The San Francisco burger chain spent about 15 years and 24 company stores refining its model before selling a franchise. Its first buyer is a veteran Burger King and Denny's operator.
The Melt waited about 15 years to sell its first franchise. On Nov. 13 it announced the buyer: Syed Ahmad, who will open eight restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin.
Ahmad is no first-timer. He says he has owned 90 Burger King and 64 Denny's restaurants and was among the original Jack in the Box franchisees. "The Melt wasn't asking franchisees to take a chance on an untested concept," he said.
The San Francisco chain runs 24 company-owned restaurants and launched franchising earlier this year. Starting with a seasoned multi-brand operator fits a pattern we saw when Dog Haus handed territories to big operators instead of brokers.
Revscale Media (illustration)FSC Franchise Co. picked PAR for loyalty, ordering and catering across Beef 'O' Brady's, Newk's and The Brass Tap. The rollout starts in early 2027, and the word that matters is recommended.
Revscale Media (illustration)The urgent care franchisor is rolling an AI phone system across its 400-plus clinics after a pilot where booked visits per call rose from 11% to 34%. The numbers are self-reported, and the adoption path is the real story.
Revscale Media (illustration)A settlement filed Thursday would drop Wendy's nearly $147 million claim against its bankrupt franchisee and make Wendy's the opening bidder for 163 of Meritage's restaurants.
Yum ChinaThe KFC and Pizza Hut operator in China unveiled an agent that reads traffic and kitchen data to suggest staffing and production changes, and it plans 10,000 more stores by 2030.
Revscale Media (illustration)Amy Burhorn, most recently CFO of Tribe AI, will run finance, accounting and technology at a chain whose third-quarter comparable sales rose 10.3%.
The StandardThe Taiwanese food group is in advanced talks to buy Jardine Restaurant Group, a franchisee running about 1,000 restaurants in five Asian markets, sources told Reuters.
