Ones to Watch | By Sabrina
Davis
Izzo’s Illegal
Burrito
The atmosphere—a mix of brick, stainless steel,
and bright colors—is as high-end as the food. “We
picked colors based on the belief that certain
colors make you feel hungry or give you certain
feelings,” Kovacs says, explaining the green,
yellow, and red color palette. “We wanted
a contemporary, urban setting,”
Fernandez says, “not another Mexican cantina.”
Like everything else about the concept, the seemingly
unlikely location of Baton Rouge was planned. “We’re
from Texas, but it’s loaded with wanna-bes
and shoulda-bes,” Kovacs says. He wanted
to avoid intense head-to-head competition in the
early days. “My son was going to LSU (Louisiana
State University) at the time, and there was nothing
close to campus for the kids to eat. It looked
like a good opportunity for us.”
Breaking into a tight-knit business community with
their first store in 2001 wasn’t easy, but
it has paid off. LSU offers an off-campus prepaid
meal card option for students called
“Tiger Cash,” which Izzo’s accepts. “We’re
in excess of 35 percent of all the Tiger Cash card
swipes,” Kovacs says. But it’s not
just the students who love Izzo’s food; the
suburban location, opened in 2004, does equally
well. A third location, also in Baton Rouge, is
scheduled to open in early July.
Izzo’s Illegal Burrito
Cofounders: Gary Kovacs &
Ozzie Fernandez
HQ: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Year Started: 2001
Annual Sales: Not Disclosed
Total Units: 3
Franchise Units: 0
The next step is franchising—Kovacs and Fernandez
expect to sell their first this year and have it
open in early 2007.
WHY IT BEARS WATCHING: It
takes great food and atmosphere to draw customers.
Izzo’s has that, with the potential
to stand out even in the busiest of segments.
But perhaps more important to a successful
franchise is the business behind it. Kovacs
and Fernandez talk as much about branding,
financial planning, and franchisee support
as they do their food.
“We studied a lot of franchises long
before we ever decided to become one,” Kovacs
says. “There are a lot of franchisors
selling operations that have not been nurtured
to adulthood.”
With that in mind, Izzo’s decided to
take it slow.
“We’ve been getting offers to
franchise for three years,” Fernandez
says. “We wanted to be ready before
taking that step.”
Eventually, though, the founders decided
to set their own example.
“We decided to do a couple ourselves
to show people we were willing to put our
own money where our mouth is,”
Kovacs says, explaining that their company-owned
restaurants pay the same fees to a separate
management company that they’ll ask
the franchises to pay. The team plans to require
that franchisees be owner-operators with a
food background to ensure success.
They’ll focus initial expansion in
the Southeast and hope to open two or three
new stores in 2007 and double that number
in 2008.
