Wok Box is one of the fastest growing, diverse Asian Style franchises in North America. With dishes ranging from Chinese to Thai, East Indian to Malaysian, this franchise can be mastered and managed by all, even franchisees with little or no retail experience.
Whether you have any previous knowledge or experience in the culinary arts or running your own business, Wok Box will provide you all the ingredients and support needed to achieve! All you need is a hunger for success! What are you waiting for?
This package is the first glimpse into a new lifestyle, the Wok Box lifestyle. The fresh, healthy alternative to quick service foods, Wok Box offers unparalleled support to each member of our Wok Box busi-ness starting right now!
Our goal with the following information package is to offer insight into our business and this amazing franchise. Wok Box takes a different stance compared to our competitors when it comes to franchising; we actually provide the franchisee (you!) with a foundation of support in addition to a superior product. Wok Box’s goals are to see our Franchisee’s as happy as possible through their successfully ran business’s, as well as to witness the Wok Box brand spreading across the globe.
About the Wok Box and Where We’re Headed
The Wok Box Experience
Where We Compete
Franchising – A Quick Overview
How Wok Box Will Help You
The Steps to Success
What a Wok Box Costs
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact Wok Box
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT US AND WHERE WE’RE HEADED
Wok Box was founded in 2004 as a single store in downtown Edmon-ton, Alberta on Jasper Avenue and 101st Street. The company has witnessed rapid growth and fantastic interest since its origination with the future looking incredibly promising. With expansion plans stemming across North America, a management team boasting over 75 years of practical hands on experience, and a fresh new concept, the future looks brighter than ever for Wok Box and its franchisees!
Wok Box is storming the food industry in Canada, the United States and across the Globe. Wok Box is completing the build out of West-ern Canada over the next two years. Ontario and EastWest-ern Canada Wok Box’s are well under-way, and the Western United States customers are happy to have a new Asian food choice in their mar-kets. If you feel there is a market that you want to bring a Wok Box too we are definitely interested!
Best Recipes
Wok Box has proprietary sauces that no other company or chain can obtain or use. This means one thing: Wok Box’s products cannot be replicated! The experienced executive team and chefs have a great deal of restaurant experience and know what customers expect in a meal. Customers leave fulfilled and wanting to come back!
Quality
Wok Box provides excellent value by offer-ing an original and evolvoffer-ing menu in a casual setting with quick and efficient services. The menu consists of items that are prepared daily using innovative and proprietary recipes with high quality, fresh ingredients. Today’s consumer is health conscious, a trait Wok Box focuses its menu on. The products used are of superior quality. All meats, produce, and sauces are spectacular and the dishes are original. What more can we say, our product is unmatched.
Ease of Operations
The Wok Box concept is extremely unique and appeals to a wide array of customers. Wok Box uses the highest quality products to provide customers an Asian food experience they will forever enjoy. With Wok Box management providing franchisees with a training program as well as detailed proce-dure manuals, the process is simple, easy, and quick: Wok Box’s recipe for success.
With a flip of the wok and a wisp of smoke, our cooks create dishes from around the world.
Wok Box places significant emphasis on the unique interior design and decor of the restaurants while at the same time maintaining a cost-per-square foot build of the restaurant space typical to the industry. Wok Box believes its quick-service “Asian Bistro” look of design and decor contributes to the distinctive dining and take away experience enjoyed by its customers. Each restaurants features open dining areas, featured tiled walls, plasma televisions, and unique contemporary kitchen designs. Wok Box works with our construction contractors to ensure all restaurants are built in the most efficient, timely and highest quality manner possible.
Quick Service Restaurants – The New Fast Food
The Quick Service Restaurant Industry (QSR) is a relatively new concept: Take what a full service, sit down restaurant provides and remove much of the overhead. In doing so the QSR industry provides customers a quick meal that can be enjoyed on the go or in the restaurant for a lower cost without sacrificing the quality of the product.
Traditional Asian restaurants also pose a competitive threat. Being a relatively new concept, fast casual Asian restaurants like Wok Box will need to strategically differenti-ate themselves from traditional Asian dining locations in order to maximize sales and market share in a competitive industry. These traditional Asian restaurants have several key weaknesses in comparison to Wok Box:
• Poor quality in location and service execution • Inconsistent site to site experiences
• High risk order interface due to menu structure and language barriers • Concerns over food quality and safety
• High Building costs and no available construction labour to build stores
Wok Box is designed to capitalize on these limitations, and will be competitively posi-tioned to take advantage of shifting consumer demands with our unique concept and superior product.
It goes without saying that any customer
who comes to a Wok Box is excited by the
atmosphere, the food and even more so by
the quick service. All dishes can be prepared
in a timeframe most QSR chains only dream
of. Dine-in or Take-out, the service and
prod-uct will keep customers coming back time
and time again. Wok Box is built on
effi-ciency and consistently strives to improve its
operations to remain on the forefront of the
QSR, and food service, industry.
The
wok box
You might have some questions about franchising in general and we’d be more than happy to clarify a few things.
Basic Definitions:
• A “Franchisee” is an operator of a “Franchise”. They pay for the rights to use a Fran chisors logo’s, products, and operating techniques.
• A “Franchisor” is the owner of the logo’s, products, operating techniques and supports Franchisee’s in the operation of their individual locations.
Some Franchise Facts:
• More Franchised business’s succeed and continue to operate over a similar time period in comparison to privately owned businesses. The explanation? Franchise’s offer SUPPORT to their franchisee’s!
• Franchise’s have proven systems and products that allow the Franchisee to focus on operating the system, and work with a proven product
• Food Service Bankruptcies in Canada are at a 27-year low according to the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association in 2008.
Franchise Industry Pitfalls
As with any industry, there are pitfalls to the Franchise industry. Some of these pitfalls are: • Inadequate Franchisor Support
• No operational or product improvements • Inconsistent Interaction with Franchisee’s
• No audits of stores so the product is inconsistent from store to store
• Setting up Franchisee’s in locations that are sub-par and result in lower sales • Franchisor may sublease sites to Franchisee with higher rates
• Franchisor may buy product in bulk and keep any rebates, so no savings occurs for the Franchisee
• Franchisor may ‘mark-up’ the costs of construction for a store • Limited advertising to promote the brand
Wok Box Franchising – We Focus On Support
Wok Box, as a Franchisor, is interested in one thing: the success of every store we open. In order to do this Wok Box must provide constant support to their Franchisee’s. This support is unique in the Franchise industry, just see for yourself!
Wok Box will:
• Ensure the best branding possible for our stores!
• Be available for questions, requests and ‘sound boarding’ of ideas! • Perform regular store reviews to ensure consistent product at all stores!
• Host an Online Franchisee Bulletin Board to stimulate communication between Franchisee’s and Franchisor!
• SUPPORT OUR FRANCHISEES!
Franchises are only as strong as their Franchisee’s. Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchen provides unparal-leled support to the Franchisee’s in all locations at all times.
High Quality Products
Raised from the depths of the restaurant industry, Wok Box’s Corporate Executive team is constantly fighting to lower our product costs and pass the savings onto the Franchisee’s. The experience and connections within the restaurant industry have allowed Wok Box to secure strong supplier contracts and relations that allow our operations to succeed at a reasonable cost level. Wok Box will not use rebates for themselves that are entitled to the Franchisee which many other Franchisors don’t. We feel that our responsibility to the Franchisee is to aid them in operating as effectively as possible. In turn, this support will help stores franchisees run stores more effectively and will positively promote the Wok Box brand.
Restaurant Design and Décor
The Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchens follow a simple design strategy: Impress for Less. Following the “Asian Style” design that has been developed from the build of the first locations, the Wok Box has a distinctive vibe that contributes to the customer experience.
The Wok Box corporate office provides support and industry knowledge when constructing all Wok Box restaurants. Wok Box’s construction manager has relations and experience in the construction industry. This allows our restaurants to be constructed with high quality materials and labour in a timely and efficient manner. We are forever improving methods to create cost savings for our Franchisee’s without disturbing Wok Box’s image or quality of stores. The Wok Box does not mark-up any of the construction costs that are incurred to build a store; what was incurred to build is passed on directly to the Franchisee, no more, no less.
Wok Box works exclusively with our commercial real estate teams to secure top quality sites across the country. Our underlying feeling when making a decision to secure locations for Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchens is that if a single franchise fails due to its location, then we have failed as a Franchisor. This negatively impacts our brand and the franchisee. All locations that are secured are discussed at length with the Wok Box Corporate Executive team, our real estate experts and our franchisee’s.
Some things to consider when we are scouting for locations:
• Is there easy access to the parking lot? The store may look great but people need to be able to get to the front door quickly.
• How much parking is there for our store? Can people park at all hours of the day? • What type of foot traffic is there?
• Is the site in a good location from a delivery viewpoint? • Can the site be seen from the street?
• What is the Square Footage of the site? We ideally look for 1500 – 2000 sqft, but consider each location seriously.
• Can the Signage on the storefront be seen from high traffic areas?
• Who are the other stores in the location? Do they seem profitable? Are they doing a strong business?
• What type of competition is surrounding the location.
Training
Prior to the opening of your Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchen, Wok Box will provide the franchisee with extensive training in one of our corporate stores and at our Head Office. During this training the franchisee will learn all the hands on aspects of preparing each dish, how to make orders to mini-mize product waste, the industry secrets to operating a successful restaurant, how to utilize the Point of Sale systems and most importantly allow the franchisee to become an integral part of the Wok Box team.
Marketing Support and Advertising
Each Wok Box Franchise contributes 3% of their gross sales to an advertising fund that will be used by Wok Box to maximize the exposure of the brand and products. Wok Box’s Executive team has a wealth of knowledge for franchise’s on how to best advertise and market their stores and will provide each store advice on how to promote their store in their individual market.
On-Going Franchise Support
Wok Box regional Operations Managers and Master Developers will be in constant contact with all franchise’s to ensure that the Wok Box product is being prepared consistently across the markets. This key people will provide Franchise’s advice on how to improve their operations and ultimately will aid all Wok Box Fresh Asian Kitchens to succeed.
THE STEPS TO SUCCESS
fresh asian kitchen
WEEK 1 - 2
Interested party fills out the Expression of Interest form at www.wokbox.ca
The application is reviewed by the Wok Box corporate executive team. This can include a credit check of the applicant.
The interested party is
contacted by the Wok Box and a meeting is arranged.
WEEK 2 - 4
Application is approved and the potential franchisee meets the criteria that Wok Box looks for in a franchisee.
Franchisee agreement is given to the potential candidate for review. Under Alberta law, a 14-day period must elapse before the agreement can be signed. This is to protect Franchisee from rushing to a decision before considering all aspects of the project.
Potential franchisee begins to secure financing. Wok Box has many contacts and can provide insight into financing decisions and help the franchi-see start in the right direction.
You have already strarted on the right path to opening your own Wok Box - fresh asian kitchen. Generally, the process is as follows:
WEEK 4 - 8
The franchise agreement is signed and executed. The franchisee pays the franchise fee to the Wok Box.
The location is secured and lease is signed.
WEEK 4 - 6
The Wok Box, using our real estate professionals, begins to look for locations, and tours sites along with the potential franchisee.
Possession Date of Space
Wok Box training programme and store opening after 8 - 12 weeks of construction.
* The process can occur more quickly if locations are found and secured by Wok Box prior to an agreement being signed or franchisee being found.
Overview and Cost Breakdown
Opening a Wok Box business will require start-up capital. The capital can be raised in many ways:
• Personal Cash: If you have it available this is the easiest way to go.
• Loan: Loans can come from a variety of places. Family, friends, banks, other finan
cial institutions, and the government can all provide the necessary financing. Wok Box has contacts at major institutions and would be happy to pass them on.
• Private Investors: The Franchisee may seek out private investors that take an owner
ship stake (‘equity’ stake) in the Franchisee’s business. Giving up a portion of the company can prove to be a smart decision for a Franchisee as purchasing an equity stake does NOT require repayment to the investor. The private investor takes a percentage of the earnings each period instead.
• Home Equity: Do you own property? Has it risen in value? You can re-mortgage
your property to take out the increase in value of your home (called equity). The increase in the mortgage payment is often cheaper than securing a conventional loan.
From a recent store that Wok Box constructed, the start up costs were:
Franchise Fee 25,000 25,000
Rent and Deposit 10,000 15,000
Leasehold Improvements 185,000 215,000
Equipment 90,000 120,000
Signage 15,000 25,000
Insurance, Legal 5,000 5,000
Opening Inventory 10,000 10,000
Working Capital Ask Scott 10,000 10,000
Total Investment 350,000 425,000
*Costs can exceed or come under estimates above depending on location, site specifics, and contractors.
What is the initial franchise fee?
• There is an initial franchise fee of $25,000 which is due at the time of signing the franchise agreement.
How much is the royalty fee / marketing fee? • The royalty is 6% of gross sales
• The marketing fee is 3% of gross sales and is payable monthly How much is the initial investment?
• Your estimated initial investment to construct a new Wok Box varies depending on the type of and size of the location.
• Typically a new store would range between $350,000 to $425,000 • The specific breakdown of the costs are outlined in the disclosure documents and will be provided as your intentions to open a store increase. Do products have to be purchased from Wok Box?
• To ensure the Wok Box brand is kept up to management expectation, as well as ensuring the uniform standards of quality and service are maintained, all franchisees are required to operate their Wok Box stores in strict
conformity with our methods. Wok Box uses a national food supplier for our products and constantly works with them to improve products and service to our Franchisee’s.
How active do I have to be in day to day operations of my franchise?
• A Franchisee who purchases a Wok Box Franchise does not have to
personally operate the Wok Box restaurant. However, there must be a full time Manager who has satisfactorily completed the training course provided by Wok Box and is involved. in the operations or oversight of the restaurant. Wok Box does not want to jeopardizethe brand by having un-trained or inexperienced personnel operating the stores. It is critical to note that to a large part the success of a Wok Box franchise depends on the enthusiasm, work ethic, attitude, and entrepreneurial skills of the Franchisee. Therefore Wok Box strongly recommends that Franchisees be actively involved on a day-to-day basis in their restaurant. It will also provide a better support network if Franchisees have questions for management at Wok Box head quarters. Are there ways to finance the business?
• Yes, there are several ways to finance the business. Once a potential franchisee fills out our Expression of Interest Form, Wok Box management will meet personally with candidates and discuss finance options.
