--- title: "SoBol Continues Rapid Growth Streak in Q1" url: https://burnaze.com/article/90c92ca0-0ae8-4f78-8851-dde547687c91 source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/sobol-continues-rapid-growth-streak-in-q1-2706666 category: "Restaurants" industry: "Restaurants" published: 2018-05-30T16:11:46.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T03:01:11.963Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/cce48e360130740ba996df6f4e98081b3967.jpg --- # SoBol Continues Rapid Growth Streak in Q1 **TL;DR:** SoBol, an acai-bowl brand, continues its rapid growth streak with 13 new locations opened and nearly 50 development deals signed in its first year of franchising. The brand has opened seven new locations and expanded into two new markets in 2018. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-05-30. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/sobol-continues-rapid-growth-streak-in-q1-2706666).* ## Story Last year, SoBol opened 13 new franchise locations and signed development deals for nearly 50 more, all in its very first year of franchising. In 2018, the emerging acai-bowl brand has continued that impressive development streak, opening seven new locations and expanding into two four markets. Though SoBol has a number of locations operating in its hometown of New York, this year’s opening in Staten Island marks the brand’s introduction to that borough, and a new store in Philadelphia is the first in Pennsylvania. According to Nick Pesko, SoBol’s director of marketing, the franchise’s rapid expansion is the result of almost entirely organic growth, with existing franchisees and customers spreading brand awareness far more than the brand’s marketing efforts. “Our growth can be attributed almost entirely to our franchisees and the strength of our product,” Pesko said. “They represent the brand better than any marketing campaign could. Every time we open a new store or enter a new market, more people get to try our product, and more people want to get involved. We’ve seen a real snowball effect, and it’s not slowing down.” While organic growth is responsible for the majority of SoBol’s recent expansion, Pesko says the brand has invested in franchise marketing, bolstering an aggressive development strategy. “We do have marketing initiatives to attract new owners,” Pesko said. “We use trade shows and digital campaigns to make sure we are reaching our target prospects, but most of our leads come from people who learn about the brand as customers or know an existing owner and want to replicate their success.” On top of the steady influx of new franchisee prospects, Pesko says existing franchisees have also started opening new stores. That’s a particularly promising trend, suggesting that SoBol owners are eager to grow with the brand. “The growth of our existing franchisees is fantastic,” Pesko said. “That’s exactly what we want to see. When an existing owner opens a second or third store, that store gets up and running quickly and we know it’s going to be run by someone who loves and understands the brand. It also reaffirms what we already know about our owners, which is that they are still excited about the brand.” SoBol now has 22 locations operating in markets throughout New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. By the end of the year, Pesko says the franchise is expecting to have roughly 40 units open in new and existing markets. But the franchise is not focused solely on growth. As SoBol continues to take one franchisees, the corporate team is doubling down on their efforts to support each store. “One of the reasons we’ve had so much success so early on is that we’ve been extremely consistent from store to store with the quality of our product, service and experience,” he said. “If we lose sight of individual owners, that consistency is going to dip and the entire system will suffer. Our corporate team is focused first and foremost on supporting our franchisees so that they have everything they need to run great stores. So as our system of franchisees grows, we’re growing our support staff as well, hiring new corporate team members and refining our support systems so that we can continue to be on call at a moments notice for each and every one of our owners.” As SoBol continues to grow both its store-count and its corporate team, Pesko says the franchise is focused on finding the best people on both sides of the team. “This system is like a family. It was built that way, and that’s how we are determined to grow: as a family,” he said. “It’s important to us to find people who are just as passionate about the brand as we are, people who want to grow with us and support each other as we continue to expand. So far, we haven’t had any trouble finding those people, and we look forward to bringing more great partners into our family throughout the rest of 2018 and beyond." ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - Restaurants (sector) - franchising (topic) - new york (location) - franchise marketing (topic) - expansion (topic) - Pennsylvania (location) - Philadelphia (location) - Connecticut (location) - rapid growth (topic) - Staten Island (location) - organic growth (topic) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/sobol-continues-rapid-growth-streak-in-q1-2706666). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/90c92ca0-0ae8-4f78-8851-dde547687c91).