Make and Take plans bushels of new stores

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Mar 02, 2007 by Acton, Ryann

DeWITT - Make and Take Gourmet Holdings is taking over the East Coast. The DeWitt-based meal-replacement business is planning to open licensed locations from New Hampshire to the tip of Florida and everywhere in between. Between 60 and 70 Make and Take franchise-owned stores will open in 2007.

Make and Take expects to receive approval from the New York State Attorney General's office for its Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) within two weeks. Licensed stores will then turn into franchises, company officials say.

The growth

Make and Take Gourmet opened its first corporate-owned location at 7785 Frontage Road in the town of Cicero in the spring of 2006. The store provides all of the ingredients and equipment for customers to prepare meals to take home and freeze. Make and Take's menu features 16 items, such as chicken marsala, that change monthly.

The meal-replacement concept was so popular in Central New York that more stores soon followed.

Michele Bellso, founder and sole owner, opened a corporateowned store at 311 Towne Center Drive in the village of Fayetteville. Licensed locations also opened at 5316 W. Genesee St. in the town of Camillus, 15 E. Genesee St. in the village of Baldwinsville, Rochester, and Clifton Park (near Albany).

Sixteen more stores are currently in the build-out phase in New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, and South Carolina. The next stores slated to open are in Binghamton, Watertown, New Hartford, and Victor, Bellso says.

Forty more locations are in the franchise-application process in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia. Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, according to Bellso.

The growth of Make and Take is entirely company funded, Bellso says. The company currently has no investors and has not taken out any loans, she says. Make and Take is one of nine semifinalists in the Central Upstate Regional Alliance's Emerging Business Competition. The winner of the contest will receive $100,000 to help grow its business.

Make and Take's Cicero location sells, on average, 3,000 meals per day, Bellso says. In December 2006, during the busy holiday season, sales increased to 6,000 meals per day, she adds.

Make and Take's Cicero location will generate annual revenue of $1.2 million to $1.5 million, says David Bellso, Make and Take's franchise-sales manager. Make and Take expects to generate between $6 million and $7 million in annual revenue in 2007, he adds.

Michele Bellso jumped at the opportunity to expand Make and Take because of the demand, she says. There are mealreplacement franchises on the West Coast, but no one has tapped into the Northeast, she contends.

"This concept - it's the right time. It's the right place," Bellso says.

The concept behind Make and Take is people no longer have the time to cook for their families, but they want to sit down for a family meal, she explains.

"Everyone is so over-involved," Bellso says.

It is impossible to add hours to the day, so time is valuable, Bellso adds. Make and Take allows its customers to provide healthful, quality, and inexpensive food to their families, Bellso contends. Meals cost around $3 per serving.

Make and Take has opened corporate offices at 109 Twin Oaks Drive in DeWitt. The company shares offices with Designworks Advertising - the advertising agency Bellso founded in 1992. David Bellso, Michele's husband, took over the advertising agency when she started Make and Take. The Bellsos purchased the 11,000-square-foot facility in 2004.

Michele Bellso has hired a director of franchise development, franchise-sales sales manager, and an accounting manager to staff the corporate office. She plans to hire an additional 30 employees to serve as corporate trainers, customer-service representatives, and procurement associates by the end of 2007, she says. Make and Take currently employs 180, including employees that work at licensed stores.

Franchise requirements

The initial investment required for franchisees is between $200,000 and $300,000, says David Menapace, Make and Take's director of franchise development. Costs depend on location and store size, he adds. The investment covers the store's build-out, equipment, furniture, and supplies.

The franchise fee is $30,000, Menapace says. The monthly royalty fee is 5 percent of gross sales, he adds. The terms of the franchise are 10 years, with the option to renew for half the value of the franchise fee at the time of renewal, he explains.

Make and Take's fees are similar to those of other mealreplacement franchises.

Snohomish, Wash.-based Dream Dinners, Inc. opened in 2002 and started franchising in 2003. Dream Dinners now has 178 franchise locations throughout the United States. Franchise fees include: a total investment of $230,000 to $340,000; $35,000 franchise fee; 6 percent on-going royalty fee; 10-year, renewable term of agreement; and a renewal fee that is 50 percent of the original franchise fee, according to www.Entrepreneur.com.