Restaurant Franchising
Franchising in a Recovery
One year since the economic collapse brought restaurant growth to a standstill, some quick serves have started to see signs of recovery.
The burst of the housing bubble last September, which sent the world economy crashing, made expansion nearly impossible. Businesses stopped investing and banks stopped lending. The fallout at Sandella’s Flatbread Café was typical.
“The pipeline didn’t just stop getting filled,” says CEO Mike Stimola. “The whole thing basically flew apart.”
Sandella’s, which is based in West Redding, Connecticut, and has more than 100 locations, averaged 50 franchise applications in each of the first three quarters of 2008. In the next two quarters, the company received close to zero.
“Things just fell off the table,” Stimola says.
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