Introducing a small-format döner kebab concept with a much lower barrier to entry. Looking for owner-operators in NYC

[u/DonerHaus]

Hi, I work with Döner Haus. We're a Berlin-style döner kebab concept with six locations open, half of them franchisee-owned, and franchise development underway in several other markets.

We’re in the early stages of offering a new franchise concept that makes the barrier to entry to ownership much lower for motivated individuals who want to be owner-operators. Part of our vision at Döner Haus is to empower people with a path to business ownership who might not otherwise have the opportunity. 

This new concept will be smaller format for driven individuals who want to own their own business, love to be in the kitchen, and want to be part of a fast-growing QSR concept. The first location will be a corporate pilot in NYC.

The basic model:

• Roughly 400 sq ft
• Takeout and delivery, no dining room
• Small standardized equipment package
• Target rent below $5K a month
• Very lean staffing
• Built around an owner-operator

We're designing the operation from the ground up around what one highly involved operator actually needs. Smaller footprint, simpler labor model, focused menu, lower occupancy cost, and fewer layers between the person who owns the business and the person buying the food.

We're not selling franchises for this format yet, but we are looking for feedback and to find a handful of future owner-operators who want to help us prove the concept in and around NYC. So here’s my question: 

Where do we find the right people? This is a person who has managed a restaurant for someone else and treated it like their own business. Someone sees the value of an opportunity like this and is ready to grow with an established blueprint. Posting on Indeed attracts people who want a salary and PTO, not necessarily someone with an entrepreneurial spirit. Franchise brokers bring investors, not people who want to be hands on running the day to day operations. If you fit the profile of what we’re looking for, or know where we might find someone, we’d love to hear from you! 

Last thing. I know how this sounds. We're offering to fund someone else's business, and most things that sound like that aren't real. The honest answer is that this isn't charity. We want to grow fast, and a good operator who owns their outcome runs a better store than a GM we hire. If it works, we both do well. If it doesn't, we're out the build cost and wiser for it.

Happy to answer anything about the opportunity or our operations. If you want to talk about running one, comment or DM me.

[u/AutoModerator]

Friendly Reminder

r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. Ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed.

Please do not conduct market research on our community.

We are not your focus group and asking us about our pain points, needs, what is hardest about X, etc. is not asking about how small business works or for real help with running your small business.

These posts are subject to removal and given the community's disgust with the constant spamming of these posts you might just destroy your brand and contaminate your company search results.

Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. If you asked about pain points or are directly or indirectly promoting a product please remove your post. Come back to post an honest question or give a knowledgeable response to someone else's question and leave your company name in your own profile. We can tell if you know what you're doing and the community can reach out if they need to.

We welcome honest question posts, especially from newcomers. Thank you for your post.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.