In a revolutionary move, two of the nation’s premiere fast-casual restaurant franchises announced a partnership today with RaaS (Restaurant as a Service), a management company designed to help restaurants grow their brands via a ghost kitchen model. This news comes not long after both Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and Wing Zone unveiled aggressive development plans that will expand each brand’s brick and mortar footprint in states across the country. The RaaS deal demonstrates yet another move towards industry dominance within both the sandwich and wing categories.
RaaS supports existing restaurant concepts by managing operations inside a ghost kitchen facility. The group partners with distinctive and celebrated brands to help them operate profitably by leveraging experience and maximizing revenue within the delivery channel. Since 2017, RaaS’s primary focus has been fulfilling demand and helping expanding its partner brands to new territories. This most recent deal with Capriotti’s and Wing Zone began with the acquisition of two ghost kitchens in Los Angeles, followed closely by the development of two more location in the LA market. The acquisitions are complete and RaaS will have the ghost kitchen locations in Anaheim and Glendale, California open by the end of July. The next round of development for RaaS will be in the Bay area, where there will be a total of three ghost kitchens open in San Mateo, San Jose and Oakland by the end of the month as well.
“RaaS is the pre-eminent management company for ghost kitchens and we are eager to partner with an industry-leader to help expand our brands into even more territories across the country,” says David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating Officer for Capriotti’s and Wing Zone. “While we believe our brick-and-mortar locations are unmatched in the fast-casual space, both Capriotti’s and Wing Zone have proven to be successful ghost kitchen operations as well and we are eager to employ both means of operations to ensure consumers nationwide are provided the opportunity to experience the difference first-hand.”
RaaS operates its own brands, including Gabriella’s Pizza, @Flowers, Los Pollos Hermanos, Pizzaoki, and Crumbs,
However, the development agreement with Capriotti’s and Wing Zone represents a unique move for the company as they are just beginning to partner with franchise brands. In addition to development in Southern California, Capriotti’s and Wing Zone will also work together with Raas to expand throughout Oregon and Washington state, respectively. Pacific Coast growth will be a primary focus for the remainder of 2022, as well as 2023, when the partnership will begin looking at additional opportunities across the Midwest and Sunbelt.
“Capriotti’s is an ideal partner to help anchor our ghost kitchen units given it’s standing as best in category and we are excited to help expand it and the Wing Zone brand into new locations,” says Drew Padnick, President of RaaS.
Capriotti’s AUV remains impressive with the top 25 percent averaging over $1.3 million, with contributions from newly-opened stores in 2022 producing a sales average of 50 percent higher than the brand’s AUV of $994,847. Wing Zone’s AUV of $1,017,337 continues to attract potential franchisees- the proof being the development pipeline surpassing 130 stores since 2021
Last month, the award-winning wing franchise launched the first Wing Zone 2.0 location in Las Vegas, positioning the brand for future growth by creating a unique experience for wing fanatics with its innovative, customer-facing technology to provide a fresh take on the dining experience. In the realm of innovation, Wing Zone is also opening the first robotic outfitted ghost kitchen this August in Pasadena, California, an attractive move for potential franchisees given its low-operating costs and high sale expectancy. In addition, the brand will open its first robotic outfitted ghost kitchen in Pasadena, California on August 15th.
