We acquired a local restaurant, Athen’s Pizza, with 3 locations in 2016. The brand is loved in Panama and had been around for over 25 years when we acquired it. We promoted the COO to CEO and made very few changes, opening 2 locations over the next 4 years.
In 2017 we acquired the Cinnabon franchise for Panama with 8 locations. We bolted it onto our restaurant management group and left it as is essentially acquiring a cash flow stream with no plan for new openings.
Fast forward to 2019/2020 and we began to believe there was room for more of our brands in the market. We brought in an experienced CEO and grew from 13 total locations in 2020 to 40 by the end of 2022. This growth did not only entail the scouting and physical opening of multiple locations. We also opened a brand-new production facility to supply these restaurants and a new corporate headquarters with training areas and back-office support. The menu was streamlined, and the brand was refreshed.
When running fast it is hard to see where you are at any given time. The same is true with breakneck growth in business. As we opened locations every other month or so, getting a true feel for how our business was doing was difficult. In preparation for an opening, we hire staff and place them in existing restaurants. This causes your existing structure to be less profitable. Sales are also choppy, with openings mid-month and some locations starting slow while others burst out of the gates.
Creating a production and logistics operation for 40 locations is also a challenge. Restaurants thrive on consistency. Customers want to know what they are going to get. Look at McDonalds. Not the best burger, but the same burger every time. That consistency is hard to ensure as you add multiple locations in a short amount of time.
We finished our last opening in November 2022. 2023 was spent on improving service, laser focusing on food quality and consistency, and launching innovative marketing campaigns. We had created our network of restaurants, now we needed to maximize their sales.
As we head into 2024, things look good. We had a highly viral advertising campaign to close out 2023, sales are popping, and people are happy with our food and value proposition. I am not sure I will ever grow that fast again. The toll it took on us mentally was rough. There were moments I was not sure we were going to make it. If I had to do it all over again, I would open a smaller percentage of new locations versus existing ones per year. But I am glad to have gone through the experience of rapid growth. The lessons learned were worth it, and now we have a nicely sized restaurant operation.