About this episode

Troy Hooper, CEO of Pepper Lunch, discusses restaurant real estate strategies and lessons learned from their experiences.

Live from the National Restaurant Show, Pepper Lunch CEO Troy Hooper joins Kyle Closed Monday to talk restaurant real estate at scale. Site selection, co-tenancy strategy, AI-powered site scorecards, franchisee support structure, and the B-minus site mistake they made against their own instincts and what it cost them. If you're a franchisee, franchiseor, or multi-unit operator thinking about your next location, this one is a must listen.Key Conversations How Pepper Lunch gets 68-72 seats in 1,700 square feet Why cotenancy isn't just a preference The 362-point site benchmark scorecard How they structure franchisee real estate supportc Why they approved a B-minus site The one thing to fight for in a new development TI vs. rent and escalations Chapters 0:08 — Troy intro: Pepper Lunch's US and global pipeline 2:03 — Box size, kitchen design, and hitting 68 seats in 1,700 square feet 3:27 — How Pepper Lunch supports franchisees through the full real estate process 5:58 — Why emerging brands can't get real estate wrong 6:34 — Cotenancy strategy: what they look for and how it gets written into the lease 8:01 — East Coast vs. West Coast development and why the model has to flex 10:55 —…

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