In this FDD Talk post, you’ll learn the following:

• Section I – Background information on the Your Pie franchise opportunity, including relevant news updates

• Section II – Estimated initial investment for a Your Pie franchise, based on Item 7 of the company’s 2018 FDD

• Section III – Initial franchise fee, royalty fee, marketing fee, and other fees for a Your Pie franchise, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2018 FDD

• Section IV – Number of franchised and company-owned Your Pie outlets at the start of the year and the end of the year for 2015, 2016, and 2017, based on Item 20 of the company’s 2018 FDD

• Section V – Presentation and analysis of Your Pie’s financial performance representations, based on Item 19 of the company’s 2018 FDD, including information on the:

• 2017 average gross sales, cost of goods sold, other operating expenses, occupancy expenses, labor expenses, advertising expenses, and EBITDA for the top quartile, second quartile, third quartile, and fourth quartile of the 19 franchised Your Pie Restaurants that operated during the entire fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and provided Your Pie with revenue and detailed cost information for the 2017 fiscal year (the “Covered Restaurants”)

Section I – Background Information

16 Things You Need to Know About the Your Pie Franchise

Celebrates 10th Anniversary and Hires New Director of Marketing in Second Quarter of 2018

1.  In April 2018, Your Pie celebrated its 10th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, Your Pie launched a nationwide promotion over the summer to honor its roots as the brand that launched the fast-casual pizza industry in the United States. The anniversary promotion included collectible pizza boxes, a franchise fee giveaway, a Grand Prize trip to Italy, and more.

2.  Drew French, founder and president of Your Pie, said, “Celebrating family and great pizza is what we are all about, so it seemed fitting to gift our customers – the Your Pie Family – with prizes to celebrate our first decade in business as we look ahead to Decade Two. We are excited to offer unique prizes throughout the summer and send one lucky grand prize winner to Italy to experience the food and culture that inspired us to start Your Pie 10 years ago.”

3.  Your Pie continued to experience steady growth in the second quarter of 2018. Between April 1 and June 30, Your Pie launched in two new markets, Flagstaff, Arizona and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The brand also expanded its footprint in Coastal Virginia with a new store in Gloucester, and opened two new stores south of Atlanta in Fayetteville and LaGrange. These five new additions brought the brand’s total to 56 stores across 19 states. Your Pie aims to have 75 stores in operation by the end of 2018.

4.  Also during the second quarter, Your Pie hired a new marketing director, Hassiba (Hassy) Braggs. With more than 15 years of professional marketing experience, Braggs brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the Your Pie family. He has held marketing and brand development roles for national brands such as Outback Steakhouse, LongHorn Steakhouse, Chick-fil-A, and ESPN.

5.  As marketing director at Your Pie, Braggs is responsible for developing and implementing Your Pie’s overall marketing strategy and brand development at both the national and store levels, with particular focus on raising brand awareness among new audiences, driving store sales, and fueling franchise development.

6.  French added, “Your Pie is thrilled to welcome a marketing expert like Hassy to our corporate team. As Your Pie continues to grow throughout the nation, Hassy will lead our marketing team with a vision and strategy that pushes our boundaries. His leadership and experience will increase our momentum as we enter our second decade of offering the best brick oven, customized personal pizza to communities across the United States.”

Partners With Zapp’s Potato Chips for New Craft Pizza

7.  At the beginning of October 2018, Your Pie announced that it had teamed up with Zapp’s Potato Chips for its latest Craft Series offering, the Voodoo Pie, featuring Cajun-inspired flavors and Zapp’s Voodoo Chips. The Voodoo Pie will be available in participating stores from October 17 through December 19.

8.  Your Pie’s newest Craft Series pizza brings the flavors of New Orleans to life, starting with a base of olive oil topped with mozzarella and feta cheese, green pepper, red onion, andouille sausage, and roasted corn. The pie is then baked and finished with Zapp’s Voodoo Potato Chips, a spicy ranch drizzle, and a pinch of cilantro.

9.  Drew French, founder and president of Your Pie, said, “I have always been inspired by the New Orleans food culture, and we had a lot of fun developing a pizza that pays homage to Cajun flavors. The original recipe came from last year’s Craft Pie Cook-Off, a featured event at our annual Franchise Fest conference, and we are excited to roll it out nationwide. We could not have brought this Craft Series to life without Zapp’s Voodoo Potato Chips, and I can’t wait for the Your Pie Family to experience this unique combination.”

Starts Selling Signature Ranch Dipping Sauce

10.  In early September 2018, Your Pie decided to answer its loyal customers’ request to sell its ranch dipping sauce. For a limited time at participating locations, customers were able to purchase 12 oz. bottles of Your Pie’s house-made ranch dipping sauce.

11.  According to Drew French, founder and president of Your Pie, “Our customers have always rallied around our ranch dipping sauce and have been asking us to sell it in stores for years. We’re thrilled to do this as a thank you to our customers, whose enthusiasm fuels our continual growth and innovation.”

12.  Like all of Your Pie’s sauces and salad dressings, Your Pie’s ranch dipping sauce is made in house and features a proprietary blend of ingredients. French added, “From day one, it has been part of our DNA to put the Your Pie spin on traditional favorites. From our standing menu, to our rotating Craft Series, even down to our sauces and dressings, we’re always thinking of ways to amplify the customer experience with fresh ingredients and unique culinary combinations. We’re excited to give our customers the opportunity to bring Your Pie into their homes and pair their favorite ranch with everyday meals and snacks.”

13.  To celebrate the limited-time offer, Your Pie also debuted a music video to the 1997 hip-hop classic, Da Dip. Customers were able to enter to win a Your Pie gift card by posting a video doing “Da Dip” on social media, tagging @yourpiepizza and using the hashtag #zadip.

Company History

14.  The idea for Your Pie started in 2006 when founder Drew French was on vacation with his wife on the Island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples, Italy. French fell in love with how the locals used brick ovens to create pizza with perfectly crisp and smoky crusts. Taking his inspiration home with him, French spent the next two years developing the Your Pie concept.

15.  In 2008, French opened the first Your Pie restaurant in Athens, Georgia. Two years later, Your Pie started expanding outside of Athens and franchised locations started opening in new communities. Over the next few years, Your Pie continued to expand in the Southeastern United States and in 2013, the young company reinvented itself by improving the team member and customer experience. In 2018, Your Pie finally opened locations outside of the Southeast and is currently seeking franchisees across the country.

Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500

16.  Your Pie did not rank on Entrepreneur’s 2018 Franchise 500 list.

Section II – Estimated Costs

• Please click here for detailed estimates of Your Pie franchise costs, based on Item 7 of the company’s 2018 FDD.

Section III – Initial Franchise Fee, Royalty Fee, Marketing Fee, and Other Fees

• Please click here for detailed information on Your Pie’s initial franchise fee, royalty fee, marketing fee, and other fees, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2018 FDD.

Section IV – Number of Franchised and Company-Owned Outlets

Franchised

2015

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  15
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  23
• Net Change:  +8

2016

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  23
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  34
• Net Change:  +11

2017

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  34
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  47
• Net Change:  +13

Company-Owned

2015

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  5
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  4
• Net Change:  -1

2016

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  4
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  4
• Net Change:  0

2017

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  4
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  4
• Net Change:  0

Section V – Financial Performance Representations (Item 19, 2018 FDD) and Analysis

• There were 47 franchised Your Pie Restaurants open and operating as of December 31, 2017, 31 of which operated during the entire fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and 19 of which provided Your Pie with revenue and detailed cost information for the 2017 fiscal year (the “Covered Restaurants”) which appears in this financial performance representation.

• The Covered Restaurants do not include 16 franchised Restaurants that were not open throughout the entire fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 or the 11 franchised Restaurants that were open throughout the entire fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 but who did not provide Your Pie with the necessary financial information to permit their franchised Restaurants to be included in this financial performance representation.

• Your Pie did not include the four Restaurants owned by Lineage or other entities owned by the same individuals who own Your Pie, which Your Pie considers to be affiliated-owned Restaurants.

• This financial performance representation reflects the average Gross Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, Other Operating Expenses, Occupancy Expenses, Labor Expenses, Advertising Expenses, and EBITDA, as Your Pie defines each of these terms below, for all Covered Restaurants during Your Pie’s 2017 fiscal year (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017).

• Your Pie then divided these Covered Restaurants into 4 quartiles (top, second, third, and fourth).

Part 1 – Top Quartile

• The first category of Covered Restaurants is the 5 Covered Restaurants that comprise the top 1/4 (by Gross Sales) of all Covered Restaurants. Of these 5 Covered Restaurants, 3 are located in Georgia, 1 is located in South Carolina, and 1 is located in Virginia. Of these Covered Restaurants, 2 opened in 2015 and 3 opened in 2016.