Press Release

Claxton, GA, Brooksville, FL, and Dexter, MO, will all be getting new Huddle House restaurants in 2017. So will Maggie Valley, NC, Hopkinsville, KY, and five other cities, including locations in Alabama and South Carolina. The one thing they all have in common? All 10 locations are being developed by current Huddle House franchise owners, thanks to growth incentives offered to existing franchisees in 2016 to help promote growth.

 

When the offer for financial incentives of up to $70,000 ended on Dec. 30, 2016, we closed out the year with 10 new development deals — and eight very satisfied breakfast franchise owners.

 

Mike Lokhandwala, who already owns the Valdosta, GA, Huddle House, which he acquired in 2016, is planning three more locations in Florida, including the one in Brooksville, FL that will open this year. For this experienced franchise owner, who previously owned Church’s Chicken and currently owns Wingstop franchises, adding more Huddle House units has always been part of his game plan.

 

 

“They have a great strategic road map ahead of them,” Lokhandwala says. “They are taking one step at a time and doing the right things, from menu innovation to the remodels and the new look of the Evolution [redesign] package. Also the operations, systems and processes that are being implemented. Training is big on the radar, there are a lot of resources being used from corporate and the right people are being hired.”

 

 

Huddle House is a robust, growing chain of breakfast franchises offering Southern-inspired comfort food at a great value. For our guests, part of the appeal of Huddle House is our hometown gathering place atmosphere, our focus on excellent guest experiences and our “Any meal. Any time.” philosophy. For prospective multi-unit franchisees, part of the appeal of joining our 50-year-old brand is getting a great value on a solid business investment with an established brand that continues to evolve while maintaining our core values.

 

We are strategically planning the growth of our Southern diner franchise, offering protected territories for expansion into markets that are new for Huddle House and introducing our brand beyond our stronghold in the South. In addition to expanding partnerships with legacy owners, we encourage prospective franchisees to explore our franchise offering. Lokhandwala points to three main selling points that convinced him to join the Huddle House franchise family: brand culture, great food and “the compelling unit economics. If you were to compare this brand and the unit economics with the other competition out there, it is going to be hard to find something to compare to this,” he says.

 

 

In 2017, we plan to expand our nearly 400-unit chain by opening 25 new locations and signing 30 new franchise agreements. We have carefully honed our operating systems over the years, thanks to plenty of franchisee feedback and a strong management team, each with 30-plus years of restaurant operations experience. Huddle House is an attractive offering for the multi-unit investor as well as the single-unit owner-operator.

 

Huddle House has its roots in small-town Georgia, and we still thrive in small towns or anywhere that communities are looking for a hometown gathering place. We pride ourselves on maintaining our signature Southern hospitality while keeping up with the times by updating our back-of-house technology system for our franchise partners, helping them to more efficiently control food, labor and inventory costs, and debuting a new loyalty program app for our guests.

 

 

We’re planning to add another 100 units by 2020, and we’re looking for investors interested in multi-unit and single-unit opportunities. If you’d like to learn more about our Southern diner franchise opportunity, including financial information and startup costs, please fill out the form on this page. You’ll receive your own password to access the Huddle House Franchise Information Center, where you can review our financial information, read Q&As with longtime franchisees, review tutorials for first-time franchise buyers and more.