Sub-Urban
Blimpie aims to turn major cities into hubs for subs.
Harrien Clark has always had a soft spot for sandwiches. As a
19-year-old McDonald's store manager, he met his future wife
over Big Macs while she worked as the restaurant's cashier. After 28 years under the Golden Arches, Clark, 47, has moved
from Quarter Pounders to Blimpie subs. The first franchisee under
the Blimpie Urban Initiative for Leadership Development (BUILD)
program, he opened a Detroit store in March. With an initial
investment of $150,000, he's looking for 2001 sales of about
$500,000. "Blimpie opened up a door I thought wouldn't be opening
to me," Clark says. The BUILD program started when Blimpie
realized it was underdeveloped in a number of major cities.
"The urban areas were actually very viable," says Lance
R. Moore, who heads the program. "We just needed channels to
identify the franchisee prospects and ways to [help] them build
resources to get funding." Content Continues Below
Blimpie expects to open five or six stores this year in Detroit;
Los Angeles; Newark, New Jersey; and Tacoma/Seattle, Washington.
Under the initiative, the company sets up structured information
days in urban areas, works with the SBA to find candidates,
conducts training for candidates to complete their business plans
and waives the initial franchise licensing fees of about $18,000.
With about 2,000 stores currently, Blimpie wants to have from 200
to 400 more stores in the program this decade. Clark has expansion plans of his own. He hopes to open a second
Blimpie this year and to own a total of seven stores in five years.
"Once we get this open, we're not going to stop moving
forward," he says. He'll have plenty of help, too. Besides
the support of wife Donna, Clark will enlist son-in-law Chris Jones
and daughter Tiffany Clark as store managers.
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