Barberitos gets serious about franchising

By: “Partner” On-Call | 3 Shares 206 Reads

Regional chain names Bruce Holzman VP of Franchise Sales

July 13, 2010 // Franchising.com // Athens, GA — A former franchise professional for some of the nation's top emerging chains, Bruce Holzman has joined Mexican cantina Barberitos as vice president of franchise sales.

A 20-year veteran of the restaurant industry, Holzman is lending his expertise to drive the same kind of growth for Barberitos that he did for restaurant chains like Salsarita's Fresh Cantina, Dairy Queen, and Huddle House.

Prior to joining Barberitos, Holzman sold close to 300 Salsarita's franchises in less than 20 months turning the start-up Fresh-Mex chain into a prominent regional brand.

He had similar success at Dairy queen where he developed and sold more than 130 new DQ Grill & Chill, Orange Julius and Karmelkorn franchises in the Southeast generating an annual royalty stream of $2.7 million.

Holzman also served as a consultant for smaller franchise operations such as Desert Moon, Juiceblendz, Friendly's Ice Cream, and Jittery Joe's Coffee.

Holzman's growth strategy for the 20-unit concept involves targeting a certain breed of franchisees and positioning Barberitos as a manageable, franchisee friendly operation. "Barberitos does things differently than other franchises", says Holzman. "In an industry where site only franchises are the norm, we offer protected areas. Most franchises do not provide numbers; we have a complete section in our disclosure documents dedicated to performance information. And most importantly, our founder and CEO is a franchisee so every decision we make corporately affects him personally. No ivory tower thinking here!" Holzman states emphatically.

Downing Barber, the chain's founder adds, "our ideal franchisee is a business person who wants to leave the corporate world to gain more control, independence and flexibility over his or her life. We want them to have business experience, yet be able to train them the Barberitos way without having to break any pre-existing bad habits."

Barberitos offers the full line of support and services one expects from a top tier franchise and does not have the same limitations some other brands have, such as encroachment and territory issues.

"This is a big deal because many of the larger franchises are either running out of room to grow, or encroaching on existing units", Holzman said.

Founded in Athens, Georgia in 2000, Barberitos is a distinctive fast casual southwestern style cantina serving freshly prepared food with farm fresh produce, meats, sauces, and marinades, which are created daily.