The food at Everytable is prepared in a central commissary and delivered daily to units. | Photo courtesy of Everytable.
Everytable has long been known for its mission-driven Social Equity Franchising program, designed to make ownership possible for those who have been traditionally shut out by lack of capital.
Now, however, Everytable for the first time is inviting traditional franchisees to help grow the brand, meaning franchisees that bring their own capital and may already have operating experience.
It’s a step off the path for the 41-unit Everytable, which was designed to bring healthful fast food to both “food deserts,” where nutritious offerings are few and far between, as well as higher-income areas.
The brand uses a sliding pricing system. What might be $6 in a lower-income community could be $8 in a wealthier neighborhood, though it’s all the same scratch-made menu, prepared in a central kitchen and delivered to stores daily to maximize efficiency and reduce buildout costs.
But key to the concept was the Social Equity Franchise program, which offered low-interest loans and extensive training to help store managers become owners, especially in those food-desert neighborhoods.
About 6 or 7 operators have been developed through the program over the past two years or so, and some now have more than one unit, Everytable CEO Sam Polk said. There’s a deep pipeline of others working through the training program, he added.
But now, at a time when value positioning is in high demand, Polk said the brand could be attractive to traditional franchisees as well.
Everytable solves for a lot of problems, Polk said. The brand has low entry costs (ranging from $305,000 to $781,000), and ease of operation. Units have no kitchens, for example, and they can be operated with as few as two or three workers in spaces that range from 500- to 1,400-square feet.
It’s grab-and-go food, but elevated, with dishes like Thai red curry with vegetables; a Lemon Maple Salmon Bowl and Pesto Chicken Cavatappi. The chain recently promoted a Courtside Chicken & Spanish Rice in collaboration with women’s basketball star Rian Forestier.
In addition, Polk notes that Everytable offers multiple recurring revenue streams that most restaurants don’t have.
There’s the typical in-store, delivery and catering channels, for example. But Everytable also offers subscription meals, and a lunch ordering service called Everytable@work for local businesses to provide food for office workers.
Everytable also works under contract to supply schools with healthy meals, as well as homeless shelters and Meals on Wheels-type programs.
And, Polk said, “There are basically almost zero concepts out there selling truly high-quality healthy food for less than fast food prices.”
Traditional franchisees would operate under the same franchising agreement as those who come through the Social Equity program. But the traditional franchisees would bring their own capital.
The Social Equity program will continue. Everytable has raised about $15 million in “philanthropic capital” to help those operators with their initial costs, which can be paid back over five or so years. Investors in Everytable include the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, former California First Lady Maria Shriver and her son actor Patrick Schwarzenegger.
“Our perspective is that we really want to unleash people’s entrepreneurial experiences,” said Polk. “If they have access to capital, they can be traditional. If they don’t, they can be Social Equity franchisees.
“Everytable has always been about creating a system that works for everyone,” he added.
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