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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Franchisee Says More Shops Are a Slam Dunk

Now that the San Fernando Valley’s first Dunkin’ Donuts is open for business in Encino, Aharon Aminpour is eager to lay down some frosting on more of the fried confections. Aminpour, who signed a deal with Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. to establish 30 stores in Los Angeles County, will open the next Valley outlets in Woodland Hills and Northridge. These two will differ substantially from the 4920 Balboa Blvd. storefront that opened June 9. They will be larger stand-alone locations, each with nearly 3,000 square feet and will include drive-thrus and a parking area. “We want to do free-standing so we don’t have issues with parking, signage and neighbors,” said Aminpour, principal of Madison Food Management in Burbank. “We’re hitting the main arteries within each neighborhood and we want to make sure that all of the local communities have a Dunkin’ to call their own.” However, next up, Aminpour will open downtown’s first Dunkin’ Donuts on the ground floor of an office building at the corner of Eighth and Olive streets. He plans to invest $1 million in the 2,000-square-foot outlet and expects heavy foot traffic from the area’s office workers. Construction is set to begin in a few weeks with the store’s opening planned for November. After that Aminpour will open more restaurants in the Valley, downtown and expand into Central California. He is working with Mitchell General Contractors Inc. in Irvine on all locations. The Encino grand opening drew a huge crowd. Aminpour boasted that the store features a patio with a misting system to keep it cool in the summer and heating for winter. “We want people to come and congregate with their neighbors,” he said. The Canton, Mass. donut maker, which has 11,300 restaurants nationwide, announced its big push into California in January 2013. It plans to open 1,000 franchise locations in the state. Pizza Swipe PizzaRev promises a piping hot, quality pie in less than eight minutes. Now, it’s partnering with a new on-demand, app-based delivery service to get it to customers’ homes nearly as fast. The Westlake Village company has hooked up with Postmates to deliver pizza to its customers starting with locations in Studio City, Van Nuys, Burbank, Koreatown, El Segundo and Santa Ana. Postmates is a San Francisco-based on-demand delivery app that provides information so drivers can pick up and deliver local goods to customers. National chains such as Starbucks Corp. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. are already delivering through it. “Postmates has developed the most sophisticated and customer friendly app for delivery,” said Jess Zuckerman, co-founder of PizzaRev. “That’s the key for us. We want the customer experience to be as simple and affordable as possible.” The concept is simple: Customers download the Postmates app on their phones, which searches for the closest PizzaRev. Customers are then prompted to customize their own pizzas just as they would inside the store. Postmates gives an estimated wait time and allows customers to track their delivery progress once orders are placed. “There are a lot of challenges in starting and launching your own delivery service, and brands like Postmates have focused their entire business model on efficiency,” said Zuckerman. “Delivery is the most common request we receive from our guests, and Postmates allows the guests to order online in a menu environment completely representative of our menu – that was one of the key features we were looking for.” PizzaRev’s delivery service launched June 11. Postmates takes a percentage of PizzaRev’s sales ordered through its app. Better Burgers Burbank businessman Ara Avagyan is bringing Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes to the Valley. Aragyan’s company AVGA & Co. has signed a multi-unit development agreement with Mooyah Franchise Inc. in Plano, Texas to open three franchised Mooyah locations – one each in Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena. The fast-casual restaurant chain is known for its glutton-free burger options, salads, fries and shakes made of real ice cream. Burgers range from $6 to $8 dollars, and combos are no more than $12. “The friendlier environment and the price of Mooyah Burgers will give us a bit of a competitive edge. It’s a family environment,” said Avagya, who is still negotiating leases in Burbank and Glendale, and anticipates opening the Pasadena outlet before the year is out. Mooyah has more than 70 U.S. locations, including four in California, and about 20 internationally, including in Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 2007. “We can compete with the Five Guys and Smashburgers,” Avagyan added. Staff Reporter Champaign Williams can be reached at (818) 316-3121 or [email protected].

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