How Your Pie's Real Estate Selection Process Sets Franchisees Up for Success

Your Pie’s unique down-the-line concept has been changing the game in the booming fast-casual pizza segment since its first location opened its doors in Athens, Georgia back in 2008. Since then, the brand’s craft pies have become fan favorites, with customers returning to their local restaurants time and time again. But reaching that level of success starts long before consumers sit down to enjoy Your Pie’s signature pizzas.

One of the most important things Your Pie does before opening up a new location is selecting the right real estate. A brand’s physical location can make or break its entire business—restaurants need to be able to support both customers and the day-to-day needs of the staff while turning a profit at the same time. That’s why Your Pie guides its franchisees through the entire site selection process.

“There’s a lot for franchisees to consider when they’re selecting a location for their restaurant. And if they don’t have a real estate background, the process can seem overwhelming,” said Bucky Cook, Your Pie’s CEO. “Our job on the corporate level is to make the process as painless as possible. At its core, real estate selection is a team sport, and we have a series of steps in place that ultimately set our local business owners up for success.”

The first thing Your Pie considers when helping a franchisee choose a restaurant is demographic information. The brand works with another company to get a complete analysis of the population in a specific neighborhood, from the average age of residents in the area to how much money people are likely to spend on lunch or dinner. Having access to the right consumer base is key—without the right customers, Your Pie locations would never be able to get off the ground.

The next step Your Pie takes in the site selection process involves the help of a local broker who knows the ins and outs of the community that could possibly support a new location. The broker works with the brand to identify storefronts that are up for sale, and others that may be available in the future. Once there are a handful of locations, Cook joins the broker and franchisee for an in-person tour.

After the list of possible restaurant locations is narrowed down, Your Pie makes sure that the costs associated with each storefront are affordable. Different locations have different financial qualifications, and Your Pie wants to make sure that its owners will be able to pay all the bills while adding to their bottom lines. Ultimately, Your Pie walks through the finances associated with site selection in order to better educate their team of passionate franchisees.

“Selecting the right real estate is a tedious and time consuming process. But at the end of the day, making sure every box is checked off before signing a lease is crucial for franchisee success,” said Cook. “Every part of Your Pie’s business model is in place for a reason—we do everything we can on our end to make sure our local owners are able to hit the ground running as soon as they open their doors for business.”