After entering the medical space earlier this year with American Family Care, Purple Square Management is continuing to branch out by adding a burger brand.
The franchisee group signed a six-unit deal with emerging burger concept Smalls Sliders in Atlanta. According to Purple Square CEO Vik Patel, the brand’s connection to former NFL quarterback Drew Brees caught his attention.
Smalls Sliders was established in 2019 by Brandon Landry, also the co-founder of Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux. Brees is a co-owner and equity partner in Walk-On’s and also invested in Smalls Sliders, which has since been backed by 10 Point Capital.
Vik Patel
“I used to be partners with Drew Brees at Dunkin’ in Louisiana,” Patel said. “When I found out Drew was associated with Smalls, I reached out to him to learn more. We weren’t actively looking for another food concept, but coming across this, we liked the simplicity of the menu compared to some of the other brands.”
Patel said he and his team visited a location in New Orleans and loved both the food and the look of the building.
“It’s different from other QSRs since it’s a drive-thru-only model,” Patel said. “We were also very pleased with the unit economics. The smaller footprint helps with labor and other costs associated with operating. That was another attractive piece with the volumes we were seeing.”
The small locations are referred to as “cans,” and rather than breaking ground and building up a new unit, prefabricated structures are installed on site. There are nine Smalls Sliders locations open now in Louisiana, with more planned in that state as well as Mississippi.
While the brand began in Louisiana, though, it is now headquartered in Atlanta, and its corporate location is one of the reasons why Purple Square chose to develop new units there.
“We wanted to be there to be in their backyard to collaborate, and if there’s any new innovations or things we need to test, we’d be close to their home base,” Patel said. “We also already operate Popeyes in Atlanta, so we’re familiar with the market and Smalls is looking to build that market out. It’s also a significantly growing market, so we feel we can hit the ground running.”
The six new Smalls Sliders will add to the 250 franchised units Purple Square operates across several brands in 14 states. Along with Popeyes, Dunkin’ and American Family Care, Purple Square is also a Take 5 Oil Change franchisee, operates 28 locations of custom wheel and tire brand RimTyme, and has Rent-A-Center stores.
With American Family Care, Purple Square earlier this year acquired six locations in the Tampa area and made a commitment to open 18 more in the region over the next five years. Patel said the addition of the urgent care concept made sense because of the heightened need in the healthcare segment driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think COVID made everybody more conscious about health and I saw a lot of friends and family use urgent care because getting in to see a doctor is harder,” Patel said. “I don’t see healthcare going anywhere in the future, so we saw it as a great long-term play.”
Smalls Sliders locations are known as “cans” and have a small footprint.
For Maria Rivera, CEO of Smalls Sliders, Purple Square is the ideal type of franchisee group with which to partner.
“Our intent is to attract franchise partners that have previous multi-unit experience in restaurants or business ownership,” Rivera said. “The fact that they’re a prominent franchise operating group that have the capabilities to be able to deliver on what we’ve envisioned with our brand, it makes total sense. It’s a good strategy for rapid growth to have the right franchisees.”
Patel said the positive feelings were the same on the other side.
“They have a very experienced leadership team over there who’ve been in the industry for a long time,” Patel said. “That was refreshing, you were talking to a lot of people who’ve been there and done that. It’s been great having that collaboration.”
Patel said the goal is to have two Smalls locations open in the first quarter of 2024.
Franchise Times
Matthew Liedke
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