Why are franchisees so reluctant to open chains in the Houston market? (Dallas: real estate, how much)

[jkdblaze]

Originally Posted by ipuck

Most of those taco joints you mentioned are Americanized with extra 50% markup to the product. Why do you want more of those here?

How about for convenience... variety... I know Houston has a ton of good Mexican restaurants, I enjoy a good many of them. But my question was why the chains don't think the Houston market is viable. I can't believe our demographics, culture, etc. are all that different than Dallas.

[Tranta]

Originally Posted by jkdblaze

As an example, Dallas currently has the following fast food taco franchises off the top of my head (and there are probably more trying to squeeze into that hot market):

Taco Bell
Taco Cabana
Taco Bueno
Taco Casa
Taco Villa
Del Taco
Rosa’s Café
Rusty Taco
Torchy’s Tacos


Meanwhile, in Houston we have:


Taco Bell
Taco Cabana
Torchy's Tacos


Why is it so difficult to open a chain here? I would just like to be able to grab a quick taco through the drive-thru and I'm sick and tired of Taco Bell.

Yeah I know what you mean man I wish Houston had Weinerschnitzel and Dallas has 3 of those and I been eating those things since I lived in El Paso 10 years ago haha. James Coney Island has nothing compared to this place, but any body interested upon opening a franchise in Houston or has anybody they know who is an franchisee you can get a franchise referral from them and this is how it works!

1. Share the good new about buisness ownership possiblility with qualified people, capable of building and operating a Wienerschnitzel restaurant in your market.

2. Have them visit Wienerschnitzel Premium Hot Dogs - The World's Largest Hot Dog Chain and click on "Franchising on our homepage. This will allow them to visit, learn more and submit their contact information.

3. If your referred person moves through the franchise appication and approval process, and later signes a new franchise agreement with full-paid initial franchise fee, then we will send you a check PAYABLE FOR 1,000 WITHIN 30-DAYS OF CONFIRMED PAYMENT.

4. Every new inquiry will be asked where they learned about Wiencerschnitzel We will document and save your contact information when they acknowledge your name as the "refferral source".

WEBSITE: Franchise Referral - Wienerschnitzel

[HouTxn]

Originally Posted by jkdblaze

I would doubt there are any long lines in Stripes gas stations

Actually, I can name three that are always packed with folks weekday mornings. Stripes on 610 and S. Wayside, Howard dr and 45, and Aldine Bender and JFK. The amount of people that wait is ridiculous.

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by jkdblaze

How about for convenience... variety... I know Houston has a ton of good Mexican restaurants, I enjoy a good many of them. But my question was why the chains don't think the Houston market is viable. I can't believe our demographics, culture, etc. are all that different than Dallas.

Maybe they notice there are enough ethnic Hispanic restaurants that make real authentic tacos instead of over price junk that only the folks like you will enjoy. Also, they probably found the folks living here have better taste bugs than the chain crap they are serving.

It also help there is a bigger Latin population here that know what a quality taco is.

[Htown2013]

I vote for In N Out Burger and Baja Fresh.

[swopoe]

Originally Posted by HouTxn

Actually, I can name three that are always packed with folks weekday mornings. Stripes on 610 and S. Wayside, Howard dr and 45, and Aldine Bender and JFK. The amount of people that wait is ridiculous.

I will say that the breakfast tacos at Stripes are delicious. The tortillas are freshly made and awesome. No lie.

[Dopo]

When I moved down here I promised I would never eat in Taco Bell again
I've only eaten there once in 7 years, because some sob friends forced me to do it

There's a speedy stop gas station by my work that makes some amazing breakfast tacos

[Chrisrock]

Originally Posted by ipuck

Maybe they notice there are enough ethnic Hispanic restaurants that make real authentic tacos instead of over price junk that only the folks like you will enjoy. Also, they probably found the folks living here have better taste bugs than the chain crap they are serving.

It also help there is a bigger Latin population here that know what a quality taco is.

Pretty harsh way to say it, but this is it. Nothing inconvenient about pulling over the side of the road to the dozen or so taco trucks around town and getting a cheaper, better tasting taco than what you find in a taco bell drive through. Just have to overcome that initial apprehension.

[KerrTown]

Not just tacos.

Office Depot and OfficeMax are very saturated in Houston. I have no idea why the FTC approved that merger but struggling to approve Staples' acqusition. I'm surprised that they overlooked the Houston market when they did not demand any divestitures! (Office Depot should have left OfficeMax alone and merged with Staples in the first place to avoid this situation.)

The Staples-Office Depot/OfficeMax merger would actually make Staples more accessible in Houston. They only came to Houston 5 years ago and grew to 8 stores. But those 8 stores are only in the North/Northwest suburbs, along the Gulf Freeway, and the lone store in Channelview. None in the heavily populated West/Southwest side. (The Sharpstown store closed recently.) Odd choice of locations!

Meanwhile in the rest of America, Staples is around every corner. Dallas is the only one in Texas to have been saturated with all 3 chains. San Antonio and Austin only have a few Staples stores.

[jkdblaze]

Originally Posted by Chrisrock

Pretty harsh way to say it, but this is it. Nothing inconvenient about pulling over the side of the road to the dozen or so taco trucks around town and getting a cheaper, better tasting taco than what you find in a taco bell drive through. Just have to overcome that initial apprehension.

No apprehension here, I eat at taco trucks regularly. I like the chiles toreados that you can't get from a taco bell or similar institution. But that wasn't the point of the original post. Maybe I should have used In and Out burger, Krispy Kreme, and 7eleven, etc. as examples. Ipuck's personal attack is uncalled for.