Ever wanted to make a toston burger for your crew? A pastelito-cradled patty for your people? If you can cobble together a couple hundred thousand dollars, you can become one of Pincho Factory's first franchisees.
Nedal Ahmad's humble burger and pincho place has been on somewhat of a tear over the past couple of years. There are now three restaurants: one near FIU, one in Coral Gables, and the newest under construction in Hialeah. With franchising, many more could be on the way.
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For months, Ahmad says, he's been working on building out a model in hopes of growing the business throughout South Florida. But why would Ahmad -- whose burgers swap buns for guava-dripping pastelitos -- want to fast-foodify his business? "Raising money to open more stores ourselves would be easy in some aspects, but there's still the actual operational challenges," he says.
He estimates the cost of opening one between $300,000 and $400,000, including a $20,000 fee, a portion of which would be donated to Feeding South Florida. Ahmad says he's already in talks with a handful of potential franchisees, including one company already operating about 30 restaurants in South Florida.
But what about the soul-crushing repetitiveness the franchise model enforces as a way to ensure consistency and profitability? Ahmad says he hopes to keep a "culture of creativity" in the franchises that would allow new dishes to be created. Let's hope he's right.
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