Red Mango is expanding its franchise offerings to include kiosk, co-branded, and self-serve concepts in addition to its full-service stores. The move comes as part of a strategic plan to grow the Red Mango brand even more aggressively nationwide in 2010.
“We are adding unprecedented flexibility to increase our market presence while ensuring the integrity of our successful brand and expanding menu,” says Dan Kim, founder and CEO of Red Mango. “Our new store platform extensions and how we deliver our products to the market will allow us to adapt to more venues, reach more customers, secure the best brand exposure, and deliver the greatest returns to our prospective franchisees and licensees. Our goal is to serve our all-natural, award-winning products to more people in more ways.”
Red Mango franchise opportunities will now include three store formats. The first is Red Mango Full-Service, which offers customers a comprehensive line of made-to-order Red Mango menu items in stylish and engaging retail environments. The second is Red Mango Express, which offers customers a comprehensive or select line of Red Mango menu items in venues with smaller footprints, such as kiosks and co-branded venues. And the third is Red Mango Self-Serve, which will offer customers the opportunity to serve Red Mango’s line of frozen yogurt and toppings themselves.
These flexible options will enable the Red Mango menu and experience to be delivered in a wide range of real estate platforms including shopping malls, lifestyle centers, captive audience venues, free-standing pads, and traditional strip-mall and inline-street destinations.
The Red Mango Express platform has been tested successfully in select markets across the U.S. Current versions of this platform include the Red Mango kiosk at the MSNBC.com Digital Café at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City, the Red Mango kiosk at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Red Mango kiosk co-branded with Auntie Anne’s Pretzels at Burnsville Center Mall in Minnesota, and the Red Mango kiosk co-branded with The Original Soupman at NorthPark Center Mall in Dallas. The Red Mango Self-Serve platform is scheduled to debut early 2010 in New York and Texas.
“Stores that will be developed from Red Mango’s record number of franchise agreements awarded this year will be opened based on this variety of platforms,” says James Franks, vice president of franchise sales for Red Mango. “Our expanded real estate offerings have attracted highly-skilled multi-unit franchisees and licensees looking to add the Red Mango brand to their growing portfolio of successful businesses. In addition, entrepreneurs entering the franchising arena have also welcomed the additional options.”
“With the introduction of our new self-serve platform, we will be the only frozen yogurt retailer to embrace a versatile and adaptive portfolio of real estate solutions through which we will be able to deliver our innovative and evolving menu,” Kim says.
