“Let’s go out for Chinese food,” you say one night to your family. “No, I want Indian,” says your eldest. And your youngest pipes up, “I want Thai!” If only there was one restaurant where everyone could get the pan-Asian food they wanted! Wok Box is going with this concept, offering food from across the Asian continent in one location. They’ve seen a great deal of success in Canada and are using the franchise model to expand into the United States. Wok Box is already planning to open more than 50 stores in Texas in the coming year and other locations are opening across the country. If you’re looking to get in on the ground floor of a hot new quick service restaurant concept, Wok Box might be it.
Wok Box believes in fresh, healthy versions of pan-Asian favorites and centers their dining experience on their famous boxes. Individual portions of menu items are served in funky takeout boxes, with rice, noodle, and curry options that feature cuisine from 10 different Asian countries. Wok Box also rotates special items regularly to bring customers back into restaurants to try the latest creations. Wok Box restaurants can be stand-alone storefronts, in high-end shopping malls, or in food courts of other venues like airports.
Franchisees can expect to spend $178,000 to $425,200 for the total investment and that greatly depends on the type of premise the franchise uses. Obviously a stand-alone restaurant will cost more than a small location in a shopping mall food court. Franchisees are required to have $100,000 in minimum cash and net worth requirements are set at $500,000. With a $25,000 initial franchise fee and a 6% royalty after the franchise is in operation, the franchise costs are relatively low compared to other quick service restaurants. Wok Box also notes in the FDD that their franchisees spend around 30% of their costs on food, which is well below the average of 47% on food. 30% is a typical goal number in the industry, and Wok Box is right on target for that goal.
How do they manage their food costs so well? It takes a system. Executive chefs at top restaurants manage food costs daily to get the best results. A 5% increase in food costs can create a soft month for profits, so it is very important for quick service restaurants to manage food costs wisely. The fact that Wok Box shares this information publicly is a good sign that they care about keeping this number as low as possible while still creating high quality products for customers. It’s an integral part of their system.
There are generally three things that go into keeping food costs low:
- order only as necessary
- optimize how ingredients are used
- work with vendors to get the best pricing
Franchising with Wok Box helps franchisees achieve these three things because they’ve created a system that focuses on efficiency and they use the power of a network of restaurants to get better pricing than an individual location could.
Combined with comprehensive support, the efficient system leads to healthy franchise businesses.
