Turning Point — a 21-unit, Eatontown, New Jersey-based casual-dining concept — wants to shake up the breakfast and brunch category. The company announced franchising in January and has already signed its first franchised location in Pennsylvania, with more on the way, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country.
Turning Point CEO Kirk Ruoff believes that the breakfast and brunch categories can be about more than just smiley-face pancakes or — on the other side of the spectrum — boozy brunches with bottomless mimosas.
“Our menu is very approachable across all generations, and we have some locations that are doing mimosas, but we're not going to let you sit there and get drunk on Sunday,” Ruoff told Nation’s Restaurant News. “We have a nice healthy kids menu and we have some value drivers on our menu for older folks they just want their eggs over easy and potatoes.”
But Ruoff said that besides offering kid and older adult-friendly classics and some brunch cocktails, Turning Point’s distinguishing factor is its “elevated fare” or lobster eggs benedict and bacon-wrapped Granny Smith apples (known as bacon lollipops) as shareable items.
Moving forward, Ruoff said that Turning Point hopes to add both franchise and corporate locations and will be selective with the type of franchisees the brand will be open to, including single-store owners. Ruoff believes the concept will appeal to potential owners because of the easy hours. Since Turning Point is not open for dinner, owners and workers “can be home in time to have dinner with their family and tuck their kids in at night.”
Although Turning Point will be mainly focusing on the Mid-Atlantic region, Ruoff said thinks the concept would also do well in Florida and the Carolinas, as well as New England, and expand smartly without “crashing and burning.”
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