Döner Haus Is Ready to Go National

Three years ago, Döner Haus was a single restaurant in New York’s East Village. By the end of 2026, the emerging brand expects to have 11 locations across four states.

That’s a lot of ground to cover in a short time, but the goal has always been bigger than New York. Döner Haus wants to become the national brand Americans associate with German-style döner —and it’s looking for franchisees who want to help build it.

“The opportunity was never to build another New York restaurant group,” says founder and CEO Nikolaus von Solodkoff. “It was to build the American brand for döner. Eleven stores in four states is where that national company starts to take shape.”

The case for expansion starts with the original restaurant. Opened in March 2023, the East Village location generated approximately $1.7 million in gross sales in 2025 from less than 800 square feet. The company also reports a 72% repeat-order rate.

For prospective franchisees, those numbers are part of the appeal. So is the opportunity to enter an emerging food category while much of the country remains open for development.

But building a national franchise required answering another question: Could Döner Haus travel?

Los Angeles provided the answer.

Franchisee Sebastian Martinez opened the brand’s first West Coast restaurant in Central Los Angeles in August after training with the Döner Haus team in New York. More than 2,000 miles from the brand’s home base, the food, service, and operating system had to work without the founders nearby.

“New York cannot be the crutch,” says Chief Operating Officer Pamela Navarro. “Sebastian trained with us here, and I spent opening week with his team in Los Angeles. The food, service, and operating rhythm had to hold up more than 2,000 miles away. It did.”

Now comes the bigger test: doing it five times at once.

Döner Haus currently has restaurants under construction in Wantagh, Garden City Park, and White Plains, New York; West Palm Beach, Florida; and Oxford, Mississippi. All five are expected to open before the end of the year, taking the brand from six to 11 restaurants in less than five months. Eight of those 11 locations will be franchise operated.

“When we say five stores are coming, we mean five construction crews are working inside five restaurants right now,” says Chief of Staff Nicole Clyne. “These are not future territories on a map. They are restaurants being built.”

That franchise-heavy growth gives entrepreneurs a chance to participate in the brand’s expansion while Döner Haus is still early in its national development. It also gives prospective multi-unit operators something increasingly difficult to find with established restaurant franchises: available markets and room to build a meaningful presence.

Döner Haus isn’t making the restaurant more complicated as it grows. The same German-style döner, compact footprint, focused menu, training, technology, and brand standards are heading to each new market. For franchisees looking to build multiple locations, fewer moving parts can make the model easier to train and repeat.

Americans aren’t exactly short on burger, chicken, pizza, taco, or sandwich chains. Döner is a different story.

The German street-food staple is already widely recognized in Europe, but no brand has planted a national flag for döner in the United States. Döner Haus sees an opportunity to get there first.

“There is still no national name Americans associate with döner,” says Franchise Director Eddie Fahmy. “That is the opening. Before Los Angeles, franchise candidates asked whether the model could travel. Now they ask which territories are available.”

For franchisees looking for an emerging restaurant brand with white space ahead, there is still plenty of the map left to claim.

There’s no national döner brand in America. Döner Haus is inviting entrepreneurs to help build one.

To learn more about Döner Haus franchise opportunities and available territories, visit doner.haus/franchising.

SPONSORED BY:
Döner Haus
Döner Haus is a tech-forward QSR bringing Europe’s favorite street food to the U.S. We serve bold, craveable German-style Döner with premium halal ingredients—all in a compact, efficient model built for scale. Learn More