Tom Foley typically doesn’t eat fried food. Yet, during a menu tasting for chef Tiffany Derry’s duck-fat fried chicken concept Roots Chicken Shak, Foley took one bite of the Big Bird sandwich, “and I didn’t stop. I finished it,” he recalls. “And then Tiffany comes out with a Spicy Bird, the spicy version of it. I took a bite and finished it. At one point she looks at me, because we still have chicken wings and tenders to go through, and Tiffany goes, ‘you know this is a tasting, right?’ I’m not so sure if that’s how you’re supposed to have a tasting.”
That’s just one example of why Foley believes in the nationwide scalability potential of Roots Chicken Shak, which recently announced the launch of its new innovative franchising model. A second factor is the brand’s commitment to providing unparalleled hospitality for guests by creating a fun, intentionally designed work environment for employees. And a third—perhaps the most important—is the restaurant’s mission to provide ownership opportunities to marginalized community members, especially women and people of color.
Derry partnered with Foley, who practiced law for more than 15 years, to create T2D Concepts in 2016. The duo opened the first Roots Chicken Shak the following year in 2017 at FB Society’s Legacy Food Hall in Plano, Texas. After seeing the success after the first year of operating, they decided to expand and open a second location at H-E-B’s MainStreat Food Hall in Austin. “Through that process, from the day we first met through the execution, led ultimately to our decision to franchise probably about 18 months again, and then we embarked on that process,” Foley says.
Foley and Derry believe something is wrong with the current franchising model, but there’s a way to fix it: by flipping the application and qualification process around to focus on a candidate’s hospitality experience and commitment, rather than their current financial situation. “What we see within the industry typically is one of the first thresholds or hurdles that you need to clear when you’re applying to or being considered for a franchise is your net worth followed by credit score. And Tiffany and I are not so sure those are the right hurdles to set up as the first level of clearance for a myriad of reasons,” Foley explains.
“We have a social impact goal of driving greater opportunity and minimizing inequities, which are focused on financial capabilities, historical wealth, and generational wealth, so we need to remove that hurdle in order for us to create those opportunities,” he continues. “If we’re looking at owning a franchise, it’s an opportunity to create wealth, not expand wealth, then what you’re looking for is that operator that has experience within restaurants and knows the four walls, [who] doesn’t have perhaps the financial ability to run her own business, but really has the skill set to do it. For us, we simply redefine that introductory application.”
A third Roots Chicken Shak location recently secured permitting for a drive-thru, and is slated to begin construction in DeSoto, Texas. Future franchisees will have a choice between various restaurant build options with an average footprint of 1,200 to 1,500 square feet, though Foley adds there is a strong preference to include drive-thrus at end cap locations where it makes sense.
“We’re not blind to the fact that you need money to open a restaurant. Restaurants are more capital intensive than some other service based franchises, so we realize we have to close that gap,” Foley notes. He and Derry are showcasing one way to do that through a unique funding model with the city of DeSoto, which partnered with Roots Chicken Shak by giving them a land grant to start construction on a building, then identify the right franchise operator for the location. “It takes a little bit more effort on our part as the franchisor to find the financial resources in order to close that gap.”
Ultimately, the job of a franchisor is to help provide the tools and resources that franchisees need to be successful—whether that’s help with marketing or financial resources, Foley adds.
Related: How Franchising Can Create Equitable Pathways to Ownership
For qualified individuals who may be undercapitalized, T2D’s solution is crafted to clear financial hurdles by leveraging strategic relationships with funding partners, municipalities, and companies aligned with the group’s mission.
“As a black female, I understand and empathize with the challenges of breaking into and becoming successful in the hospitality industry. That’s why this endeavor is so important—to be able to provide under-resourced individuals the opportunity and resources to build a better life for not only themselves, but also the communities they live in,” Derry said in a statement.
A native of Beaumont, Texas, Derry gained international notoriety when she appeared on the seventh season of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” where she achieved a spot in the final four. She was also selected to participate in “Top Chef: All-Stars,” where she was again a finalist.
Roots Chicken Shak is targeting expansion in the DFW Metro area and the surrounding regions of Texas, plus eventually looking to break into Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. “We want to make sure that we are ready and able to quickly support the franchisees that join our team,” Foley says. “One of our core values is the importance of ‘we over me,’ the idea that it is truly a team effort. So we chose those locations with the idea that we can get there reasonably quickly in the event the franchisee needs some assistance, and then we will grow beyond that.”
T2D Concepts also encompasses Roots Chicken Shak’s sister concept and Derry’s full-service concept, Roots Southern Table (formerly called Roots Southern Kitchen); ‘Shef Tiffany, a spice and apparel line; and Radici, a new Italian restaurant (radici means “roots” in Italian) set to open later this year near Roots Southern Table in Farmers Branch, Texas.
“We have had high-net-worth investors that say, ‘how do we invest with you?’ And our answer is ‘not with us, but with the right operator. She will be the owner of the restaurant, not the other way around,’” Foley adds. “That harkens to a comment my dad used to share: ‘he or she who has the gold makes the rules.’ We want to change that. So he or she who has the experience, directs the operations and creates that ownership opportunity.”
