MINNEAPOLIS Haagen-Dazs, the 250-unit frozen treat chain, said Friday it planned to grow its business by scooping up opportunities resulting from the recession.
An abundance of prime real estate and favorable lease terms, the many people with business experience who are looking to get into franchising, and strong brand recognition will help the brand accomplish its goal of growing 10 percent annually, said Dawn Uremovich, president of Haagen-Dazs Shops.
“One of the things that franchisees and landlords are looking for is longevity,” Uremovich said. “We’ve been franchising for 30 years.”
Minneapolis-based Haagen-Dazs also has sweetened its pitch to potential partners, said director of franchise development Dan Ogiba. The chain now offers a $10,000 discount off its $30,000 franchise fee to operators with at least two years of restaurant industry experience.
“The discount really was to help make our franchise proposition even more attractive to established franchise operators,” Ogiba said.
In addition to its ambitious growth plans, Haagen-Dazs is preparing the reintroduction of some classic ice cream flavors to celebrate its upcoming brand milestone.
“Next year is our 50th anniversary, so we’d like to bring back some retro flavors,” Uremovich said. “That will emphasize that we’re durable both as a brand and a franchise, so I think that would dovetail pretty well with the growth push. We have franchisees who have been with us for 30 years who are throwing all kinds of flavors from back in the day.”
The one favored old-school flavor that still eludes Haagen-Dazs operators, however, is boysenberry, Uremovich said. In order to pass the brand’s gold standard, the ice cream would have to be the exact formulation Haagen-Dazs operators used to serve to customers, which Uremovich said was lost about 20 years ago. There is a cash prize being offered to any Haagen-Dazs operator that can find or reconstruct the formula.
Haagen-Dazs is targeting for its growth high-traffic, pedestrian-friendly areas like shopping malls and outdoor lifestyle centers, transportation hubs, and tourist attractions, Ogiba said. The brand’s plan is to branch out into a few specific new markets and bolster its penetration in areas where the system already is strong.
“We’re looking at areas for growth where we already have some Haagen-Dazs shops but see an opportunity to dramatically increase our penetration,” Ogiba said.
Those new territories include Northern California and the Bay Area, the corridor from Maryland to Virginia through Washington, D.C., and Hawaii. The brand also wants to bring new franchisees into its more developed regions, including Southern California, South Florida and the New York-New Jersey metro area.
Contact Mark Brandau at [email protected]