The Daytime Café will open more than 110 new franchise restaurants within 5 years
Award-winning breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant First Watch announced today that it has finalized several additional development agreements with established and renowned franchise operators. Collectively, First Watch plans to open a minimum of 110 franchise restaurants in key growth markets with its new and existing franchise partners by 2022, in addition to its 150 planned company-owned restaurant openings.
Charleston, South Carolina; Augusta and Savannah, Georgia
RAS, LLC, a new entity made up of restauranteurs Ryan Hendrix, Andrew Brooks and Steven Hendrix, is among the new franchise partnerships. The fast-growing franchise group plans to develop seven new First Watch restaurants in Charleston, Augusta and Savannah. The RAS team currently operates eight Jersey Mike’s restaurants in the Charleston and Chattanooga markets. The group is now focusing its growth efforts on the casual dining segment, with its initial First Watch opening planned for this year in Bluffton, South Carolina, and another planned in the Charleston metro area in 2018.
Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina
First Watch has also partnered with TFW Licensing, LLC to open at least six First Watch restaurants in and around Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. John Tobe, primary owner of the franchise entity, has extensive experience in the restaurant industry, once owning more than 40 Papa John’s restaurants in three states.
Louisiana and Mississippi
Quail Ridge Enterprises has also joined the growing First Watch franchise roster and will focus on growing the daytime café’s brand with 10 planned openings Northern Louisiana and Mississippi. Led by Spencer and Janie Mooney, the franchise group currently operates multiple Newk’s Eatery restaurants in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Missouri and Arkansas
National and Battlefield Investments, LLC is another new First Watch franchise group, led by James Tillman and Joseph Hulston. The group has agreed to open at least five First Watch restaurants in Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas.
Miami, Florida
A Miami-based franchise group has also recently partnered with First Watch, with plans to open at least 10 additional First Watch restaurants in and around Miami. Further details of the partnership have not yet been announced.
“At First Watch, our main priority has been quality, measured growth while maintaining a focus on our values, our unique menu philosophies and strengthening our culture,” said Chris Tomasso, president of First Watch. “We spend a great amount of time getting to know our potential franchise partners and their values, goals, experiences and overall work ethic, and they do the same for us. Both our existing and our new franchise partners have all shown an ability to develop and successfully operate restaurants in multiple markets, and we’re confident that each of these groups will operate successful First Watch restaurants while maintaining our people-focused culture.”
In addition to the 36 restaurants to be built under these new development agreements with RAS, LLC, TFW Licensing, LLC, Quail Ridge Enterprises and National and Battlefield Investments, LLC, the company’s existing franchise partners are scheduled to open more than 75 First Watch restaurants based on previously established development agreements.
First Watch serves its entire menu seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. and offers customers complimentary newspapers and free Wi-Fi Internet access.
For First Watch franchise information, please visit http://www.firstwatch.com/franchise/.
First Watch specializes in award-winning, made-to-order Breakfast, Brunch and Lunch. A recipient of more than 200 “Best Breakfast” and “Best Brunch” accolades, First Watch offers traditional favorites, such as omelets, pancakes, sandwiches and salads, and unique specialty items like Quinoa Power Bowls, Avocado Toast and the Chickichanga. First Watch was named the 2016 top Family Dining restaurant by Consumer Reports, a 2015 Top Consumer Pick by Nation’s Restaurant News and a 2014 Top Franchise Value by FSR Magazine. First Watch is the largest and fastest-growing daytime-only restaurant concept in the U.S. with more than 300 restaurants in 26 states, including more than 200 First Watch restaurants, 95 The Egg & I restaurants, one The Good Egg restaurant in Phoenix and one Bread & Company restaurant in Nashville. For more information, visit firstwatch.com.
