MILWAUKEE (Aug. 7, 2018) \u2013 Since its founding in 1972, Cousins Subs \u00ae has grown from a single restaurant run by real-life cousins Bill Specht and Jim Sheppard in Milwaukee to 100 restaurants throughout Wisconsin. Now, the sandwich franchise is kicking off a large-scale expansion plan in Illinois, starting with an ambitious development agreement with multi-unit, multi-brand franchisees Amit and Kalpesh Patel to develop 40 restaurants throughout the Chicagoland area over the next several years.<\/p>\n
Cousins Subs\u2019 new, more aggressive development strategy began when Bill Specht\u2019s daughter, Christine Specht, took over as the franchise\u2019s president and CEO after serving as its president and COO. Christine says the brand recognition and consumer goodwill that had carefully been established throughout the Midwest has provided the opportunity for extensive expansion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know in our hearts that now is the time for major growth, and we are peeling back the layers of the onion and asking ourselves honestly, \u2018what do we need to do to grow this brand?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Part of the answer, according to Cousins Subs Vice President of Development Joe Ferguson, is identifying areas where the brand is best positioned for growth and carefully building out those markets. In that respect, the franchise\u2019s development sees a wealth of opportunity in the Midwest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a brand that was built in the Midwest by Midwesterners,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cOur customers may not be aware of that, but I think they can sense the authenticity. We\u2019re about high-quality, hearty, food served at reasonable prices, and that\u2019s something that\u2019s always going to appeal to folks around here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferguson says he sees a particularly lucrative opportunity in Illinois, where until recently, the franchise had no presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are extremely excited about Illinois,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cThere are so many markets in the state that are perfectly primed for our opportunity. We\u2019ve seen just how successful our restaurants are in neighboring markets, and we\u2019ve seen consumer demand for Cousins Subs creep from those markets into Illinois. Now we\u2019re going to fulfill that demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Illinois development push kicked off this year with the Patels\u2019 40-unit agreement in the Chicagoland area. The brothers are uniquely well suited to shepherd the brand\u2019s entrance to Chicagoland. Though new to Cousins, they are franchise veterans, having owned and operated more than 50 franchise units throughout the Midwest and elsewhere since the early \u201890s, including Dunkin\u2019 Donuts, Rosati\u2019s Pizza, Wingstops and a number of gas stations.<\/p>\n
Amit Patel says he\u2019s had his eye on Cousins for a while. When he learned the brand was looking for a large-scale development partner in Chicagoland, he jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom\u2019s family lived in Wisconsin, and three of her brothers are Cousins franchisees,\u201d Amit said. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved the food. We grew up eating it every time we went to visit the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
That family connection made Cousins ownership a particularly attractive prospect for Amit, who says he\u2019s always run his franchise units as family operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though we have so many different things going on, we always try to run our businesses like a family,\u201d he said. \u201cWe try to get to know all of our managers personally and get involved with everyone who works for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amit says he saw that same attitude among the leadership at Cousins, and that encouraged him to sign on with the brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we met with the leadership team, they were extremely friendly, humble, respectful and easy to talk to,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was one of the things that convinced us to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Patels will open their first Chicagoland Cousins Subs location this year, with plans to open an additional five to six locations each year over the next several years.<\/p>\n
Even with that extensive development plan rolling out, Ferguson says there remains enormous growth potential for new Cousins franchisees throughout the Midwest.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmit\u2019s restaurants in Chicagoland are just the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Midwest is flush with markets where Cousins is primed for success, and we\u2019re excited to work with new franchise partners in markets we\u2019ve identified as opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information about Cousins Subs, visit cousinssubs.com .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MILWAUKEE (Aug. 7, 2018) \u2013 Since its founding in 1972, Cousins Subs \u00ae has grown from a single restaurant run by real-life cousins Bill Specht and Jim Sheppard in Milwaukee to 100 restaurants throughout Wisconsin. Now, the sandwich franchise is kicking off a large-scale expansion plan in Illinois, starting with an ambitious development agreement with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cousinsdev.trivera.ai\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}