Nearly every city or town in America has some sort of burger joint. Whether it’s a chain like a McDonalds, or a “mom and pop” restaurant boasting the best burger in three counties, these places draw in consumers far and wide.
Americans love their burgers, and they love their favorite burger places.
The problem with most chains is that their quality is lackluster, and they generate a lot of their sales because of the convenience factor.
Habit Burger Grill combines the convenience of a fast-casual burger chain, with the quality of smaller restaurant.
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The Beginnings of Habit Burger Grill
The first Habit Burger Grill opened its doors in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 as a family-owned restaurant. They specialized in charbroiled hamburgers and featured a full menu of the usual fast-casual options.
Over the next 38 years, Habit slowly expanded throughout the greater Los Angeles area, opening 22 additional restaurants by 2007.
In 2007, KarpReilly purchased a majority stake in the chain and quickly began implementing the plan to expand at a rapid pace. Between 2012 and 2013, Habit was the fastest growing fast-casual chain with 40 percent sales growth. By 2014, the chain had grown to 109 locations and showed no signs of stopping.
As of 2019, Habit has over 240 locations, the majority of which are located in California. They currently have locations in China and the United Arab Emirates, with plans to open 32 stores in the United Kingdom.
Getting into the Habit
The Habit is currently undergoing an enthusiastic expansion project that includes opening new franchises. They are selling their franchise licenses for $35,000.
They are on a mission to open as many locations as the market can sustain, but they are not offering discounts on multiple licenses at this time.
They will, however, offer the new franchisee territory rights to ensure no competition between locations.
Even though they are a quick service food chain, the start up costs associated with opening a Habit location are on the high side. It is estimated that a new location will cost between $1,123,000 and $1,338,000 to launch.
Because they are known for their charbroiled burgers, they have to make sure that they have the appropriate equipment to make their signature item.
Specialty equipment costs more than run of the mill grills and fryers, but they can also charge more for their burgers than other chains, because they present with higher quality.
As a new franchisee, you will have to weigh the start up costs against the potential profits. Currently, The Habit does not offer any sort of financing assistance to those who are seeking a new license, so coming up with start up capital will be the sole responsibility of the potential franchisee.
Aside from money, The Habit is also requiring their franchisees to be experienced.
According to their website, they are only interested in giving licenses to those who have previously owned a restaurant or franchise.
It makes sense for a company that is focused on rapid growth to want to turn new locations over to the hands of someone who knows what they are doing and has a successful track record.
They would rather not have to train a novice on the world of restaurant ownership, or have to worry about the beginners’ mistakes that may cause a restaurant to fail. Those things could quickly derail their drive to expand.
Even with prior restaurant experience, new franchisees will still need training in the ways of The Habit. Each chain has its own recipes and way of conducting business, which it will expect its franchisees to carry out.
The Habit offers both classroom and on-the-job training to teach the new franchisees how to operate their store under the guidelines.
This training is essential for teaching them the proper way to cook and assemble food to match with the standards of the brand.
These are things that do not come with experience from other restaurants, but instead are specific to owning and running a Habit location.
One aspect of purchasing the license that The Habit offers that most other franchisors don’t offer, is that under some circumstances, they will refund the purchase price of the license, though they have not stated outright what those circumstances may be.
Most franchisors have a strict “no refunds” policy when it comes to their licenses, but The Habit is at least willing to listen to the reason why the franchisee may need to abandon their quest to open a location and consider offering a refund.
It’s a rarity to even offer, even if they only honor the refund under very dire circumstances. It shows a sense of humanity on behalf of the company.
Current Franchise Performance
Being aware of the current health of the franchise system you are interested in buying into can help serve as a predictor for how well your restaurant will do.
Several factors go into determining the health of a franchise system, but the biggest indicator is the net growth. This compares the amount of locations the franchise opens, versus those that close.
A negative growth rate can mean that a brand is on its way out and, therefore, not a good investment. On the flip side of that coin, an extraordinarily high growth rate could mean that the brand is expanding at rate that is not easily managed.
A company has to be able to grow with the number of locations, or they run the risk of not being able to properly support their locations and franchisees.
Currently, the national average growth rate is 97. The Habit is coming in with in a score of 13, which is significantly lower than the average. This could mean a couple of things.
Either their efforts to expand rapidly are proving more difficult than expected due to low franchise interest or inability to secure locations, or that they are able to open many new locations, but are also experiencing losses with some restaurants going out of business.
Either scenario is possible and it would be wise for a potential franchisee to try and find out what it is before investing. If they are experiencing problems and a lot of their locations are closing, it makes it a riskier investment.
Because of the low growth rate, we would also want to look at the turnover rate- which tells us the number of licenses that have been terminated, transferred, or not renewed.
Because The Habit has a turnover score of 0, it is pretty good evidence that they are not losing stores due to going out of business.
At this rate, it is more likely that their low growth rate is due to slow openings. This is good news for a new franchisee because it means that the stores that are opening are staying open, and that they aren’t growing so fast that the market is getting saturated.
An Established Location’s Responsibilities
A new Habit location has the potential to be incredibly successful, especially if it is located in an area that is not yet familiar with the brand. People love options and get very excited over new restaurants.
The new name may be enough to get people in the front door, but to keep them coming back, the restaurant will have to maintain quality standards, both in terms of food and service.
Their success at providing good food to customers not only affects their location, but it can affect the whole Habit name.
Franchisees have a responsibility to their brand to consistently provide customers with good food and friendly service.
Aside from keeping The Habit name in good standing, the franchisees also have a financial responsibility to the chain. The franchisor charges 5 percent of gross sales as a royalty charge.
All franchisor charge royalty fees, though they can vary. The average for these fees is 6 percent of gross sales, so The Habit is a little cheaper than most. They will also charge a 2 percent fee for advertising costs. This is right in line with the national average.
The Potential of The Habit in the Future
The Habit has big plans for their growth in the United States, and overseas. They want to expand quickly and efficiently, but are not willing to compromise on quality to do so.
They will be selective in who they sell licenses to to ensure they are getting franchisees who will help take their brand to the next level.
As a restaurant who puts more into their food and wants to serve items with a higher quality than most, they stand a good chance at making themselves a powerhouse in the quick service industry.
To protect their potential, choosing the strongest candidates to own and operate their franchises is a smart choice.
Choosing to invest in The Habit by opening your own franchises would be a wise decision, if you have the experience and the financial means to do so.
They are on a mission to grow and getting in before the market is saturated gives you the opportunity to capitalize on that growth, as well. If done right, a handful of strategically placed Habit restaurants could become an incredibly successful business venture for the franchisee.
Why I Choose Lead Generation Business Over Franchising Business As A Long-Term, Scalable Investment In 2019
To start a franchising business is quite stressful. Apart from complying endless requirements the franchisor requires from you, as a franchisee, it entails a lot of effort to impress them. Of course, you want to borrow their brand for your income, right?
You have to be the best to get authorized. It’s no-brainer. It’s simple logic.
Like I pointed out before, The Habit Burger Grill is pretty selective to whom they grant the franchising authority among the candidates.
They want the strongest ones.
And part of the criteria is experience.
They have to make sure you have the capacity to expand the business successfully, as the company itself gives you the chance to grow in a saturated market. You have to be strategic in this venture.
The same thing with building a successful online business, establishing a lead generation business, for example.
For the first few months, you have to do REAL HARD WORK in building a well-ranked lead gen site to make sure they are on the top page on Google results.
Why?
This is to make sure we target the potential customers to a certain niche. In each niche, there is a service provider, which is obviously the local/small businesses across the US.
According to US Small Business Administration, there are around 30 million small businesses across the country. On top of that, there are at least 50 niches, which means there are 1.5 billion different markets available as potential clients for leads.
That means you can guarantee the lead generation business is long-term and thriving, as it has the longest viability. These small businesses will always be there as potential clients and the internet won’t shut down in a few years either.
Why I love this business model is the chance it gives me to help others and make an impact to their lives. You see, this isn’t about making business deals with your client face-to-face. It’s about being intimate with them, asking them why they want your leads.
Why they want to pay you for these customers on the line?
Of course, you create these leads—not because you want to earn more money—but be of help to these struggling small business owners. Through the lead gen sites you make, you provide them what they need to have a better life. The leads.
They know they can get these by themselves through setting their own website. However, most of the time, they don’t know what they’re doing. Besides, they don’t have the time to spend learning SEO and other technical stuff to run a site.
Given, you let these small business owners rent these leads in exchange for a monthly paycheck, which usually range from $500 to $2,000 average. You give them the access of the customers you have gathered through the well-ranked lead gen sites (on Google’s top page against the Giants of their niche).
- The lead generation business, although it doesn’t require much from you—only the laptop, the internet, & the RIGHT ATTITUDE and DETERMINATION to master the SKILL SET—gives you 95% of the profit margin, which is the highest among business models out there.
- This has an easy competition because there are many local businesses—30 million of them—across the country. Imagine, there are 42,000 zipcodes x at least 50 niches. That’s 2.1 million different market you can take advantage.
- This business allows you to help people—not by selling the product like a typical salesperson—but as a person sincere to help the small business owners to succeed and have a better—or best—life.
- On top of that, the lead generation business allows you to enjoy life by gaining the financial confidence because you know you can make money on your own and financial freedom by working less.
This is what our lead generation coaching program is about. We’ll teach you the RIGHT ATTITUDE it entails to become a successful online entrepreneur.
Knowledge alone won’t be enough. You need to hone your financial mindset and attitude to earning money as a High-Income earner.
Apart from that, we’ll teach you the EXACT STEPS on building thriving lead gen sites by giving you the process you have to follow.
Patience is the key here.
Are you ready?
Go and visit our lead generation coaching program and see yourself the best option to escape your day job fast with 100% guaranteed results.