Kevin Bazner, CEO of A&W, Discusses Franchise Opportunities

Why would entrepreneurs invest in A&W?

There are a couple of reasons why you would choose A&W over another brand. One is that we have strong brand recognition globally—not just nationally, but globally. That’s incredibly important when you’re evaluating investment opportunities with any brand.

Another reason is that we have a lot of development opportunities. We’ve got a lot of whitespace, as it’s referred to in the industry. We have a lot of places where people can go and develop.

Thirdly, we have a focus on profitability and responsible new store development. We will discourage a franchise partner from going into a location or developing a piece of real estate where we don’t believe that they can win. We’re looking for long term success for a franchise partner. We work with a franchise partner to find out what the best ROI opportunity is for them. Is it that vacant piece of dirt and a freestanding building? Is it a conversion? Is it a gas and convenience store? Is it a mall food court location, etc? We’ve got great brand awareness, we’ve got great quality products, our strategy for the last 12 years has been on quality as our long-term value proposition, and it’s working. I know it’s working because we’ve got 11 years of same store sales increases.

What makes now a great time to invest?

It’s a great time to invest in A&W. We’ve spent the last 11 years building the infrastructure. After going through a global pandemic, we’ve picked up where we left off. Our ownership, looking at the long-term view that they have of the business, did not cut staff. We kept staff and development teams in place so that when we got to the other side of the pandemic we wouldn’t lose momentum. Today, we’re stronger for it. We had record years in 2020 and 2021. Our same store sales since 2019 are up 30%. We currently have a trend of positive transactions going on in the system, and combining that with the initiatives we have in place, I don’t see an end in sight in the foreseeable future for our ability to continue to build on that.

How do you view the future of A&W?

In the coming years, this brand is positioned to achieve several things. We are slowly but surely accelerating our growth of new franchise restaurants in our system. We’ve never set out to open the most restaurants — we set out to build an infrastructure that allows us to successfully support a profitable new restaurant opening. We’ve been more about quality than quantity. But those quantities are starting to go up. Over the next three to five years, we see our growth increasing year by year in terms of new development. Additionally, we have good positive momentum going on right now: our same store sales have grown by over 70%. We have initiatives in place as well as an increased media strategy that we’re working on to continue that same store sales growth over the next three to five years.

What makes a successful A&W franchise partner?

I think it’s really a passion for the food service business, and ultimately a passion for A&W restaurants as a brand. Of course you want franchisees to have that business acumen, but more importantly, someone who is going to participate in their community, somebody that’s going to embed themselves, if they’re not already. The communities that we do well in  are very family-oriented. Think about the little league baseball games, the soccer tournaments, that’s a big part of our business in rural America. Entrepreneurs who can successfully embed themselves in those communities, whether they’re a transplant or not, make the most successful operators. That A&W operator is the customer’s neighbor, not just an unknown faceless organization.

Learn More About Franchising with A&W

Ready to learn more about owning an A&W Restaurant franchise? This is your chance to work with a beloved legacy brand that is poised for even more growth in the years to come. Learn more about our exciting franchise opportunities by visiting our research pages here. To get a conversation started with us about whether we can help you achieve your entrepreneurial goals, fill out our form here Once we’ve reviewed your submission, we’ll get in touch with you to provide more details about franchising with A&W. We look forward to hearing from you!

John Palumbo, Senior Director of Franchise Development, Talks About A&W’s Unique Position

What makes A&W a unique franchise opportunity?

What’s cool about our brand is not only do we have a unique ownership structure, our franchisees are also able to enjoy a concentrated cost of goods. We still enjoy a relationship with the largest food cooperative in the world. We buy alongside Yum Brands through Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions, which is the largest procurement organization in the QSR space. Because of that, we realize competitive restaurant-level economics. With that relationship, we’re also able to get all of their data and forward-thinking commodities prices, so we can plan out our marketing calendar a year in advance with the knowledge of where our commodities are going. You only get that with a brand of our size if you have that connection to a large food cooperative. We’re incredibly fortunate to have that.

How does your franchise partnership work?

It’s awesome. Frankly, as someone who represents this brand and represents our franchise partners, I’m always available to support them. Every franchisee has a voice in how we move the brand forward, whether it’s a marketing initiative, if we want to change our french fries or our buns, guess what, it goes to a vote to our franchise board. We as the Support Center team don’t have the luxury or even the ability just to say, ‘hey, we’re not doing this type of french fry anymore, because we think it’s better.’ The franchise community needs to have a voice in that. And if they are not on board, then there’s a good chance that french fry is not gonna get switched out.

That’s really how it should be, right? Our franchise partners are on the ground, they are in their markets, they’re in their stores every day. Most of our owners have an operating interest in their restaurants, even our multigenerational owners, which we have quite a few of. We can’t sit here in an ivory tower and profess to know everything about what makes that restaurant tick, and what works in this community versus that community. So when we say you have a voice as a franchisee, you really do. You’re a partner with us every step of the way.

How is such an old brand still around today?

We’re older than sliced bread – you can Google that! – but we’ve innovated a little better than sliced bread if you ask me. We have to innovate. We can’t continue to have a brown shoe box as a cash register, like we did 100 years ago. We’re in the middle of launching our centralized POS program, which is going to help franchisees have better controls on their profitability with labor, sales by day part, and they can adjust in real time to peaks and valleys of a typical sales day for them. It also helps us as a company to get better information on sales programs, on LTOs, on average cost of goods, all the metrics that are behind the restaurant. It helps us and our franchise partners big time on the analysis side of the business.

The other thing that investing in technology does is it launches us now into the world of online ordering and mobile apps which are critical in today’s day and age. I can tell you, my children never speak to people anymore at restaurants — they literally pop their order in their phone, they roll up to the window, they hand it to them, it’s already paid, and they’re gone. I don’t know that we’d ever get to that model where we’re not client-facing, but we have started putting in kiosks and we’re looking at a kiosk program. So from a technology perspective, we have to be forward-thinking, and the centralized POS and online ordering are two of the big initiatives for us right now.

Learn More About the A&W Franchise Opportunity

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to add a legacy brand that’s looking forward into the future, look no further than A&W. With our incredible brand recognition and focus on implementing technology that streamlines your business, franchising with A&W means joining a brand that’s around for the long haul.

To find out more about what goes into an A&W franchise, check out our research pages here. If you’re ready for the next step toward opening your own A&W Restaurant franchise, fill out our form here and we’ll get in touch to determine if you’ll be a good fit for our brand. We look forward to learning more about you!

Anthony Walker, Franchisee of A&W, Details Franchisee Experience

How did you become an A&W franchise partner?

I grew up in the business. I’m a third generation franchisee. My grandparents bought a restaurant in 1962. And we’ve evolved, we’ve moved locations, but we’ve been the owners for three generations. So it’s a family business for me.

What made you want to invest and become a franchise owner yourself?

There were a number of factors that made me want to invest, but overall A&W has been a really great brand. Everybody knows A&W Root Beer. We have very good contract terms, some of the best I’ve seen. We’ve got great leadership. And it’s a lot of people similar to me — generational franchisees, there are multiple second and third gen franchisees, so it’s just great. It was my family business. I saw my family do well in this business for two generations. And I thought this would be a great career for myself.

How does A&W as a brand survive challenging times?

We’ve been through many, many ups and downs in the economy, with the brand going on 104 years old. A&W is very flexible with how franchisees make money at our stores. Their mindset lets us do what needs to be done for us to grow profitable sales in our specific stores. We have the option of choosing regional menu items that work in our areas.

We are a brand that is ingrained. Most people in America, when they think of A&W Root Beer, it’s that happy feeling of childhood, of going to get a Root Beer Float, it’s something that you remember. Maybe you went there with your family, or with your grandparents. It’s different from a normal burger joint because of the nostalgic memory that comes along with it, and we seem to do just fine throughout harder economic times. One, because we focus on high-quality products at an accessible price-point, and all QSRs do okay during poor economies. You’ll see fine dining struggle more. But A&W is a treat, it’s something that’s special, coming in to get a Root Beer Float in a frosty mug, and the consumer treats that differently than they would ordering soda at a different QSR every day.

What kind of support do you receive from the Support Center team?

The support team is very approachable. You can call and get any one of them on the phone any day. It’s no problem getting through to them, and they’re very quick at responding to help.

Another big thing that we have going for us is a very strong Franchise Association. I’m on the Franchise Association board, and I represent half of Wisconsin. We represent all of our stores in our territories, and we are franchisees that get to vote on every single thing that the company does. So it’s a very good thing for all franchisees, because we’re franchisees ourselves, and we have the franchisees’ best interest in mind. We have a great working relationship with our support office. And I think that goes to show, for all the years that we’ve been in business, franchisees are allowed to make decisions at the store level that work to benefit the brand as a whole. And that’s why we’ve been able to be around as long as we have.

What aspect of working with A&W are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of the family culture that this brand has. Every time we get together at conventions, state meetings, any type of A&W event, everybody knows everybody by name. You see franchisees and corporate people greeting each other with hugs. It’s just a family feeling between the franchisees and with all of our Support Center staff. I think that they’ve done an incredible job of building a great culture over the years, and we have so many people who have been with the brand for so long, and who truly love this brand. You can’t replicate that without years and years and years of great camaraderie between the corporate staff and franchisees. I’m lucky to be a part of it.

Learn More About Franchising with A&W

If you’re interested in joining the A&W franchise family, now is the time to get involved. For more information about what goes into an A&W franchise, check out our research pages here. When you’re ready for the next step toward opening your own A&W franchise, fill out our form here and we’ll reach out with our complimentary Franchise Information Report and start a conversation about whether A&W is the right fit for your entrepreneurial goals. We look forward to hearing from you!