Mellow Mushroom, the psychedelic pizza chain known for its imaginative pizzas, festive atmosphere and wide beer selection, aims to grow its presence around Central Florida, and it’s looking for franchisees to help make that happen. It’s touting the success of its current locations and its potential as an investment opportunity.
The chain currently has five restaurants in the greater Orlando area – one on International Drive just east of SeaWorld and another one near the University of Central Florida, as well as locations in Winter Park, Sanford and Mount Dora.
It has about a dozen locations scattered around the region it calls Central Florida, which includes Orlando but also stretches from Tampa Bay to the Space Coast.
“In that Central Florida area, we have more in the pipeline,” said Ahsan Jiva, the chain’s executive VP of strategy and transformation. “I can see a pathway to getting at least three to seven, potentially 10 more locations from Clearwater all the way to the East Coast. I can definitely see a pathway to get to 20.”
In metro Orlando, it’s looking at possibly locating restaurants at Disney Springs as well as in Lake Nona and Clermont. Also, “I see opportunity in St. Cloud, the Kissimmee area, DeLand, and then The Villages,” Jiva said.
Widely known as the originator of hand-tossed, stone-baked, one-of-a-kind pizza, the main menu – anchored by its coveted “secret dough” recipe – boasts cult-favorite pizzas, wings, salads and subs. (Courtesy of Mellow Mushroom)
What’s the company’s timeline for local expansion?
“Finding sites, building locations, it’s not something that happens overnight. We want to do it within six to eight months, and that’ll depend on whether it’s a land deal or if it’s an already existing shell building that we’re just finishing out and putting Mellow in,” Jiva said. “We have a five- to seven-year growth plan. We want to be methodical. One to two locations per year for the next five to seven years is definitely something that we can achieve pretty easily.”
Mellow Mushroom is looking at partnering with its existing franchisees in the region “and also looking to find similar-minded folks that want to grow with us and have a great investment opportunity,” he said.
The chain is touting its restaurants’ AUVs – average unit volume, which is the average annual sales generated by each location. It’s a key metric for evaluating a restaurant’s performance and its potential for franchisees.
Jiva said a typical counter-service pizza place like a Domino’s – America’s largest pizza chain – would likely have an AUV of $1 million, while “on an average basis, we’re closer to $2.7 million. In certain markets like Central Florida it’s closer to $3 million, and our top quartile is almost $4 million a year.”
Founded in Atlanta in 1974, Mellow Mushroom marked its 50th anniversary last year. Today it has 165 locations across the U.S., mostly in the Southeast.
While nearly all of them are full-service sit-down restaurants, last year the chain introduced a new concept – what it calls a “fast-fine” model, a smaller location that features counter service and digital kiosks where customers can place their orders. It requires about half as many employees.
“Now we have the capability of going into bigger markets with bigger footprints, but also in smaller markets with smaller footprints,” Jiva said. “Now we have two formats that we can go to market with – one with a smaller box, easier to operate, less people, a little less AUVs, but still well above the industry standard.”
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