Froots, a national quick-service franchise focused on healthy food and beverages, announced that its founder David Lopez and former COO Scott Mortier are returning to day-to-day management of the brand to drive franchise development efforts.
Lopez founded Froots in 2001 at 19 years old and quickly opened two more locations due to high demand. Customer inquiries about the franchise opportunity began pouring in, leading Lopez to begin franchising Froots in 2004. After taking a heavy hit with the recession, the young franchise scaled back franchise development efforts to focus on supporting existing franchisees. With this change, new management came in, leading Lopez and Mortier to shift their attention toward building other franchises.
Today, Froots has more than 30 U.S. units as well as several international locations, and expects to add 50 restaurants in the next two years. “Over nearly a decade, we’ve watched Froots be poorly managed and dwindle from 90-plus locations to below 40 units. We want to revive Froots and bring a whole new life to the brand,” says Mortier, now the company’s executive vice president of business development.
To further develop the restaurant’s menu and operational systems, Lopez and Mortier recently formed a mutually beneficial partnership with executives of Gyroville, a popular Miami-area fast casual, build-your-own Mediterranean franchise.
“The timing is right,” Lopez adds. “Our existing units are all solid performers, posting positive comps. With this strong base, I knew that we could really grow Froots if we pulled in the right people to develop the brand and were strategic with the franchises we award. Our goal is to build a world-class brand, growing one successful franchisee at a time—ultimately, becoming the leading healthy food destination in the quick-service space.”
Froots caters to a large, growing segment of the U.S. population that is more health conscious and aware of better eating habits. As a relatively low investment for a restaurant franchise, Froots also extends into the $2 billion U.S. juice and smoothie bar market, which has experienced a 2.9 percent increase in annual growth since 2010.
Lopez says, “We’re going to be very careful during our franchise sales process to ensure we’re partnering with people who have the right expectations of opening a [quick-service] franchise and have the drive to succeed.”
Ideal franchisees are owner-operators, but do not need prior restaurant experience due to the company’s training program. Froots has a perfected, streamlined franchise program that provides franchisees support from the day the franchise agreement is signed through site selection, construction, training, and creating a comprehensive marketing plan that is designed to keep customers returning for years to come.
