The latest MSDA territory grants the right to franchise A&W restaurants in five southern Ontario communities, including Niagara Falls, Fonthill, Welland, Port Colborne and Fort Erie. The developers will open about one A&W restaurants in each of these communities per year.
So far in 2010, A&W has granted six MSDA’s representing commitments by franchisees to open 32 new free-standing restaurants during the next three to five years. All of this activity has been focused in southern Ontario and the Vancouver area. This brings to 77 the number of new restaurant commitments the company has secured to open new A&W’s over this three- to five-year period, since the MSDA program was launched in 2009.
Graham Cooke, A&W’s vice-president of New Restaurant Expansion, says the multi-site franchise program has really caught fire. “We continue to be delighted with the level of response to the MSDA concept we are receiving from both existing and new franchisees” says Cooke. “We currently have interest from qualified groups all over Ontario and have, more recently, introduced the program in Quebec.”
Cooke also notes that the company has recently revamped its franchise website and undertaken a newspaper advertising campaign to further promote its new franchise concept. “The quantity of the applications and the quality of the individuals coming forward is exceeding our expectations.”