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Austin, Texas: December 16, 2013 “ ONE OFF THE END CAP”
This week, I sat down with Randy Murphy, CEO of Mama Fu’s Asian House. Based in Austin, Texas, MamaFu’s focuses on providing healthy, fresh, made-to-order Asian food in the fast-casual space. From their corporate offices along the banks of downtown Austin’s “TownLake” hike & bike trail, the affable CEO explains his firm’s new mantra “One off the end cap!”
The commercial real estate landscape is competitive, and can be expensive. Financial success comes down to maximizing the investment dollar at each location. In the past, MamaFu’s, and many restaurants, spent a lot of energy (and money) on sites focused primarily on the end cap of a retail center. The thought was the end cap was more visible, typically came with outdoor seating, and would generate more sales. At issue, is the fact that there is such fierce competition for the end caps, coupled with the tighter supply of endcaps, that the leasing cost per foot is substantially highter than an inline space. But the real reason for “one off the end cap”, is that Murphy and MamaFu’s, have analyzed their sales, and found that off-premise sales: takeout, delivery and catering is nearly 50% of total sales.
Hence: “one off the end cap”.
MamaFu’s expands through the franchise model, but not your typical franchise model. Rather than bring in franchisees, who may have no experience in the competitive restaurant industry, Murphy’s team expands by selling a territory to a multi-site operator with previous multi-site restaurant experience. For example, Steve Chappelear, of Houston, Texas inked a deal recently to open 18 MamaFu’s locations in Houston. (Press Release Link Here)
So, keep this in mind the next time you are searching out space for a commercial restaurant tenant, and definitely try the healthy, made to order food at MamaFu’s!
| Jim Young |
1801 Mopac, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78746 | |
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