DILLON, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Great Harvest Bread Co. shook up the food industry with the announcement of its revolutionary “hub and spoke” franchise model in early 2017, and now the company is reaping the rewards. Through the first six months of the year, Great Harvest is expanding at a rapid rate, now with nearly 200 locations open across the United States with agreements in place to open another 45 by the end of 2018.
With primary growth regions set for the Northeast and Southern regions of the country, Great Harvest has inked deals in cities throughout the U.S., including Charlotte, Duluth and towns throughout Alabama, with both new and existing franchisees.
“Our unique franchise model has set our company and franchisees up for sustained success,” said Great Harvest CEO Mike Ferretti. “We have already signed 30 franchise agreements with our existing bakery-café owners, which is a testament to our already tremendous owners, quality products and national growth plans.”
Under the new hub and spoke franchise opportunity, franchisees can purchase a large territory that includes a single Great Harvest bakery operation and as many café-only units as they desire in surrounding towns. The bakery locations would be equipped with ovens and ample space to produce and deliver the hand-milled breads to the nearby café-only locations throughout the day.
The model allows Great Harvest owners to own multiple locations under one agreement, while competing against segment rivals in all territories.
“Even though we are maximizing our coverage, we are still serving the same, fresh, quality bread to all of our customers,” Ferretti said. “We still start our milling process as early as 3 a.m. every morning and that will not change.”
With the new model set, Great Harvest is on target to meet its annual projections, will have more than 200 locations open by the end of the year and is next setting its eyes on major metros like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Buffalo.
Dubbed “Bread Heaven” by its fanatic customers since 1976, Great Harvest Bread bakeries make their bread from whole grains milled right on the premise from wheat berry shipped directly from the Golden Triangle in Montana. The company also offers breakfast, sandwiches, healthier dinners and desserts throughout all three dayparts – breakfast, lunch and dinner.
About Great Harvest Bread Company
Great Harvest Bread has spent the past 40 years perfecting the combination of ingredients to make the freshest and authentic breads and pastries, as well as the newer sandwiches, grain bowls and soups, growing to over 200 locations, all of which continue to mill their own Golden Triangle wheat every morning from scratch. Providing local communities with authentic breads and pastries made fresh daily, the brand is now growing through franchising with a new bakery-cafe model ideal for multi-unit ownership. Open during three parts of the day—breakfast, lunch and dinner— the menu has grown beyond a wide variety of soft, delicious breads to include soups, sandwiches and grain bowls. To learn about franchising opportunities with Great Harvest Bread Company, go to https://www.greatharvest.com/franchising.
