Franchising since 2005 but stalling out in 2008/2009, Guthrie’s has about 40 locations today and is ramping up a franchise program once again.
“We’ve learned a lot of what to do and a lot of what not to do. We’ve learned that we can be more efficient with a little bit smaller footprint than what we had been growing with,” he said. Restaurants that were 3,500 square feet are now closer to 2,000, for a freestanding restaurant with a drive-thru. They do about $1.5 million in sales with a cost of investment around $600,000, he said, including land, or a build-to-suit for about $200,000.
The newest design, a drive-thru-only model, is even more appealing. At 1,000 square feet and a half-acre of land, “it will do approximately seven figures out of a drive-thru only—$1 million plus, up to $1.3 million,” he said.
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