Marcus Lemonis of The Profit visited My Big Fat Greek Gyro (pronounced jai-roh), a Greek sandwich shop 15 miles south of Pittsburgh, in 2014. Lemonis worked with the husband and wife team, Mike and Kathleen, to help strengthen their fast-casual dining franchise business. When Lemonis arrived, there were five franchises. Each paid an upfront fee of $10,000. Each sends a monthly royalty which averages out to $65,000 a year per location. But they’re underperforming. Lemonis sees great financial potential in the business but his biggest obstacle is Mike and Kathleen, who don’t know how to run the business successfully. Lemonis wants to rebrand the entire business with a new name (The Simple Greek), a new look, and new menu (no frozen food!).
Since the rebranding and refurbishing of the franchises, The Simple Greek is now planning to open 20 new franchises with the help of Lemonis. Four will be in Texas; five in Florida; and five in Connecticut; the others are spread out in Atlanta, Grand Rapids, Charlotte, Scottsdale and Paramus, New Jersey. CNBC will re-air the episode on Friday, August 19 at 8pm.
