My Favorite Muffin® Provides Franchisees an Additional Revenue Stream with Its ‘Coffee and Muffin of the Month’ Pairing

A muffin sans coffee is a lonely muffin, which is why My Favorite Muffin® offers a cohesive muffin and coffee pairing every month, providing optimal satisfaction for loyal customers and an additional revenue stream for the brand’s franchisees.

“We marry the flavors of the coffee and the muffin,” My Favorite Muffin Director of Marketing and Design, Leslie Walters said. “That’s something we have the ability to do with our own coffee brand and our vast assortment of muffin varieties.”

The monthly combination also helps franchisees highlight their inventory and gets customers excited for their favorite flavors. My Favorite Muffin does, after all, have 125 muffin recipes in its toolbox and a menu that showcases as many as 30 flavors on a daily basis. The current Coffee of the Month, for example, is Pumpkin Spice and the current Muffin of the Month is Deep Dish Apple Pie—no doubt a winning fusion for autumn enthusiasts.

In 1996, BAB, Inc., the parent company of BAB Systems, Inc. that franchises Big Apple Bagels and My Favorite Muffin, acquired Brewster's coffee. “I was tired of people coming into our stores with Starbucks cups,” said BAB, Inc. President and CEO Michael Evans.

My Favorite Muffin franchisees have been very receptive to the monthly combinations, according to Walters.

“There’s a shortlist of the core varieties of muffins that would be expected to do well anywhere,” Walters said. “Muffin popularity does tend to be influenced by region.”

This focus on variety is a good thing, as the brand has major expansion plans, with goals of extending its reach into markets such as Ohio and Nashville. To prevent repetition and keep that muffin innovation going, My Favorite Muffin experiments extensively with both muffin and coffee recipes.

“We can bring in whatever muffin ingredients we want to play with and our coffee roaster will develop samples of flavor profiles we request,” said Director of Franchise Operations and Administration, Rosanne Angell. “With muffins, we can be Mad Scientists and play with different fruits and fillings and other ingredients. Those new muffin recipes are produced by our operations team, tried by staff at headquarters, and no item goes on the menu if Michael has not personally tried it and approved it.”

The brand also enlists the help of its franchisee network to track how well new muffin varieties are doing. “Our products are well-tested,” Evans said. “We perform monitoring and oversight, but our franchisees are also scrappy and we allow them to test market products on their own. They track sales and submit the information.”

My Favorite Muffin has incorporated franchisee-made muffin recipes into their muffin recipe collection, such as the Peach Pecan Danish muffin, a Florida franchisee’s creation which Michael and Franchise Development Lead, Brian Evans, tried and loved.

As part of its innovation efforts, Angell noted that My Favorite Muffin is looking to add savory muffin options to its menu for a more breakfast-like product.

“We’re always looking at flavor trends,” Angell said. “Our vendors in the coffee and foodservice worlds help keep us educated on the newest flavors appearing in food and beverages. At My Favorite Muffin, we can take advantage of those trends by simply tweaking ingredients, toppings and fillings to bring a new trend to the stores.”

By highlighting specific coffee and muffin flavors every month, My Favorite Muffin is ensuring that franchisees are able to showcase their inventory and give customers a winning combination of food and drink that will help them power through their mornings or even serve as an afternoon pick-me-up. Bottom line: My Favorite Muffin has everyone covered.

Startup costs for a My Favorite Muffin Gourmet Muffin Bakery franchise range from $234,000 to $338,000 for a full store and $96,500 to $268,000 for a satellite store. For more information, visit ***