Development

rd+d: How tough is it to maintain brand standards while bringing multiple new franchisees quickly into a largely corporate-owned and –operated system?

JB: The majority of our executive team members are long-established Breadheads. They've helped to create what it is that makes the concept special and want to ensure that its heart and soul isn't lost as new franchise partners come aboard. We carefully vet all candidates and in all of our interactions we share the passion we have for the brand. We have implemented fairly rigid systems to help us ensure that standards are upheld. That being said, we don't profess to know everything and having a high-quality group of franchise partners benefits us from the standpoint that we see this is a collaborative effort.

A brand has to continue to evolve and many great initiatives, from design to menu development, have been brought to us by our franchise partners.

rd+d: Beyond the push into franchising, how has private-equity ownership impacted your go-to-market strategy?

JB: One of the beautiful things about being owned by Roark Capital is that they're very cognizant of what makes each brand in their portfolio unique in the marketplace. They don't tinker with that uniqueness because they understand it's a marketable asset. They also know that in keeping their concepts unique, it's very tough for someone else to start up an imitation. A lot of PE firms do try to change things and slash and add or follow what competitors are doing, but Roark takes a hands-off approach while at the same time providing expert guidance in areas that guests don't see. They also have growing rapidly through franchising down to a science in terms of building infrastructure and providing support. That's critical, because the last thing we want to do is to whip everyone into a frenzy on the sales side and then drop the ball because we're not ready.

rd+d: Last year was transformative — and a lot of work for you. Are you having fun yet?

JB: Let me start by saying that I didn't take any vacation last year and my golf game hasn't gotten any better. It's one thing to have a successful year when you're firing on all cylinders from the day you start. But we had to build the engine before we could even start it up. This year, we have so much more energy and it's completely different. We have 10 times what we had in the pipeline last year. We'll roughly double what we did last year, which was 150 percent better than what we did the previous year. So yes, it's been a bit frenetic but it's exciting and very gratifying being part of the process of getting new franchisees up and running — from the day you first meet them to the day they open their new cafés. I love being in the trenches, shaking the hands and helping to guide that process.