dinner portion to really go after so income again is low.

 

A good friend from IBM opened a firehouse sub doing exactly what you said and he's survived fro 4 years now. Not rich and works a ton of hours and found out the hard way, labor managmeent and paper costs are what can make or break your success. If you've never managed this type of place, good luck. Even owners who hire ops managers often pay a lot of money only to find those guys are going to open their own.

 

Another good guy to talk with is the owner at Skyline on Sawmill. I called on him back when he worked for corporate. His struggle is location sucks but his rent is dirt cheap and that's what's getting him by.

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I would PM Matt (mmZ06) and see what suggestions he has to offer as he has first hand experience. I believe he worked in the business for several years before opening his first franchise though which as others have stated is really going to be key, that or hiring someone who knows waht they're doing to manage it for you.
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I wanted to open a Tilted Kilt in Columbus way before the one here opened. You needed like $1m and previous experience so that was that...

 

Open up a Dickey's.There was one in Delaware, great place but it was staffed by a bunch of fools. With a good staff and management, I think one would do well in Cbus, not sure about NC.

http://www.franchisedirect.com/directory/dickeysbarbecuepit/5597/

 

Dickies is now open again in Delaware, still run by fools, but their brisket is delicious! There is also one in NERK

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I looked into Tim Horton's on behalf of my dad in the Dayton area. Including the franchise fee, building, marketing, etc.... it would be ball park around 500-650k. He ended up not wanting to do it due to the fact he would have be tied into Dayton long term. Another thing to consider is that you probably have to do a 2-6 month training program at their headquarters, which may not seem like much but can cause scheduling conflicts.
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Neighbor of mine is a banker with Huntington and his wife (ex-pharma sales rep) is opening a doggy day-care/grooming franchise out of California. The two of them just had their first kid and are going nuts setting up their first 1 of 3 locations in Short North. They are really excited, but it's a LOT of work.

 

Scott is right on: if you don't have experience in an industry or a lot of capital, you need to look at a small, "start-up" franchise model to have any success and be prepared to work. Good luck!

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So I've been seriously thinking about quitting my job and taking my retirement money and opening up a chipotle franchise in NC. I saw no chipotle's down there and based on the traffic of them up here, I figured it would be a good way out of my current job and to bring in decent money so I can eventually do something more to my liking. Anyone know much about this or any other franchise opportunities where I could provide a stable income for my family and not a real high risk? I was thinking of the Fayetteville/ fort Bragg area where you have the army base and a fairly large college campus nearby, providing approval by corporate.

 

 

 

Penn station will do great here. Only two in the Charlotte area that I know of and their always packed. I even will drive 25 minutes to one.

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we honestly looked into getting a chipotle franchise in my po-dunk shit-hole town. we were told you needed to open 5 restaurants and a minimum of $500k liquid cash.

 

Wasn't aware of that. Haven't looked real hard yet but kept finding info on it being less as far as liquid. Fiancé's dad looked into that dickies in Delaware and would have done it but evidently corporate is a bunch of "fools" too

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Pick a up and coming franchise, they are way less expensive to get into. Steak Escape out of Columbus is starting to take off and the earlier you get in the less it takes to buy one. However you have a little more risk. Your call.

 

One opened at the corner of 33 and Grandview ave. Closed within months. Their prices are ridiculously high. The food is good, but when it comes to stacking meat veggies and cheese on bread there's a million places that undercut them on price.

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One opened at the corner of 33 and Grandview ave. Closed within months. Their prices are ridiculously high. The food is good, but when it comes to stacking meat veggies and cheese on bread there's a million places that undercut them on price.

 

I hear you on price, but it is good. I'm starving myself to go there for a late lunch/early dinner....YUMMY!

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Looked into City BBQ when they were doing franchises. They wanted to see 5mil in the bank.

 

They also looked at prior experience. I was good there as I manged restaurants for about 8 years. Mores o, IMHO, you need to know how to perform all the different "stations" of a restaurant. How else can you guide the people you manage and not detect BS?

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