Salata’s first and largest non-family franchisee on choosing the right brand partnerSalata’s first and largest non-family franchisee on choosing the right brand partner

Joanna Fantozzi

If founders, chefs and other creatives are the beating heart of the restaurant industry, then franchisees are the veins delivering their ideas to all corners of the globe. Franchising is critical to the success of the industry, allowing brands to quickly scale their big ideas using other people’s capital. And whether it’s a mom-and-pop restaurant owner with one or two franchised restaurants or a seasoned veteran whose influence in the industry is well-known, franchisees — with all their individual attributes, styles and personalities — make a huge impact on the success of a business.

In this week’s installment of Franchisee Spotlight, we spoke with Joe Piro — the first and largest franchisee in the Houston-based Salata system — about his success with the brand, his portfolio of restaurants in the Houston area, and his involvement with the community through events like the “dine for a cause” initiative that dovetailed with the opening of his 21^st location and donated 10% of proceeds to Lunches with Love.

Store count: 21 Salata locations in the Houston area and Louisiana

From Burger King to Salata

Just out of high school, I started working at Burger King and started trying to figure out my life goals. I decided I really loved Burger King and worked my way up through management to become a franchisee. I was a Burger King franchisee for 30 years and then Burger King development was getting hard to do because the market here in Houston was so saturated that expansion became difficult. You couldn't find good sites anymore. They were all taken and the only things left over were iffy locations. I started looking around at other concepts to see if there were any other opportunities outside of Burger King. 

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I found Salata and fell in love with the concept. I started my first Salata franchise in 2012. I went into it cautiously because at the time I was one of the I was the first non-family member franchisee. I came along and I was cautious, but once I got into it, I loved it. The numbers just worked. And I never looked back.

Why Salata

I had been looking at another concept that I was negotiating on and the negotiations fell through at the last minute. The broker threw Salata my way and said you should check this out. So I stopped by and looked at it and I immediately loved the concept. It was fresh. It was health oriented. It seemed like something that was not just a fad and would be around for a long time. I’d go there and just hear customers talk about how much they love this place, and it's kind of exciting when your customer base is as excited about eating at the concept as you are owning the concept.

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Being one of a brand’s first and largest franchisees

Once I realized that the brand was a solid brand that's here to stay, I was excited. A lot of people came to me that wanted to enter the system and asked for advice and wanted to see how well I like the concept. I like to think that I steered a lot of people in the right direction who ultimately became franchisees. 

Growth goals

I am the president of my franchise and hopefully I'll continue to be the largest Salata franchisee because I intend to keep growing. I’d like to continue to fill out the Houston market. There are a lot of little pockets where there are still opportunities in Houston. Then, once the Houston market is full, I'd like to branch out and look into other markets that are not too terribly far away from Houston. 

Site selection advice

There’s so much that goes into site selection: you have to look at demographics, traffic counts, incomes, traffic patterns. Then, after you study a location for a while, it's really your gut feeling on how well you think you're going to do there. At the end of the day, you have to decide whether to roll the dice or not. 

Charitable arm

Whenever we open new stores, we try to embed ourselves in the community and find good nonprofits to work with. When we open a store, we try to donate a percentage of our sales to that cause. There are always so many good causes around each location that it's difficult to choose sometimes. But it’s an important part of our business. Giving back is something we love to do. 

Advice for young franchisees

You should know if the restaurant business is right for you, because it’s not for everybody, and let's be honest, it's not an easy business to run. But if you're inclined to be in the restaurant business, Salata is absolutely a wonderful brand to do it with. You’ll have help from the franchise and your guests will love everything you do.