From the outside, watching the expansion of a successful fast-food franchise can be a lot like watching a wildfire spread. However, while Jamaican fast-food chain Juici Patties has rapidly grown in the U.S. this year, its expansion is much more methodical than you might think.
Stuart Levy, the brand’s Managing Director for the US, hopes to eventually expand across the country. Currently, most of Juici Patties’ 15 U.S. locations are concentrated in Florida and New York. That might seem unusual, but there’s a method behind it — what Levy calls the “four-store rule.”
Juici Patties could probably garner more headlines if it had opened each U.S. location in a different state. But the four-store rule is a measured, disciplined approach. The company isn’t trying to generate hype. They’re trying to set Juici Patties up for sustainable, long-term profitability.
So what’s behind the four-store rule? “We have obligations to different suppliers and vendors who are on this journey with us,” says Levy. “Specifically, we need to open enough stores in order to help fuel the growth of the business.”
“Our main distributor needs at least four restaurants to be open in any one state, hopefully in a cluster,” he continues. “It doesn’t have to be. But we need four stores for it to be profitable for the distributor to send a delivery truck into that state.”
To ensure profitability, Juici Patties needs to open those four stores within a fairly narrow timeframe. Levy explains the logistics of launching Juici Patties in a new state.
“We need franchisees who are passionate and have the financial backing needed to get started right away,” he says. “Once we say, ‘Yes, you are approved,’ and we’ve chosen a state, they can go from zero to 100 instantaneously.”
Once the Juici Patties team arrives in a new state, it doesn’t take long to get the stores up and running.
“We can build out these stores within a year or a year-and-a-half timeframe,” Levy explains. “That way, we can have four stores open within a short time span in that state and have our suppliers be able to do the deliveries that we count on them for.”
From its very beginnings, Juici Patties has been a company that lifts up franchisees and employees. Franchisees must pass a rigorous screening process, but once they’re approved, they’re welcomed as part of the Juici Patties family. Juici’s four-store rule makes it possible for franchisees to exponentially grow their profits.
Levy explains that, when asked, virtually every Juici Patties franchisee has said they would like to open another franchise. The four-store cluster model makes it possible for business owners to own and manage multiple franchises at once.
Levy points to the company’s lucrative New York market as an example. “In New York, currently, there are two in the Bronx. Those two have one franchisee who is a part of both. The other two locations are owned by different franchisees who also have franchises in Florida.”
The calculated density of Juici Patties locations also allows motivated franchisees to build their own local empires.
“The franchisee in Brooklyn will be opening more stores in New York,” Levy says. “As a matter of fact, I think two or three of the stores that are slated to open by the end of this year are his. So he’ll end up having three to four stores in New York.”
Juici Patties’ growth is uncommon in that it’s both fast and calculated. Stuart Levy and the rest of the executive team are painting a striking picture of what can happen when passion and strategic precision collide.