Dive Brief:
- Huddle House, a casual dining brand owned by Ascent Hospitality, has signed its largest franchise development deal to date, a 20-store agreement with WE Food Enterprises Hospitality Group, according to an emailed press release.
- The deal will significantly expand Huddle House’s store footprint in Texas, where the chain had 17 franchised locations operating at the end of 2023, according to its franchise disclosure document.
- Huddle House expects the first store to open by June 2025, in Spring, Texas, a suburb north of Houston. The brand expects to open three more stores during that month.
Dive Insight:
Both Huddle House’s franchisee base and its total store count have eroded over the last several years. The brand dropped from 313 total units (260 franchised) at the start of 2021 to 272 stores (216 franchised) at the end of 2023, while its company store count increased modestly. Huddle House has a comparatively low average unit volume — around $818,000 in net sales per unit in 2023 — which could make it difficult to fund rapid expansion or attract large franchisees.
All the same, WE’s Chief Information Officer, Justin Criswell, said Huddle House was attractive because “we aligned with its values and mission. We hope to create a welcoming hub for colleges, local schools, and families while creating meaningful job opportunities for students.”
Peter Ortiz, chief development officer at Ascent Development, said the franchise deal foreshadowed more such development projects for Huddle House.
“This achievement continues to demonstrate the growing interest from prospective franchisees, and we look forward to more wins ahead,” Ortiz wrote in a statement.
Ascent hired Ortiz in 2021 to remake Huddle House’s and Perkins’ franchising programs. Perkins has seen some success, recently developing a new fast casual concept that it is building in Canada and Texas.
Other casual dining chains have looked to reinvigorated franchising programs to reverse multi-year unit count decreases recently. California Pizza Kitchen, for example, signed its first major domestic franchise deal under its multi-unit franchisee recruitment initiative earlier this month.
