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Frequently Asked Questions about Owning Your Own Smitty's

Design and Construction

Smitty’s™ provides the design and the required drawings for your restaurant. All costs of the design and drawings, local architectural or engineer stamps, including local electrical and mechanical distribution drawings, are the responsibility of the Franchisee. 

Smitty’s™ will manage the tendering process for construction and all required equipment, signage, and restaurant furniture on your behalf.  The decision on which contractor or vendor to award the work to, will be the responsibility of the Franchisee. 

Our Project Manager will work with you every step of the way to assist in the awarding of contracts and coordinate the landlord, architects, contractors, and suppliers to help the process run smoothly.

Conversions

The success of our concept rests solely on the fact that we treat every meal occasion as an event. Whether we are visited for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just a snack, our philosophy is to ensure that every customer leaves satisfied!

Smitty’s™ has successfully created a market in converting existing food and beverage facilities including free-standing, shopping malls, strip centres, and hotels into our franchises.

Should the opportunity arise to convert an existing establishment into a Smitty’s™ location, our design team will work with you to determine the viability of the location as well as create a budget for the completion of the conversion. 

The Smitty’s™ Way

What do I get when I buy a Smitty's™ Franchise?

When you purchase a Smitty's™ Franchise you are buying several decades of brand development, consumer recognition and guest loyalty. 

We are also here to support with:

- New Store Opening

- Franchisee Training

- Management Training

- Crew Training

- Accounting & Administrative Training

- Operations

- National Marketing Strategies, with existing Guest Loyalty Program (MySmitty's Rewards)

- Local Store Marketing Initiatives

- Menu Developement

Our Menus

We carefully research the market and test our products in order to update our award winning menu every six (6) months. Our menu fills the customers' needs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Although Smitty's™ is famous for many items, we know variety will keep our customers returning for more spectacular meals. That’s why our corporate chef and the Franchisee Menu Committee, made up from existing Franchisees across the country, are continuously testing new products.

You will be supplied with our detailed recipes and a Portions and Standards Manual that is updated regularly. Smitty's™ provides regular business conferences to keep all franchisees up-to-date with current standards, trends in the industry and specifications for the Smitty’s™ operating system.

VIEW SMITTY'S™ MENUS

 

 

Retail Products Sold by the Franchisor

We supply our famous Smitty's™ Pancake Mix, Breakfast Syrup, and Smitty's™ custom Rainforest Alliance Coffee Blend to all our franchisees, providing standardized pricing from coast to coast, through our national distributor. Because Smitty’s™ is committed to offering the highest quality foods and keeping the foods at a consistent level throughout the franchise, we provide private labeled coffee, syrups, french fries, hashbrowns and high volume meats such as bacon, sausage, chicken, and burgers.

As a Smitty's™ franchisee, you will benefit from the buying power of our corporation. Our suppliers consistently produce superior quality products that are available to you at costs lower than those available to independent restaurateurs.

 

Marketing

Smitty’s™ efforts are supported by a National Marketing Fund structure, whereby we support our restaurants with robust national promotions, campaigns and advertising that drives brand awareness, traffic and increases sales.  In addition, we leverage our supplier connections to ensure that our customers know we use the finest quality items that are well known to Canadian consumers. Our suppliers offer marketing support to assist Smitty’s™ in sales promotions at the national level.

Local Store Marketing

Our Marketing Department is comprised of a Local Store Marketing Specialist, who is here to support each region, as well as individual locations, with marketing support that is tailored to them within Smitty’s™ brand guidelines. 

Support includes design and development of communication materials for local feature menus and daily specials, through to aliging regions on tailored communications for local advertising initiatives. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How much does it cost to purchase a Smitty's™?

The cost of purchasing a Smitty’s™ will vary from project to project. Generally, complete development, training, and pre-opening costs will range between approximately $450,000 to $1,100,000. This range is dictated by varying factors, including if it is a conversion or a new build. 

2. How much cash do I need?

Approximately minimum of $250,000 unencumbered cash is required to open a Smitty's™ franchise.

3. What is the royalty fee?

A royalty fee of 5% of gross Food & Beverage sales is submitted to Smitty's™ monthly.

4. Is there a marketing fee?

Smitty's™ requires a monthly marketing fee of 1% of gross Food & Beverage sales. This funds both the National and Local Store Marketing efforts. 

5. What sales volume can I expect from a Smitty's™

Our restaurants currently operate at an average sales volume of approximately $1.5M. Smitty's™ has proven to be profitable at varied investment and sales levels. A detailed analysis is undertaken prior to acceptance at each location.

6. What can I expect as a return on investment?

How much money a Smitty's™ franchisee makes will depend on market conditions and management control. It is essential to fully understand the profit potential of any business venture you are contemplating. Before you invest you should thoroughly investigate to determine what risks are involved and at what level of profitability you can reasonably expect from your business. The best way to determine this is by referring to the average store information that Smitty's™ supplies. We provide a list of our franchisees complete with names and phone numbers. Contact as many of them as you like in order to have all your questions answered.

7. Do I have to operate the restaurant or can I simply invest. What about a partner(s)?

For all independent Owner-Operator franchise locations Smitty's™ insists that one of the partners be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the store. The best success is through an owner - operator system.

8. Is there a training program?

Smitty's™ provides a 30 day training program at the Corporate Training Facility in Calgary for your front and back end operators. This time frame may be more or less depending on your experience.

 

We will train you and your management team in all aspects of successfully operating a Smitty's™ restaurant, including customer service, hiring and training of staff, scheduling, cash management, food purchasing, inventory control, preparation and quality control. You will also be provided with detailed Operating Manuals and an Employee Handbook.

 

Our Accounting Department will review accounting procedures with you, and will supply you with a Smitty's™ Accounting and Administration Manual.

9. What support is given for a new store opening?

Smitty's™ provides the Franchisee and management team with on-site support for approximately 5 days prior to opening and approximately 2 weeks after opening, until such time as the management and staff are fully in control of the operation.

10. What ongoing support is given to a franchisee?

Smitty's™ offers full support in all areas of accounting, menu development (through our menu planning committee), marketing (through our marketing committee) and human resources.

 

Smitty's™ requires approval on all sites, providing assistance in site selection and lease negotiation.

11. Who selects the site?

Site selection is critical to the success of a Smitty's™ . Because of this importance, Smitty's™ insists on approving all sites. We do provide assistance in lease negotiations and site selection.

12. Who designs and builds the restaurant?

Smitty’s™ will provide the design and drawings for your restaurant. All costs of the design and drawings,  local architectural or engineers’ stamps, including local electrical and mechanical distribution drawings, will be your responsibility.

 

Smitty’s™ manages the tendering process and the construction project, the decision on which General Contractor to award the work to will be your responsibility. Our Project Manager will work with you to coordinate the landlord, architects, contractors and suppliers to help the process run smoothly.

13.What are the next steps? 

Our franchising team is continually searching for new locations. Smitty’s™ Canada insists on approving all proposed sites. The Franchise Fee includes our professional experience in locating and evaluating each potential site.
Our evaluation includes, but is not limited to, existing competition, traffic patterns, sales generators such as shopping centers or hotel/motels, site accessibility and demographics. We draw on many years of experience in the selection process and knowledge in lease negotiations to provide assistance for you and your lawyer. 
Please feel free to call us for additional information. If you are interested in pursuing the possibility of becoming a Smitty's™ franchisee, please complete the Franchise Application and submit online.
Once the information has been reviewed and it has been determined that the information meets the criteria necessary to become a Smitty's™ franchisee, we will be in contact. This contact, or perhaps a personal meeting also serves as an approval meeting. If the contact or personal meeting is successful, and should you choose to proceed, then a $10,000.00 CA refundable deposit is required so that we may begin site selection and development.

Start up Costs

The major costs for opening a Smitty’s™ Restaurant vary from location-to-location, and is dependent on many factors. Our Franchising expert will be happy to walk you through all of the questions that you might have regarding franchise fees, royalties, new restaurant build out costs or existing conversion costs. 

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Confidential Franchise Application And Evaluation Form

Please complete the following "Confidential Franchise Application and Evaluation Form" and return it to us either by completing the online version or by mailing or faxing it to us at the address or fax number specified on the printable version of the application form. The printable version of the application form is available by clicking here.

All of your information will be held in the strictest confidence and it is understood that neither party will be under any obligations.

 

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