Creating a singular service platform for multiple brands is the key to success for restaurant company WOWorks
With its rapid growth and expanding portfolio, WOWorks – WOW standing for ‘watch out world’ – is living up to its name. The parent company of numerous restaurant brands was formed when a private equity group bought its original brand, Saladworks. Chief Strategy Officer, John Geyerman, began working at WOWorks in October 2019 and he elaborates on the origins of the company: “Through the pandemic, we became opportunistic and were able to acquire our first two brands, so we formed a holding company which became WOWorks. We then purchased Frutta Bowls, which was based in New Jersey, and Garbanzo Mediterranean, which was based in Denver. Subsequently, we purchased The Simple Greek in April 2021, then Barberitos and Zoup in May 2022. We are now six brands and are in acquisition mode, looking to fulfil our goal of becoming 20 brands in the next five years.”
John believes there are two key drivers behind the company’s growth – the first one being its food. “We are a true platform company providing ‘better for you’ food,
which there is a lot of opportunity in because, unfortunately, there aren’t a great deal of healthy options out there. We use very clean ingredients and we’re conscious about the types of products we bring into our restaurants – all our brands are as preservative, antibiotic and hormone-free as possible. With Barberitos, for example, our queso is made daily from a brick of cheese and our salsa and guacamole are made fresh every day. In that channel, we are extremely healthy in comparison to our competitors, which helps us tremendously.
“Secondly, it’s highly beneficial having one shared service and operational platform. For instance, if we have a franchise in Philadelphia operating five Saladworks restaurants, they can potentially open a Garbanzo, a Barberitos or a Zoup in the same geographical location because their POS system, loyalty platform, technology package, and operational processes will look the same. Consequently, they can share team members from one concept to the other. All our concepts are currently ‘walk down the line’, create-your-own signature items and our technology and training platforms are very similar. Franchisees are therefore able to cross pollinate with our brands without having to travel more than 45 minutes from their home every day, which is incredibly advantageous.”
Community engagement
WOWorks has built its brands on a foundation of community, striving only to partner with franchisees who are passionate and engaged in their community. “I can teach somebody how to make a salad,” John states. “I can’t teach somebody how to treat their team members well, run a vibrant restaurant, engage with people and become immersed in the community. A good franchisee for WOWorks is one who is sponsoring the local sports teams, joining street parades, attending Art in the Park and other community events, and generally doing things to support their community. They’re our best franchisees – they’re always in our top quartile of high performing restaurants.”
With community in mind, John explains the brand’s original locations are usually where their core strength lies, but many of them are expanding rapidly. “Garbanzo was based out of Denver, so they’re very strong there,” he says. “Frutta Bowls comprises cold treats, such as Acai and Pitaya bowls and smoothies and they are popular in warmer climates, so that brand is growing aggressively in the South.
“We’ve also been doing incredibly well in non-traditional sites. We have a lot of universities, hospitals and airports that are really excited about Mediterranean right now. We just opened one of these sites in Toronto – it’s a 400-square-foot facility, comprising a Zoup and Frutta Bowl co-brand in a healthy-living lifestyle center. We’ve learned that we must be flexible with these locations as they’re generally operating several concepts in one space, and they often have a shared kitchen. Every space is unique in regard to concept, design, structure, layout and site plan.”
Operating in a diverse range of geographic regions has been a valuable factor in WOWorks’ development. It also has its challenges though – John divulges what these obstacles are and how the company tackles them: “We do have areas where labor is less economical and it has become expensive to operate – even remodeling restaurants can cost 30 percent more in some parts and we’re having to manage it through high quality operational expense control, managing waste, marketing aggressively and being extremely engaged in the business. During the pandemic, fuel and freight surcharges increased, as did real estate, labor and equipment. It has since levelled out to some degree, but never fully returned to pre-pandemic prices, so we must assess that every month. We carry out a competitive side-by-side assessment with our franchisees to understand where they may have outliers based on their peers and help them manage all that to the best of our ability.”
Leveraging advanced technologies
Leveraging advanced technologies The utilization of AI is also assisting WOWorks with its continued growth and development. “We’re using a lot of AI technology within the business and it’s evolving,” John reveals. “We use it to help outline the infrastructure and templates around execution points, strategic points and innovation. We stay involved in organizations like the International Franchise Association, the National Restaurant Association and the International Council of Shopping Centers, making sure that we’re deploying new technologies, constantly learning from industry experts and participating in panel groups to share our learnings.”
Although it’s leveraging advanced technologies and uncovering new ways of working, WOWorks remains dedicated to its ‘better for you’ platform of brands. John concludes: “In the future, our restaurants will probably be more back-of-house production, rather than having all the ingredients laid out in front of people. That will open more opportunities for us, but we’ll definitely be staying true to the healthy space. Asian cuisine is big, as is Mediterranean and I also think Latin American could be very big for us. That’s not a space that we’re in right now, but we like global passport brands that give people an opportunity to try foods they may not have experienced before.
“We are always looking for brands in the 50-to-100-unit space yet geographically could be anywhere. We already have a lot of passionate franchisees and we’ve grown a few corporate operations – that’s not typically our core business, but we are growing our corporate footprint and we’re super excited about the future.”