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10 Things Every Prospective Franchisee Needs to Know Before Investing in a Freshii Fast Casual Restaurant Franchise

1.  Freshii is a healthy fast casual restaurant concept whose mission is to provide “fresh food, custom built, fast.”  Their goal is to become the most convenient choice for healthy and fresh meals and snacks served quickly in a cool, clean, and environmentally sustainable setting for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between.

2.  Customers can build their own salad, wrap, burrito, brown rice bowl, or soup from a list of over 70 fresh ingredients.  Their breakfast selection includes organic slow-cooked oatmeal, organic muesli, breakfast wraps, fat-free parfaits, organic fair-trade coffee, and a variety of organic teas. They also serve a signature low-fat frozen yogurt.

3.  Freshii offers catering and delivery services.

4.  Freshii’s packaging is made from eco-friendly vegetable starches, like corn or potatoes, which biodegrade quickly.  All containers, cups, and utensils either biodegrade naturally into the earth or are easily recyclable.  They use only eco-friendly, natural cleaning products.  Freshii takes pride in buying only from farms with environmentally responsible growth methods, where workers are treated and paid fairly.

5.  Matthew Corrin started Freshii in 2005 after a public relations stint in New York City working for fashion designer Oscar de la Renta. Corrin opened his first restaurant in Toronto at the beginning of 2005 and won the prestigious ARC award for National Innovative Retail Concept of the Year from Cadillac Fairview Ltd.

6.  The first location was a huge success — the store’s sales record was broken everyday for six months — and within two years, Corrin opened another eight corporate-owned locations in Canada.  He found three angel investors to fund the concept’s entry into the US market. He then temporarily relocated his family to Chicago, the location of Freshii’s first U.S. location.

7.  Freshii’s first U.S. franchisee is Chicago-based restaurateur David Grossman, who signed on to open 80 units over the next 10 years.

8.  Now, six years after the first store opened, Freshii has over 45 locations in four countries, including the United States, Canada, Austria, and Dubai, and a location in India is on its way soon.

9.  The total initial investment to open a new Freshii restaurant ranges from $140,000 to $400,000.  The initial franchise fee is $30,000, monthly royalty is 6% of gross sales, and contribution to advertising is another 3% of gross sales.

10.  A franchisee interested in opening multiple Freshii locations can reserve territorities for future development by signing a Development Agreement at the time of signing the first Franchise Agreement.  The Development Agreement will specify the number of stores and the areas where the franchisee plans to open those stores.  Each additional store reserved under a Development Agreement requires a franchise fee of $30,000, including a payment of $15,000 per store upon signing the Development Agreement. The remaining $15,000 is due upon signing a Franchise Agreement for each store.