QSR October 2022

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THE WIDEST RANGE OF CUTS

it from Pennsylvania-based farmers who said the mushroom “cooks and tastes like chicken.” The fast casual is also working on a McRib type of plant-based burger. “I think innovation is a key pillar of what we do at PLNT Burger,” Mendelsohn says. “So something that excites us and pushes the limits and have fun with it. But also at the root, we like to keep our menu pretty small. So consistent. There is innovation. But we just don’t approve anything on the menu.” PLNTBurger, founded inMaryland, has grown in the Northeast and Eastern Sea board. As of August, there were locations in Boston, New York, Pennsylvania, Vir ginia, and Washington, D.C., in addition toMaryland. The chain moves into densely populated markets comprised of consumers who prefer healthier diets and are climate conscious. But it’s not just in urban areas. In fact, the restaurant in Columbia, Mary land, is more suburban and always seems to be a top performer. The intention is to take PLNT Burger national, but before that, the brand will continue to grow concentrically in its geo graphic region. The chain hopes to have 16 locations by the end of this year and 30 by the completion of 2023. All restaurants are company-owned and will be in the fore seeable future. Real estate shouldn’t be a major issue since PLNT Burger began in a 110-square-foot space that challenged the brand to streamline operations and offer an efficient menu, says Goldman. That initial location was inside a Whole Foods, and PLNT Burger has kept that growth formula. Of the company’s 12 units in mid-August, 10 are based in the grocery store. The two brick-and-mortar restau rants are in New York City. Goldman and Mendelsohn view the Whole Foods strat egy as a way to quickly enter an area and build awareness. A good example of this is PLNT Burg er’s grocery location in Boston’s South End neighborhood. The store performed so well the company is opening a street side shop and another Whole Foods unit in the Greater Boston area. “What’s pretty interesting about the Whole Foods model is that it allows us to open up in these differ ent demographics and really study where the demand is,” Mendelsohn says. q

cessful, they need consider marrying a unique product with a readymade business model. In that vein, George Montagu Brown, a chef and restaurateur, realized he had a winning concept in Nomoo, a Los Angeles-based quick-serve featur ing all-vegan versions of fast-food staples. There’s a vegan smash burger, a vegan hot chicken sandwich, and, launching in August, a vegan take on Taco Bell’s famed Cheesy Gordita Crunch. “What I’m really doing is taking the favorites, the best-selling items we all know and love from differ ent fast-food restaurants, and recreating them, while keeping them quite close to the original in terms of f lavor and texture,” Montagu-Brown says. So far, the approach has garnered a lot of success, and devoted fans, since the concept opened in L.A. in 2020. Plus, he says, fandom has also stirred interest from potential franchisees. It also helps the plant-based food market is on track to be a $162 billion industry in the next decade, per a 2021 Bloomberg report. But Montagu-Brown says he needed help moving the business toward a space where it could handle growth into franchising. “I’m more of a chef,” Montagu-Brown explains. “I thought, ‘hey, let’s make the best plant-based concept, let’s change fast food by making all of the f lavors that we know and love but vegan without the sac rifice,’ but, I’m not an expert in restaurant growth.” That’s why Montagu-Brown was ready when Nomoo attracted the support of Fransmart, a leading franchise develop ment f irm. “We see Nomoo, honestly, as a 1,000-plus-unit concept,” he says. “We want this to be the plant-based quick-ser vice restaurant right next to Chipotle, right next to everywhere else.” Wyland, Montagu-Brown, and Mor fogen all separately acknowledge unique menu items are key to generating excite ment in a brand, excitement that can catch the attention of franchisees. However, they also say franchisors can’t forget about key basics: Relatively low startup costs; a consistent, easy-to-prepare product that preferably requires minimal labor to pre pare; and an easily scalable business model that has the infrastructure in place to help those franchisees succeed. q

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BenColey is Food News Media’s content editor. He can be reached at Ben@QSRmagazine.com .

ConorMorris is a contributor toFoodNewsMediaand is based inOhio.

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