What is Corner Bakery Cafe?

1.  Established in 1991, Corner Bakery Cafe is a fast casual restaurant chain serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner to guests in 130 company-owned and franchised locations around the country.

2.  Founded on a philosophy of creating a place for people to relax and gather with family and friends, Corner Bakery Cafe features innovative, seasonal menu options while delivering a premier bakery cafe experience in the heart of neighborhoods everywhere.

3.  In 2011, Corner Bakery Cafe was acquired by the franchise-focused private equity firm Roark Capital Group, whose impressive franchise portfolio includes household names such as Auntie Anne’s, Arby’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Wingstop, and Cinnabon, among others.

What’s on the Corner Bakery Cafe Menu?

1.  Growing from a small bread bakery on a corner in downtown Chicago to a national presence in the fast casual dining segment, Corner Bakery Cafe offers hand-crafted breakfasts, lunches, dinners and Grandma-inspired sweets and baked goods – appealing across all dayparts, lifestyles, and consumer palates. Its menu categories include salads, soups and chili, signature sandwiches, grilled paninis, pastas, a kids’ menu, and sweets (cookies, bars, bundt cakes, pound cakes, whoopie pies, etc.).

2.  Corner Bakery Cafe offers consumers a broad variety of prepared — not merely assembled — customizable options.

3.  Health-conscious consumers are enjoying the recently introduced “100 Under 600” menu, featuring 100 of their favorite combos under 600 calories.  The Uptown Turkey Sandwich & Roasted Tomato Basil Soup, the Chicken Pomodori Panini & Mixed Greens, and the Chopped Salad & Three Lentil Vegetable Soup are just a few of the combos available.

4.  New menu additions this year include three Power Panini Thins (a healthful, calorie-wise breakfast option), a Sliced Meatball Panini, and two handcrafted Mac n’ Three Cheese dishes.

5.  The company also provides a robust catering platform, offering fresh food perfectly packaged for delivery or pick-up. Catering makes up 20 percent of a typical Corner Bakery Cafe’s sales.

What is Corner Bakery Cafe’s Average Unit Volume in 2011?

1.  $2.2 million (average annual revenues)

What are Corner Bakery Cafe’s Medium Term Growth Plans?

1.  Based on multi-unit franchise agreements in the works and new company-owned cafes slated to open, Corner Bakery Cafe is on track to more than double in size within the next three and a half years.

2.  Corner Bakery Cafe will double its system growth rate this year, bringing its total cafes open to 148 by end of 2012. Of those cafes, 109 will be company owned and 39 will be franchised.

3.  Corner Bakery Cafe waited until the model was perfected with a solid base of company-owned cafes operating efficiently before launching its franchise program in 2007. “We’ve got significant skin in the game,” says CEO Mike Hislop. “Our franchisees appreciate that.”

4.  In 2011, Corner Bakery Cafe signed four multi-unit franchise agreements for 54 locations, including a nine-unit deal for Buffalo and Rochester, NY and a second deal with the same multi-unit developer for six locations in Syracuse, NY, as well as a 7-unit deal in South Texas and a 32-unit deal in San Francisco.

5.  While other brands within the bakery cafe category have sold out territories, Corner Bakery Cafe has multiple untapped markets available for qualified multi-unit operators. Key markets for expansion include the New York Metro area, Northern California, Central and Northern Florida, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Louisville, Columbus, Charlotte and Nashville, to name a few.

What are the Requirements to Open a Corner Bakery Cafe?

1.  Corner Bakery Cafe is looking for franchisees that are capable of opening multiple cafes in a market or combination of markets. A franchisee must have a minimum net worth of $7.5 million, of which $3 million must be liquid; relevant multi-unit restaurant/retail experience in market to be developed; and actually reside in the market to be developed.

2.  Prior to opening each cafe, a franchisee must pay a $10,000 Area Development Fee, on top of the $25,000 Franchise Fee.

3.  The Royalty Fee is 5% of sales while the Marketing Production Fee is 0.5% of sales.  The minimum Local Store Marketing spend is 1.5% of sales.

Although the video below is about career opportunities at Corner Bakery Cafe, you might want to check out how their restaurants look, and the kind of food they serve.

http://youtu.be/vH7rN1cYwGw