4 May 2010
Energy Kitchen – I want you here now
Since I am currently on a diet… no scratch that… let’s call it a lifestyle change, I am always looking for healthy eating alternatives to traditional fast food for my lunches. Generally I stick with frozen microwave meals at this point. As I was reading through Entrepreneur Magazine I came across an article about new healthy restaurant chains that are being opened. One is called Seasons 52 and it is being opened by Darden (the owners of Red Lobster, Olive Garden and others). This is an upscale fine dining experience.
What got my attention more was a restaurant named Energy Kitchen that currently has nine locations in the northeast, New York area. This is a semi-fast food restaurant that only bakes, grills, and steams and every meal is under 500 calories. We’re not talking about health-nut food here. You don’t have to eat a seed bar for your lunch. They serve burgers, sandwiches, wraps, salads and even other comfort foods such as meatloaf and grilled salmon. One thing you may notice is that most of the beef has been replaced. Where you would normally expect beef, you find things such as turkey, chicken and even bison and ostrich. I was unaware that it’s possible to get an ostrich burger for $7.00. Not a bad deal in my opinion.
I’m not writing about this company because I love to eat, although that is true. I’m writing because they are about to open up franchising across the country. They are planning to open as many as 1,000 locations in the near future. With my desire for entrepreneurship and my love of food combined, I would love to try to open one of these restaurants in my own home town. Unfortunately, this might not work out for me. As I perused the requirements, I noticed a couple of roadblocks. The franchise fee for each location is $30,000 and requires you to commit to at least three locations. $90,000 in cash…not going to happen this year. Next requirement: net worth of $1,000,000 with $300,000 of that liquid. Not going to happen for quite a while unless I invent some widget that I can sell a million of them. So, if you know anyone with money to invest, send them my way. I should only need a few hundred thousand and I’ll take care of the rest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like, or can at least stand to read what I write,
make sure you add my RSS Feed to your list so you don't miss a single post.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sadly, my net worth hasn’t even hit $100,000 yet, so I’m probably not going to be able to invest very substantially.