Franchise QB

Episode 97: Sean Oatney, Chief Development Officer- Fat Patty's

• Mike Halpern • Season 1 • Episode 97

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In this episode of the Franchise QB Podcast, host Mike Halpern and guest Sean Oatney discuss the journey and vision of Fat Patty's, a restaurant franchise known for its unique burger offerings and community involvement. 

The conversation covers the brand's origins, franchising strategy, support for franchisees, and the importance of company culture. Oatney emphasizes the significance of franchisee engagement and the brand's commitment to providing a fun dining experience. The episode concludes with insights on market expansion opportunities and the qualities sought in potential franchise owners.

Takeaways

Fat Patty's originated in 2007 in West Virginia.
The brand began franchising in 2022 after refining its model.
Fat Patty's offers 18 unique burger options.
The restaurant aims to create a casual, family-friendly environment.
Franchise support includes extensive training and marketing assistance.
Site selection is a collaborative process with franchise owners.
The company culture emphasizes fun and community involvement.
Ideal franchisees should have a passion for the business and community.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
00:55 The Story of Fat Patty's
04:14 Franchising Journey and Vision
08:25 Unique Selling Points of Fat Patty's
12:14 Franchise Support and Training
15:31 Site Selection and Market Expansion
22:34 Company Culture and Core Values
26:18 Franchisee Success Stories
30:05 Future Growth and Market Opportunities
32:24 Qualities of Ideal Franchisees
35:09 Financial Considerations and Item 7
38:27 Performance Metrics and Sustainability
40:22 Conclusion

FatPattys.com/Franchise

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Mike Halpern, CAFC
mike@franchiseqb.com

This is the Franchise QB Podcast, where we empower entrepreneurs to win big in franchising. We huddle up weekly to educate our audience about the most successful small business model ever created. Franchising! Welcome to the Franchise QB podcast. I'm your host, Mike Halpern, a 20 year industry veteran and entrepreneur. My mission is for listeners to achieve their American dreams of creating wealth and independence through franchise ownership. Every week we speak with franchisees, franchisors or vendors that support the industry. Thank you for joining us and let's get started. Joining us in the huddle today is. So your restaurant concept is Fat Patty's, which originated in Huntington, West Virginia near Marshall University back in 2007. I had never been to that part of the country until recently. My son is a freshman at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and we take Route 64 that kind of carves through the West Virginia mountain. So we are driving by Marshall University quite a bit. So next time I'm in town, I'm definitely going to stop by and check it out. Um, so your group. purchased the chain Fat Patty's back in 2018, knowing that it would take a little bit of work to get it readied for franchising. And we'll get into that here in a minute. You began franchising in 2022 with a group that originally purchased the existing four locations in West Virginia and Kentucky. And then they opened a fifth in Morehead, Kentucky. And then subsequently, a franchise owner opened a Fat Patty's in New Jersey. and you have one that's also coming to Wisconsin. So it sounds like you're on your way. Before we jump into the Fat Patty's brand, tell us a little bit about your background, I would love to. Thank you. So I've spent the last 23 years in franchising. I picked that path because I love helping people own their own business. So I started as a young man after I got out of the Army and started my own sign and graphics business. That led me after four years of building that business up to a role with Signarama. And Signarama is part of United Franchise Group. And so I had the opportunity and spent the lion's share of my acumen and my business tenure with United Franchise Group. I kind of did everything there from a marketing rep to a regional vice president and eventually running the entire company as the director of sales. And I did that for about 19 and a half years with them. They have now, think, 11 different brands. When I left there in 2022, I think they were up to nine or 10 brands. But spent most of my time there. And then did a short stint with a company called Tommy's Express. That's a car wash franchise based out of Harlem, Michigan. And I spent some time there helping investors with a ground up build. car wash system that was pretty unique in the space. And after I left them, kind of left them self-sufficient with what they were doing, more of a contract basis when I was there, that brought me over to uh ARC and helping ARC with the brands that we have. We have a couple other brands other than Fat Patty's, but obviously we'll talk about Fat Patty's today. So, excited to be here. uh Love franchising, love the opportunity to, uh really for me, it's helping people. uh not only run their own business, but giving them that path that A plus B equals C to really be successful by just following the footprint that's already been laid out before them. So that's why I love what I do. And uh hopefully that gives you a little bit of a good background on where I spent most of my time in the franchise. Yeah, certainly does. Thank you. Well, first of all, thank you for your service to our country. My listeners can appreciate that. And yes, I know Signarama is a nationwide chain. Anyone in franchises. you know, familiar with United. So that's great that you spent a good majority of your career with them, kind of learning the franchising space. So, you know, the brand we're talking about today is, ARC's Fat Patty's concept. It's built a loyal following in the markets where it operates. Can you share the origin story of the brand and kind of what you see as the long-term vision for its growth? Yeah, no, it's, so 2007, the, the originator of the brand actually, oh went to Marshall and had an opportunity to take an old furniture store and turn it into what became Fat Patty's. And it was, he just wanted a place where people come have good food, have burgers. He said, you know, I love burgers and I think everybody else does too. And that led to a great start to the business. It was a fairly large opening about 6,500 square feet. Yeah, it was a nice little space. Yeah, it's a big space and that was only a small portion of the furniture store that they converted and then they ended up growing that to another location in Ashland, Kentucky, not too far along that same corridor you mentioned. uh And then another one in Barboursville, West Virginia, and then eventually Teays Valley, which is also called Hurricane. So that was. built and grown over from 2007 to about 2015, 2016. We saw the group and our group really looks for opportunities where there's a great foundation, there's a great following, as you said, to the brand and we can come in and really tweak and take that business, really refine it for the franchising model. And that's what we did. So kind of the vision piece that you asked about, we really... took time as any good franchisor would do. And we spent time really targeting the menu and the experience that the guests were having. Because any potential franchise partners we would have in our system, they want to make sure that we've got cost in line, that we're using the same SKUs across multiple burgers so that their cost is lower. They can have a higher profit margin and have a system that's very easy to work and to run. And so that's what we did. Took that under our helm for about four years, refined that, refined the menu and got it to where we felt it was in a great place to start. And then that brought really out of the woodwork our first franchise partners who were long-term and long-time patrons of Fat Patty's. So we actually found our first franchise partners from, you know, people who had been going there, you know, when they were in school and found it was, you know, We love the brand, we'd love to uh be part of help grow it across Appalachia and the United States. So it was a really cool story for that. And I think what we see openly is a ton of white space with only having seven locations. There's a lot of blue ocean opportunity in a lot of markets. And I think oh most Americans, it's probably the number one thing outside of pizza that people enjoy is burgers. So we feel we've positioned ourselves really well in the market. with a value added menu and something for everybody. It is a casual dining experience, but uh it's everybody from grandma after church to, you know, going to the game, watching your games on Saturday or Sunday or just going and having a nice dinner. So, yeah, that's interesting that your guests and your kind of raving fans of the brand became your franchise owners and clearly they're having success as they're expanding because, know, in the food business, as you know, Sean, that You know, guests don't necessarily make great owners, but obviously you guys did your bedding and made sure that they were the right fit. So I think that passion is really a great place to start, but it takes a lot of business acumen to run a business of this size. So that that's great that they were also aligned in that way. So, I mean, it's, like you mentioned, everyone likes burgers, right? I mean, next to pizza, it's like the number two food in the country. Um, it's a crowded space. Like what in your view makes fat Patty's unique to listeners that haven't been to the concept before, both in the product from the consumer side, as well as the kind of franchise offering, maybe support, et cetera. What's your kind of opinion on the differentiation? What I was drawn to, and I think what most people are drawn to with the brand is, um, we have, um, a couple of different things that separates us from, you know, our competitors. Uh, we. We really pride ourselves on the 18 different burgers that we have. So we've got something for everybody uh that brings people back. So, you know, most people go out four times a month, you know, to go out to dinner as a family in America, we're hoping they're going to come back, you know, two to four of those times and try each of our burgers. But the other thing that we do is we have a Fats feature. So every month we have a brand new burger that is chef inspired and chef created that lands right on our website. So if someone goes to our website today at FatPattys.com, they'll see the Fats Feature this month. It's the it's a Tiki. I think it's a Touchdown Tiki burger and it's got a pineapple on it and some crazy sauces and some fun things. You're making me hungry, Sean. Yeah, I haven't had lunch myself, so I'm hungry myself. But that that really drives people in. And then some of those Fats features make it to our permanent menu. So we feel that doing that as well as doing a couple times a year, we'll do menu ideations where we'll take things that maybe this burger did well at the beginning, but it's not doing as well. And then we're very, very conscious of the franchise partners cost as I mentioned earlier. So when we look at, know, when we order product, we want that product to touch seven or eight different burgers. So whether it's a sauce or whether it's a topping, that keeps costs low and it makes efficiencies within the back of the house as we have a casual dining. So we have a front of the house and the back of the house. The other thing that kind of separates us is we're a full bar. So we've got, you know, that fun element. The location in Morehead is very unique. We have an area called the Eagles Nest and that's the Morehead Eagles. And so the students can come in. We've got shuffleboard. a sand shuffleboard, we've got uh video games, a couple video games, we've got soft tip darts, and an area that drives in, uh openly drives in extra revenue for the franchise partners, because some people just want to come in and have a couple drinks and socialize and have some fun, and then some people like to then go from their dinner and go over and do the same thing. So we've got a really fun, casual environment that I think drives people to that. And then to the second part of your question on support, That's where we excel. We've got industry leaders that have been 20, 30 years in doing what they're doing on our team that are out there multiple times in a month, touching our franchise partners, making sure that the food's coming out great. We already know that looking at the reviews, but it's more so making sure that they've got everything they need to be successful. for whether it's their new launch of a new restaurant or it's looking at all their existing portfolio and saying, how can we better sales? How can we target marketing? What are the things that are working well that we can help you implement on that local level? Yeah. Well, it sounds like you've created a really great environment, not only for the food, but also a place where you can come and be entertained and spend some time. And I know that translates into more sales and kind of a more sticky concept for the franchise owners. So you mentioned kind of the menu innovation with all the burgers and kind of the rotating kind of chef inspired burgers. What else are you guys doing to kind of stay ahead of the pack in years to come, whether it be like technology or market expansion, what kind of comes to mind? Yeah, so we have we have rewards programs so someone can come in if they've eaten all the burgers. There's there's a challenge there. We've got our bite this burger, which is. our uh trademarked name, Fat Patty's Bite This. So all of our burgers, the other thing I think really helps us stand out in the crowded market is their Fresh Never Frozen. So all the burgers are half pound Fresh Never Frozen burgers. Our Bite This burger is two of those half pound Patty's. So it's a one pound burger. And if someone eats that, they get a junior Bite This burger for free. So a lot of people come in and like that challenge, get one for the kiddos. and we comp that for them. But uh I think that along with really not being a sports bar, but being a sports bar, being a place that people are going to come and really we want Fat Patty's to be an extension of their home. So we want them to feel like they're at their house. uh I think that comes from our servers coming in and actually spending the time and actually being really interested in what they're doing. You know, much like, you know, when you look at coffee, Starbucks and Dutch Brothers both serve coffee, but one of them does a lot better at connecting with the guest than the other. And so I think that's one of the things that I think we really bring to the marketplace and make people feel at home from that aspect. On a technology side, we've got toast integrated into our systems and the back of the house is very, very efficient. um We look at literally every step that every single one of our back of the house staff takes. And we've set up the back of the house so efficiently that we can get our orders out very, quickly. We ticket times of the newest one we just opened up in Tom's River, I think we're 12, 13 minutes from the time to order to get, you know, a burger and fries or a pizza or whatever they ordered out to their table. uh That's efficiency and that brings people back, you know, they're okay with sometimes a wait to get in, but once they get in. If they've got a really great experience, really drives them back. So we do that at each of our locations. We're very cognizant of using that technology to make sure that we're efficient um and have a great guest experience. Yeah. You mentioned that loyalty with Toast. You know, over the years, the loyalty programs have evolved toast in particular. I really enjoy it because they give me like cash back when I spend somewhere and it's like meaningful. I'll go to a place and it's like, would you like 12 bucks off your meal? It's like, look, I wasn't expecting that, but I'll take it. So. I think that does encourage guests to come back and join the will because it's easy. It's like frictionless and there's just not a lot of headaches with it, which I think is pretty cool. Um, so let's talk a little bit more about the franchise support, which I know is a huge consideration for candidates that are exploring your model. Um, because there's a lot going on, right? You've got a front of the house, back of the house. It's a big space, a lot of employees. What kind of training, marketing, ongoing support do Fat Patty's owners. kind of receive when they decide, okay, I'm signing on the dotted line. This is the thing I'm going to do. How do you help them out? So we have a couple different ways. First and foremost, we want our franchise partners to know that they're going to be involved in the business. We don't have an absentee model on that at this point. It might down the way of all to that. But at this point, we want people who are passionate about the food and passionate about the business. So we require them to have about two weeks of training themselves. That's really running and managing the business But they can then hire we have a back of the house front of the house and a kitchen manager That are involved and those managers get six weeks of training So each of them get six weeks of training that training happens at one of our larger locations They can handle the extra staff in there like Tom's River or a West Allis, Wisconsin location um and then they'll spend They're six weeks of training there, about three weeks in one of those locations, and then we bring them back to their home store where we're helping them build that out, overseeing the construction, doing all that stuff, and then three weeks as they're ready to go. So we target all that training to where it's continuous. So they spend three weeks in the St. Thomas River, their location's got their certificate of occupancy, they're ready to go, they've got food in the freezer and the walk-in cooler, and they're ready to, you know. go start making some stuff, have our VIP events and our friends and family event to get things started. So that's where we really, where we get started. And then that is aligned with a marketing uh plan that's put together that is really robust and it drives butts in seats. So the location that we just opened in West Allis, uh Wisconsin, which is a Milwaukee suburb, that was previously an Applebee's. So we converted an Applebee's to a Fats. That's the nickname people give it, it's Fats, but it's Fat Patty's. And we've been able to drive a ton of people through Meta and through social media marketing, as well as some other avenues that our marketing team does extremely well. And again, their goal is we need butts in seats. know, once they get in there, we know that the food and the service is going to keep them coming back. But we want to drive new customers, new guests coming in on a weekly basis. We monitor that. We use programs like Soci. which help us uh see where that impact is and then it drives that engagement. So when you see those social media posts or you see those reviews online, that's all due to all the stuff that we've done on the back end, making sure that the store is ready to go. And in fact, sometimes even delaying the Uber Eats and the online ordering because we don't want the guests coming in for the first time um to have a bad experience. We'd rather have the kitchen. lockdown and the experience amazing, then maybe six weeks into it, then we add, okay, now we're going to open up all your online ordering and now we're good because we want, again, those first time guests walking in the door that take the time to walk into our establishment to have an amazing experience. Yeah, that makes sense. And from a site selection standpoint, obviously there's a lot of art and science to that. Are you pretty involved in kind of working? Because the local owners are going to know their market pretty well. You guys know your brand really well. Is it a collaboration to kind of identify the right sites? And then how long are we looking at? I mean, for a second gen retrofit, this a, like we find the site and we can kind of build it out and be operating in three to four months, something like that? Yeah, I think it depends on the site. I'll give you a couple examples of that. uh We are very collaborative in that. So we rely on local brokers that know the area very well, as well as our franchise partners who've lived in that market and know the market. But what we like to target are some of those chain brands that maybe had the 20 year old menus that never changed. And that's why they're out of business, like Applebee's, TGI Fridays, or O'Charley's. And then we look at those locations. We can very efficiently and effectively turn those over. oh Fairly quickly, the Morehead location that we did, which was three 2000 square foot businesses, they're all combined into one, we blew out some walls. There was, think, a pizza shop, a bakery, and a jewelry store. We took over all three of them and converted that into our Fat Patty's. And that took about 120 days. it was under our initial investment in item seven by probably half. uh which was great. And then the location in Tom's River, we did for half of that half. And it took us a little bit longer there, just because of, you know, New Jersey has some fantastic hurdles that they love with liquor laws and things like that. So a little bit longer there. And then the West Allis location, I think we got done in 90 days. So uh we have everything in place. So We really hold our franchise partners hands from the very first time we meet them. We're talking about where would they ideally like to be. And then we go into the market, we drive the market with them, and then we're going to take five to seven great locations, whittle that down to maybe the top two or three that we want to engage with the landlords, you know, and get some great terms for our franchise partners. We help them with that because it's probably the first time they've ever looked at a location. So we want to make sure we're getting them some abatement, some tenant improvement allowance, things like that. and then hold their hand through the construction phase and all the way up to brand opening and beyond. So we want to make sure that even if they've done it before and we've got our first franchise partners, they own Subways, they own regional grocers, they have pizza franchises. We assume they knew nothing and they compliment us and say, guys, you taught us so much stuff that these other companies didn't do. because you were so attentive and you were in the market where they might've just looked on their software and Google Earth. I want to be there in person because you see things differently and you meet the local people and then you see, there is a need for this and this would be a great place to launch one of our brands. So. Yeah, no, it's good that you provide them with turnkey guidance in the site selection, site approval and kind of construction phase because, you know, a 1200 square foot subway is going to be a lot different than a 6,500 square foot Fat Patty's and obviously the requirements at the back of the house are different and You know the mechanical electrical plumbing things like that So it's it's good that you know, you treat it like alright Well, we're gonna give you all the information whether you've done it ten times or not And you know that way it's gonna be a good project for for us as the franchisor and you as the the new owners So let's talk a little bit about the culture. It seems like a fun brand You know, call it fat, it's called Fat Patty's, it's in college towns, it's burgers, it's beer. What are the core values you guys have and how does that translate into the culture of the business? uh Great question. think really, you know, our mission, our vision uh for, you know, each restaurant is that when people come in again, and this is in our core values, that they feel like they're part of our family. And so for us, it's very important that we don't have to be in college towns. just happened to be that we were situated in a couple of college towns. Tom River is not close to the college campus of anywhere, uh probably a couple of hours away as Rutgers, but you know, we really focus on bringing a smile to people's face when they walk in. uh I think people are pleasantly surprised with the flavor profiles that we're providing. There's a lot of places where their burger franchises and they've got a bunch of burgers, but they all kind of taste the same uh We have you know, completely different probably my favorite uh part Italian is called Patty Capone and so it's it is a that that half pound fresh never frozen Burger and then it's got provolone cheese marinara sauce and then we take Wisconsin uh Cheese curds fry those put them on top of it put more sauce on it, put a brioche bun and then put a cheese curd on top. And it's got pepperoni slices on it as well. So it's an amazing thing. It is sloppy and gooey, but it's one of the things that again, from a culture standpoint and from a patron standpoint, we want to have fun. We've got fun things like Fats is where it's at. Love your buns, hon. When you walk out of our locations, it's got fun things like You know, your parents will thank you when you're done. You know, it's like, we're going to fill your belly and you're going to have a good time and you're going to be with friends and you're going to feel like family. So from our CEO to our COO to everybody in our corporate headquarters, to our franchise partners, they all have that same vision of making people feel at home, having a great experience and having someplace where they feel like. This is just an extension of me being at the house with my buddies. We just have great food and amazing service. And that's really what drives us is to find those people with that fun. We want to have fun with guests and we really want to drive that with our franchise partners as well. So if someone's out there and they're listening and they're like, man, this sounds like a great fun brand, it is. we... We don't want to be the stale. We don't want people to go, sorry, the was good, the service was horrible. We really want people to feel engaged and when they leave, they're like, wow, I want to tell everybody about this. This was an amazing experience. Well, I think that Capone might be the first one I try when I visit because I know if anyone listening hasn't tried a good fried cheese curd, they don't know what they're missing. So I got to try that with the marinara on a Fat's burger. That sounds awesome. Yeah. So you mentioned the culture. Can you kind of share a story with us about a franchise owner that kind of embodies what corporate is kind of pushing in terms of, you know, what Fat Patty's is all about and kind of how their journey kind of aligns with the opportunity to be successful in your brand? Yeah, I think probably first and foremost comes to mind is, you know, we've got a partnership and I'm gonna, it's gonna sound like I'm cheating because I'm going with our first franchise partner, but I really think they really truly embody Um, what fats is all about and what fat Patty's is about. Um, these guys grew up, uh, in Appalachia. They went, um, to school there. They ate at Fat Patty's. They loved the brand so much and, um, openly they had other investments that they did before Fat Patty's. And this was to them, you know, they said, what you guys have done with it and where you've taken it. from where it was when we went there, feels like it's all grown up now. uh Because the portions used to be massive and the food was, you know, get a ton of food for a little bit of money and we kind of refined that to great food with a good portion, still for a great value. But they really loved the fact that we stayed true to the roots of what made Fat Patty's for them a place that they wanted to be. Jeremy and Scott they have not only invested in their fifth location, but they have went back and updated all four of their other locations to our what a new store would look like when we open up a new store because they they had purchased it from us and we hadn't put all the new signage and all the flare and all the stuff that we have the location so they eat breathe, sleep, fat Patty's, even though they're regional grocery owners and they have Subways and they have other pizza franchises, their passion is really Fats. um you know, when you're there, they take time to hit every table. They do table touches, they talk to the people, they know the people that are coming in and, you know, they are really passionate about that. And it's funny because, you know, I've got two guys that have this, you know, five businesses and We're a full service bar and neither of them drink. So he's like, you know, we know what drinks guys have and they come in and they want us to have a drink with them. And we're like, we don't drink. They love the food. know, the other thing that I will tell you that I really love about Jeremy and Scott is they had been part of really building the brand. So you talk about, you know, collaboration on locations. They have been very collaborative on the menu and many burgers and what burgers we've taken off that may have been around for 10 years and they're like yeah it's not a good performer let's put something else on and let's try it out here let us be the test kitchen so they've really really embodied that on a local level and without them we wouldn't be where we're at now and the menu and the way the store looks and all that stuff they've been a huge part of you know where we've been able to take Fat Patty's so I have to have to give them kudos for that because they're amazing franchise partners. mean, it seems like a good opportunity for someone that wants something that's tested, proven, has already scaled to multiple units, multiple states, multiple owners. But also, corporate is still listening to the franchise owners because it's still small enough where they have influence over what the brand looks like. So I think there's kind of a confluence there that is pretty hard to find, right? So that's pretty neat. So if someone's looking at this and says, you know, I want to be a part of Fat Patty's, like what markets do you want to go into? know you mentioned that blue ocean, lot of white space. What, in your view, what are kind of some of the prime areas for Fat Patty's to come and succeed? I think, and I'm a hub and spoke kind of guy. So I think as you grow a brand, people around it talk about it. In fact, being here in Colorado, uh, had to go to a chiropractor. And I told her what I did is she's like, my gosh, Fat Patty's. She's like, I went to Marshall. So the world is very small. As big as it is, it's still very small. So I would say, I think, um, there's probably places like, you know, Chicago and Detroit and places like that, that I would target. Um, I think Columbus, Ohio, uh, Indiana, anywhere around kind of where we started. there's already a following. And that's why we're looking right now in places like New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, kind of coming across that mid Atlantic to the Midwest. uh I think that is a great start for us, but we've got some franchise partners that were probably a couple of weeks away from doing a multi-unit deal down in Tampa. So we feel that there's across the Eastern seaboard. The thing we're not worried about is we can get the product anywhere. So I think our focus would be really central, Midwest and East Coast. And I'll include myself in Central America, know, central part of America, even though I'm on the West in Denver. I think we would want to focus there and over until we get about 50 units. And then at that point, we can start talking about going over to the West Coast, going into Canada, doing some of those other things from an international standpoint. But I think really we. We want to go where there are people and people like burgers. And I think, you know, our focus would be a little bit larger cities. Um, so, you know, a place like, uh, Colorado Springs or Denver or a place like Columbus, Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Lexington, those are all great places, but you know, North Carolina and Georgia would be fantastic as well. So I know it's, not a specific answer, but you know, those types of towns, those types of cities. We could definitely entertain multiple units with multiple groups or multiple units with one group and build from that. appreciate that. It sounds like there's a lot of opportunity out there for new owners. So in terms of who you're looking for in a potential franchisee, clearly they have to be capitalized. I'm assuming you want some degree of knowledge about the food and beverage industry. What qualities or traits do you guys seek out in a new Fats owner? Yeah, great question. I would say number one, I want just amazing human beings. I know that that sounds cliche, but you know, we want our franchise partners to be involved in the community. You know, we typically have about 100 employees at these locations from the back of the house to the front of the house. So their impact is helping hire, you know, over 100 people. We want them involved in the community. We want them to have that community sense. And we want them to have some background. It could be small, but some background in food service. If they have some food service background, ideally, you know, someone that has multiple units and they've got maybe uh a portfolio that has a brand that, you know, maybe it's chicken and we're burgers so they can, you know, they're not competing with themselves and they can add to their portfolio. That's fantastic. But really someone that's going to be passionate about building and growing the business. We feel that they can spend probably the first five to six months in the business and then they can get themselves to the next location and the next location and then eventually hire the staff that will run all those for them. So we see that as a long-term play. uh But really, you know, someone that's got some management experience, you know, our Tampa gentleman has a coffee shop as his background. So no full service, but has four five coffee shops, knows how to interact with people. And, you know, I've been a fly on the wall in his locations and he just treats people so amazingly. And I'm like, if we can have that with all of our franchise partners, then that'll be fantastic. I think the other thing is when we, when we do interview and talk with our potential franchise partners, we're always looking for something that adds value to the system. Maybe their background was at American Greetings and they did all this different stuff from a board level and they're going to bring value to us as a system from somebody that has that different background than someone that was strictly all restaurants. so each time we're talking with someone, we're looking at what value does this add to the system so that we could get better as a whole as a group. So when we do have things like franchise advisory councils and things like that. embody the franchise partners to give their opinions on what they think should happen, then you've got a lot of different viewpoints. It's not just a singular, well, this is what we've always done in food for 25 years. I want someone to challenge that. I want someone to say, hey, we should do this. So we're very malleable in that. And we really want that type of uh breadth of knowledge across all of our franchise partners. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. I appreciate that. So let's talk about item seven. I know there's going to be a great deal of variance in the cost to open one of these things. We talked about the different footprints and different conditions of the space. If it's going to be a gray box, vanilla shell, a second gen conversion, but what kind of guidance are we giving owners when they step in and they're to open their first Fat Patty's franchise? What's that cost look like in Item 7? Yeah. So we want someone to have around a quarter of a million dollars liquid. Um, and somewhere around a million dollar net worth, uh, Item 7 is going to say around$800,000 up to $3.2 million. Another 3.2 million. If someone said, I want to build a brand new ground up space, we've got that. We've got that all laid out. We can happily do that for somebody. But I think, um, most people are really looking at how do I get into the space? for the best return on my money. And that's going to be second gen space. And we're always looking at what's your cash on cash return? How fast can we get that back to you? um And obviously we've got all kinds of programs for people to get financed, but we're looking for great opportunities where we can get them in that three, four, $500,000 range um on a second gen space. A lot of these second gen space already have everything in it. think our West Allis location, had to put a... We got to put our pizza oven in and another five foot grill and that was it. Everything else was already there. So, know, everything. you're able to build out, get in for a half million bucks and SBA says 20 % down and maybe 10 % post loan liquidity, you can have $150K and be in the deal. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we want them to have some working capital in there. So all that works out. So yeah, SBA is a great program to come into and use. I think for us that puts people in a position where they can start one and then, this looks great, let's start number two. Or if someone wants to come in and take down an area like central Ohio, we would look at probably five to seven locations in that market and allow them to put a development schedule and kind of go from there. But there's plenty of space out there. And if you look at the news on a daily basis, I think... last quarter and the first quarter, second and first quarter, you know, there were 40 Hooters that went out of business. There was a number of other chains that, you know, there's, there's a lot of inventory, which is good for us in markets where we can get to and find these spaces that, um, you know, would tend to just sit there. Um, and our ideal space, as I know, we threw around some numbers for Tom's river is about 3,500 to 4,500 square feet is ideal for us. We'll go up to 6,500, 7,000. when applicable, but our target is that 3500 to 4500 square foot space. Gotcha. And then in terms of performance, I saw on your website that you have an AUV of 2.15. That's a lot of volumes, $40,000 a week average. Without diving into specifics, what can you tell us about the performance of Fat Patty's and why you believe the business model is, you know, sustainable with profitability? Yeah, and I'm going to preface this by Those AUVs which I love the AUVs. They're they're great and it's great volume That's in that's in you know, the mid-atlantic Appalachia 40,000 people population 42,000 median income 43 year old is the median age in those markets So when you take that and you're doing that kind of volume in that area and now you go to Tom's River or West Allis or Columbus, Ohio, um there's nowhere to go but up. And we know that um our Tom's River is a perfect example of that. I can't tell you because of how obviously franchising works because they're new and they're not in our disclosure, but they are kicking butt in that market. And um we're just blown away. I mean, we knew that it was going to be great, but we didn't know it was going be this great. So that is a good example for us of people are craving something different. They're craving something that they have a great experience on and when we look at our reviews every week, we've been open now a month. We'll be back. We'll be back. We'll be back. Great experience. Love this. Love that. Can't wait to try this. So, you know, we feel that, you know, the sky's the limit. And I don't think we're even close on our AUVs in the next two or three years. We'll be laughing at at how low they are right now. So I think we're excited about, you know, the future and what can happen. And I think that a lot of that will happen outside of those smaller markets. The great thing is if someone says I'm in a small market, we're like, hey, we've got great examples for you of how you can, you know, do, you know, almost $2.2 million dollars in revenue. Well, I'm excited to get out to my first Fat Patty's restaurant. You know, it'll be somewhere in West Virginia or Kentucky. I'll let you know when I stop by. But this has been great Sean. I really appreciate the time you've taken to kind of educate us about the brand. Anything else that you want to add to the mix before we wrap up today? I would just say if you're interested obviously go to FatPattys.com/franchise and we've got a simple form on there. It's about two minutes and then that'll get your information directed to my desk and then we'll start a conversation and just see where you're looking and if we're a good fit for you or not. But I definitely appreciate the time and the opportunity to share our passion for burgers and hopefully others as well. So I thank you for the time and the opportunity. Absolutely. And I will post that link with this episode so anyone listening can find that pretty easily. And if anyone listening would like to connect with Sean and his team to learn more about becoming a Fat Patty's franchise owner, contact me at FranchiseQB.com. We're on X @QBFranchiseQB, and I'll get you connected. Thank you so much, Sean, for taking the time to get in the huddle with us today. My pleasure. Thank you for listening to the Franchise QB podcast, where you're at the helm of your future as a franchise owner. If you enjoyed the content, please rate the show and recommend it to anyone that might be interested in franchising. Make sure to visit FranchiseQB.com to subscribe to my newsletter and for an actionable playbook to go from walk-on to legend in your new business. Follow us on Twitter @QBFranchiseQB and join us every week for a new episode. See you next time. Visit franchiseQB.com to take the next step of your journey towards wealth, independence, and franchise ownership. And remember, when working for the man gets old, you must do something bold. Thank you for listening.