My Favorite Muffin® Is Making Sure Muffins Are the Next Big Thing in Foodservice

The food industry is full of breakfast, dessert and bakery franchises—but the Illinois-based My Favorite Muffin® is the only gourmet muffin-focused franchise concept.

Since 1988 My Favorite Muffin® has grown into a national brand recognized for premium-quality ingredients, original flavors and personalized service. My Favorite Muffin®—recently named one of Entrepreneur’s 2019 Top Food Franchises—offers owners two models from which to choose: a lower-cost muffin bakery concept, named My Favorite Muffin Gourmet Muffin Bakery™ as well as a full-service café, named My Favorite Muffin, Your All Day Bakery Cafe®****.

“We have spent significant time and money creating a new in-store design, revamping our franchising model and building content around the brand in hopes of ensuring that muffins will be the next big business,” said Brian Evans, Franchise Development Lead for My Favorite Muffin®. “What sets us apart is most notably our product—a muffin experience unlike anything our customers have had before.”

As opposed to the bagels, specialty drinks and sandwiches sold at the full-service cafe, the My Favorite Muffin Gourmet Muffin Bakery™ concept sells two distinct lines of products: great-tasting muffins and high-quality coffee to accompany them. The premium-quality ingredients and exclusive proprietary formula result in an original, gourmet product with a cake-like crumb structure and texture that sets it apart from any other muffin experience. A secret combination of batter ingredients, fillings and toppings provide franchisees with over 100 different varieties with which to entice customers, including everything from classic favorites like Blueberry and Chocolate Chip to unique creations such as Key Lime, Boston Cream Pie or Pineapple Cheesecake.

With the competitive advantage of approximately 50% of in-store revenue coming from gift and catering sales, the brand offers compelling growth opportunities as repeat customers drive recurring revenue.

“A limited product line leads to a lower cost of goods,” said Evans. “This is a big advantage for the franchisee because the muffin focus emphasizes efficient training, ensuring that the staff at each location—capped at 10 employees—can do the job and do the job well.”

In addition to franchisee and staff training, My Favorite Muffin® also benefits franchisees by capitalizing on the need for low costs and unique offerings amidst a competitive market.

“The Gourmet Muffin Bakery™ concept lends itself to a small footprint around 1,500 square feet,” said Evans. “That small real estate footprint, coupled with a desire to keep buildout and equipment costs reasonable, keeps our initial investment low.”

According to Evans, franchisees can purchase and build-out two My Favorite Muffin Gourmet Muffin Bakery™ concepts for the cost of what many other franchisors require for one. The wide-open muffin market positions franchisees for explosive growth and industry-leading scalability. Over 25 years of leadership experience from the executive team brings unparalleled support and training to franchisees.

There is currently only one Gourmet Muffin Bakery™ concept in the franchise system, but Evans is confident in the opportunity to expand the brand by focusing on the offering and its lower food cost, simple business model and wide-open industry. With the help of My Favorite Muffin Gourmet Muffin Bakery™ 's unique concept, muffins are primed to be the next big thing in franchising.

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a My Favorite Muffin® franchise ranges from $234,000 to $338,000 for a full cafe store, and $96,500 to $268,000 for a satellite store. Both figures are inclusive of the franchise fee. To learn more about franchising opportunities with My Favorite Muffin, visit ***