deals with vendors.
Last year, he also opened
a training facility and new
restaurant prototype in
Spartanburg, S.C., not far
from Eggs Up headquarters.
The store demonstrates a
refreshed, contemporary look,
and it has already rolled out
new, Instagrammable items: a
shrimp and grits omelet, baked
peaches and cream pancakes.
To ensure consistency,
Richardson created a team of
franchise consultants, who visit
each store a few times each quar-
ter to check food quality and
ascertain how servers, managers,
and bussers interact with guests
and with the franchisee. “It’s nice
when they stop by,” says fran-
chisee Rob Johnson, who works
alongside his brother, Scott. “It
doesn’t feel like an inspection or
anything hostile.”

But there’s no doubt about

the purpose of the visits. The

corporate office wants to

ramp up profits and sell more

stores. “We’re projecting plus

or minus 18 restaurants open-

ing in 2020, which, compar-

atively, is almost a 50 percent

growth rate,” says Todd Owen,

the company’s new VP of fran-

chise development. “We actu-

ally opened five in January.”

Owen, who previously helped

Qdoba Mexican Eats expand

from 60 to 600 locations, says

he was lured in by Eggs Up’s

strong market position under

WJ Partners. It’s well-funded,

franchisees are stoked about

the brand, and Richardson has

stacked the new executive team

with industry veterans.

Results are already visible.

Recently, Eggs Up signed a

10-store multi-unit deal with a

Wendy’s franchisee. “We want

to be one of the big dogs,” says

Owen. “But we’re not just wish-

ing; we’re getting there.”

FOR NOW, Eggs Up will limit

its growth to the Southeast. “I

look at it like we can’t afford to

make one mistake,” says Owen.

Because if Eggs Up Grill becomes

just another anonymous place to

buy bacon and pancakes, what

does it really have to offer?

The new challenge, then, is

to figure out which parts of the

old regime can help this new

regime grow.

Corn has no regrets about sell-

ing. He likes the new changes

and understands the value of

having a big corporate office

to handle the day-to-day oper-

ations. “Now instead of call-

ing Skip for 50 percent of the

answers and Chris for 50 percent

of the answers, you can call one

of 10 people and get somebody

who’s an expert in that field,” he

says. In a way, that’s what the

two partners always wanted:

better support for franchisees.

And unlike the old owners,

these new owners are very sup-

portive of multi-unit owner-

ship. That’s been great news to

some of Eggs Up’s most ambi-

tious franchisees. Scott and

Rob Johnson are planning to

open a third Eggs Up. Hampton

already did so—and he may

keep going.

“I was probably not going to

do any more stores,” he says.

“But then the new group bought

them. We’re just now getting

ready to take off and watch this

concept grow.”

Clint Carter is a writer

based in New York.

* Data are based on each company’s Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDD) for all franchise centers open in 2017, except for Kumon, which are for centers open at least three years, Learning RX which are centers open in 2018 and Tutor Doctor, which

are for centers open at least one year. We estimate Club Z! revenue from its fi nancial statement as total franchisor revenue, less purchase of trademarked material and software fees, divided by the average royalty rate, then divided by the number of

centers. Grade level results are based on cumulative average gHuntington® students graduating in 2019. rade level increase in reading and math for 17,445 students from 2010 to 2014 using the full set of available student data. SAT, ACT, and scholarship results are based on surveys of 3,289

THESE NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES!

JOIN THE # 1 REVENUE PRODUCING TUTORING FRANCHISE

1.800.653.8400

[email protected]

http://www.HuntingtonFranchise.com

53

% MORE REVENUE

THAN OUR CLOSEST COMPETITOR*

50,000+

ENTREPRENEUR’S

FRANCHISE

500 LIST

REVENUE

GROWTH

(2009 – 2018)

STUDENTS TUTORED

ANNUALLY

39 29

%

$71K ON AVERAGE

INDIVIDUAL SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS