Starting this month, established franchisees can join leagues with City of Industry-based Everytable PBC.

The ready meals chain previously created a social equity franchise program that provides network and training to new business leaders who are often excluded from store ownership because of insufficient capital. Franchisees, who’re typically marginalized in this space, can secure upfront, philanthropic funding from Everytable, repaying the loan through a portion of the store’s profits over five years.

Following a “rousing success” of the program, the company expanded it to traditional franchisees who bring their own money and experience to the table, said Everytable Chief Executive Sam Polk.

Since the chain operates out of small stores that get their supplies from commissary kitchens, traditional franchisees are attracted to the cost-savings, low rent and easy operations, Polk pointed out.

“It’s basically one of the most attractive franchise models,” Polk said. “Because there’s a lot of demand and because we think it’s a great way for us to expand our mission and our impact, we opened the door to traditional franchising.”

Everytable now operates more than 35 branches across the Golden State.

The business of franchise

Having weathered industry headwinds that caused it to close all of its New York locations in early 2024, Everytable is seeking ways to regain lost ground. After establishing collaborations with multiple Southern California school districts last year, it landed a multi-million contract with the city of Phoenix last month to exclusively serve and deliver for the city’s senior nutrition program.

The franchise program is expected to help grow the existing lines of public collaborations, said Polk.

“One of the reasons it’s such a powerful franchising model is that a lot of the business lines that we are in … flows through the stores,” Polk said. “It gives us a competitive advantage in some of those (public) business lines to have that last mile distribution.”

A recent Oxford Economics report also found that franchised restaurants generate 1.4 times more sales on average than independent operators. The franchised restaurants also have a higher survival rate in the market due to franchisor support and brand recognition, among others.