Dacha Beer Garden, DC’s most popular gathering spot and one of the top five beer gardens in the country ranked by USA Today, announced the hiring of Charlie Dobyns, CEO with Strategic Franchise Development, LLC. The industry veteran has more than 20 years of success helping hundreds of major brands with growth and expansion through franchising and is certain Dacha Beer Garden’s proven business model will be attractive to high-end investors.
“We’re excited to take this next step with franchising, and we are confident that Charlie will bring the right opportunities to us,” says Ilya Alter, co-owner of Dacha Beer Garden. “There are several underserved markets on the East Coast and particularly throughout the Southeast that would be ideal for the Dacha Beer Garden brand and culture.”
Dobyns started his career in 1988 when he purchased his first franchise, Dorman’s Tire, and expanded it to 31 units before selling the business. He retired when he was 38 years old, played golf for two years, and then realized he couldn’t get away from the franchising bug and had to get back in the game. He worked as Vice-President of Franchise Development for Rhino Linings for three years as well as companies such as Line-x, Fast Wrap USA, and Franchising Dynamics before starting his own firm 12 years ago. Since then, Strategic Franchise Development Pros has flourished as one of the top franchising consulting firms in the world with its headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, and an office in Costa Rica that handles international clientele.
“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to lead Dacha Beer Garden into the next phase of growth and development through franchising,” Dobyns says. “Strategic Franchise Development strives to solve critical franchising issues facing our clients by offering a broad range of services and solutions. Our experienced team will focus on helping Dacha Beer Garden facilitate change, achieve their vision, and optimize performance and productivity – resulting in strategic, responsible, franchise development growth.”
Since co-owners Ilya Alter and Dmitri Chekaldin debuted their first Dacha Beer location in DC’s Shaw neighborhood in 2013, they have experienced remarkable success in just 10 years. Capitalizing on year-over-year growth and significant profit margins, they opened a second sprawling location in 2019 at Navy Yard, directly across from Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals major league baseball team. During the pandemic when many restaurants and bars were struggling, Dacha’s unwavering sales prompted them to pursue franchising with their proven playbook to help scale the business.
Dobyns said his efforts will include zeroing in on the Southeast, including hot markets such as Miami as well as underserved coastal cities in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas.
“Location is critical, so we are looking at prime real estate in high traffic areas that attract locals as well as tourists,” Dobyns notes. “The Southeast is perfect because you can drink beer outdoors almost all year long, and actually any time of year if the venue has heaters. We’ve researched the territories and believe there are more than a few cities that would be thrilled to see Dacha Beer Garden come to town.”
