Manhattan - 3 October, 2006 -

The franchise firm, which until now has been largely a suburban phenomenon, is opening its first urban restaurant next month in the heart of New York City. "We've been working for months tweaking the concept," said Alex Rechichi, who co-founded the chain with his brother, Mark, in 1997. The Manhattan site is part of an aggressive expansion plan that will see the company double the number of locations it opens next year, including more Toronto-area stores, Rechichi said. "We don't have a lot of stores in downtown Toronto," he said. "When we started franchising seven years ago it was tough finding locations in the city that were competitive from a rental perspective and still a good retail location." So, the company opted to focus on the suburbs and beyond. The result is a chain of nearly 200 restaurants that stretches from coast to coast, including 12 in the southwestern United States. In each region, the company teamed up with an "area developer," someone who knew the market and would promote the brand in exchange for a percentage of the revenue, Rechichi said. Now, with three area developers in Canada and eight in the U.S., the company is poised to grow exponentially, with more than 100 restaurants planned for next year, he said. When the brothers first started out, pita bread as the basis for a sandwich wasn't a mainstream concept, he said. Large chains have since added wraps to their menu, most other restaurants that serve pitas are small independent shops focused on traditional Lebanese dishes, he said. Rechichi said he liked the idea that a pita sandwich is mostly filling, and not much bread. His earliest adopters were university students, women and athletes, but demand for fast food that is also healthy has grown since then, he said. The nutrition content is posted on a large billboard in the restaurant so that consumers can see how many calories, and how much fat and protein they're consuming. Vegetarian sandwiches are prepared separately. For the urban stores, the company plans to install fewer seats and more meals that have been prepared in advance. "We've been tweaking the original concept to fit the market," Rechichi said. While Rechichi declined to disclose sales figures, he said the company is growing at double-digit rates and is debt free. A franchise costs between $175,000 and $200,000.

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