Chatime, which has about 1,500 global stores, wants to strength its U.S. footprint.
At the Global Franchise Summer Summit in Denver this July, many international brands made their pitches to expand into the United States.
Restaurant, cafe and entertainment brands made their case for why they’re poised to grow in the U.S. market. Some are well established in their respective markets, while others have just a few units.
Here are a handful of brands that presented at the conference.
Candoo Crew
Candoo Crew can do it all. The New Zealand-based franchise styles itself as an all-in-one property care company.
“We acquired underperforming, vertical businesses and rebranded them to Candoo and turned it into a franchise machine,” co-founder James McGovern said. “We built a high-performance engine that gives us serious results.”
Its many cleaning and property services include lawn care, fence repair, carpet cleaning, general maintenance, HVAC—you name it. In its first year, Candoo had 52 franchisees, said McGovern.
“If you ever looked at your phone book and said, ‘Why am I chasing five different contractors to do five different jobs,’ we do have a better way,” he said.
Candoo’s corporate team takes care of acquiring customers, sending quotes, invoicing and payment collecting. He said a lot of companies hire employees who are trained to perform several services, while not doing any of those services particularly well. But Candoo, McGovern said, hires specialists who work in one of its service categories.
“That means every service is delivered by someone who knows it inside out, not someone googling how to do it whilst they’re in the van,” he said.
Chatime
Boba tea brand Chatime has lofty aspirations. It has roughly 1,500 units worldwide, mainly in Asia and Australia, but just 16 stores in the United States as of July. CEO Carlos Antonius said he intends to bring that number to 1,000 in the U.S. by 2034.
“We aim to revolutionize the tea-drinking culture and become renowned as a beverage brand,” Antonius said. “Our brand vision is to be the most culturally relevant and most loved tea brand in the world.”
The cost to open a Chatime franchise ranges from $293,100 to $479,900, according to its franchise disclosure document. Of five Chatime locations open for all of 2024, net sales varied from $125,407 to $793,037.
Immersive Gamebox
Immersive Gamebox is an interactive gaming franchise looking to grow in the U.S.
Gamer customers have a new option in Immersive Gamebox, the interactive gaming brand in which players use their whole bodies and special headwear to participate.
Franchisees can have multiple “gameboxes,” which service two to six players each. Venues typically have eight to 10 boxes and guests play 30- to 60-minute games with their friends.
As a customer moves, so does their character. The technology also picks up which team a player is on and some boxes have touch screens.
“We have an incredibly scalable and consistent experience that’s being delivered,” Franchise Development Director Nick St. George said. “We have a library of games that our customers use around the world.”
Game themes include Batman, Squid Game, Angry Birds, Ghostbusters and Paw Patrol, among others.
Chaiiwala
Indian street food is popular in the United Kingdom for takeaway service. Chaiiwala takes its menu a step further with hot and cold chai, desserts, ice cream and breakfast.
The brand offers franchisees several options for store layouts, including main streets, shopping malls, medical centers and universities, which U.S. Country Manager Nazibur Rahman said perform well in the United Kingdom.
“Students really like the brand,” he said. “They appreciate the value that you’re getting for your money.”
Some of its street food items are a vegetable kebab, butter chicken roll and an aloo tikki burger. Chaiiwala also sells traditionally brewed chai, plus variations like a chai latte or pink chai. Pistachio milk cake and a gulab jamun (fried donuts) sundae are some of many desserts.
“We see a large amount of opportunity,” Rahman said. “We’re really ready to get started.”
Piccolo Me and SolBowl
Sibling brands Piccolo Me and SolBowl have presences in Australia.
Coffee franchise Piccolo Me is expanding in India and Iraq and is targeting U.S. growth.
Piccolo Me, an Australian coffee franchise, signed agreements for India and Iraq and now is pushing for U.S. expansion. The brand has more than 70 locations with plans to open another 25 this year.
“We look at the U.S. market and we know that it’s a pretty sophisticated market for coffee,” said Doug Downer, the international head of recruitment for SolBowl. “We have some views on the quality of coffee that exists in the U.S. market and we believe that we have an opportunity to bring what is a really strong brand to the U.S. market.”
Acai bowl brand SolBowl has seven stores in Australia.
Related: Want Gen Z to Buy Your Products? Make Them Social Media-Worthy, Franchise Execs Say
Season’s Art Class
This art class franchise is geared toward adults, but most of its students are retired seniors. The in-person art courses meet weekly and give its students the chance to learn and practice drawing and painting skills. The United Kingdom-based franchise started in 2009 and has about 130 locations.
“It is a franchise that is recession resistant because we are targeting retired people and retired people have an ongoing stream of income,” said Franz-Josef Ebel, international expansion manager. “Some of them have actually been attending the classes for eight to 10 years.”
About 50 to 70 percent of students return for more courses. The senior-aged population is growing rapidly and students attend Season’s not only to learn a new skill, but to make friends.
Franchisees don’t need art experience or permanent real estate to run a Season’s Art Class, Ebel said. Operators rent out a space once a week, such as a room in a church or community center.
“The overheads are very low and we have premium pricing,” Ebel said.