Profiles in Growth: Old Chicago
Three years ago, area developer Whitney VinZant was sifting through Technomic data on hundreds of franchise brands, trying to choose a restaurant concept to invest in. Old Chicago-a primarily Midwestern concept with a menu featuring pizza, pasta and 110 international beers-caught his eye.
-- Chain Leader, 5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
Three years ago, area developer Whitney VinZant was sifting through Technomic data on hundreds of franchise brands, trying to choose a restaurant concept to invest in. Old Chicago—a primarily Midwestern concept with a menu featuring pizza, pasta and 110 international beers—caught his eye.
“Old Chicago has a great risk/return model, and presented excellent opportunity for growth and profitability,” he says. With two partners, VinZant formed Oklahoma City-based Chicago Central LLC and acquired exclusive franchise rights for Old Chicago restaurants in Oklahoma, southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas, parts of Ohio and most of West Virginia.
Here are VinZant’s thoughts on expansion:
Q: What are your plans for expansion?
A: Presently we have two stores open just outside of Oklahoma City. We’re currently building a third, which will open April 21, and expect to convert three more this year in Oklahoma and Missouri. Our development agreement calls for 34 restaurants over a 10-year duration.
Q: What development strategies will you use?
A: Old Chicago lends itself to flexible development. As a franchisee, we have the opportunity to convert existing properties, which typically requires much less investment than building a prototype from the ground up. We also look for strong tenant improvement when going into end-cap locations, where the landlord subsidizes the initial build-out to be recouped in future rent payments. That can offer an attractive manner to construct a restaurant with relatively less capital out of pocket.
Q: What’s the biggest challenge you face?
A: Producing efficient operations. The actual construction
and development of restaurants is much easier than building operational infrastructure and company culture. It takes many employees all having a uniform vision to make each restaurant operate as efficiently as possible.
Q: How do you see the landscape for area development?
A: The softening of the economy has provided some opportunity in the Midwest, as certain big-box anchors and restaurant groups have slowed and even stopped development. But we still see a very competitive environment. Also, the inflation in the cost of construction material really underlies the importance of developing creatively, such as utilizing conversion and end-cap locations.
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