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Hurricane Holding spreads its wings

Miami Herald
Hurricane Holdings spreads its wings through franchise plan
BY EVE SAMPLES

STUART - On Easter Sunday 11 years ago, Chris Russo spotted an advertisement for a tiny nook of restaurant space just landward of the sand dunes on South Beach in Fort Pierce.

The ad pitched the home of the defunct Mr. Wobinson's Wibs as a ''concession stand,'' but when Russo toured the structure's 980 square feet, he saw more than that: For the amateur cook, it was a foot in the door of the competitive restaurant business.

The then-22-year-old swiftly took over the lease, hoisted a sign that read Chris' Hurricane Grill and tacked up a sparse assortment of storm memorabilia.

His menu's most popular items were a distinctly American combination -- chicken wings and cold beer.

Today, the original restaurant remains, but its parent company has expanded well beyond its confines.

Hurricane Brand Holdings, based in Stuart, aims to open 400 franchises across the country within the next three years.

It's a lofty target, but early numbers show the restaurant chain, known to Treasure Coast locals as ''the Hurricane'' is on track to hit that figure.

Since Hurricane Brand Holdings started franchise sales in late February, more than 70 contracts have been signed, 26 of them for restaurants in Palm Beach County, the company reported.

About 15 of the 70 are expected to open by the end of the year in cities as near as Jupiter and as far as Winter Haven.

''We honestly think we're going to be the Subway of wings,'' said Mike Matakaetis, 49, chairman of the privately held company. ``We feel that strongly.''

Franchise buyers have been attracted to the chain's turnkey format, Matakaetis said: It's a small-scale, high-volume restaurant that prides itself on the quality of its food.

The company recently eliminated trans-fat oils from its kitchens and has been using all-natural chicken for years, President and Chief Executive Mike Buscaino said.

''Nobody really talks about the quality of their product, and they're selling girls -- they're not selling food,'' Buscaino, 46, said of other wing restaurants.

Russo's earliest menu offerings in Fort Pierce were rather rudimentary -- hot wings, barbecued wings and other standards -- but he immediately started experimenting with more exotic ingredients. Parmesan and garlic wings appeared on the menu as the restaurant developed a loyal following.

By the time he opened his second restaurant in St. Lucie West in 2000, he had 10 or 15 sauces on the menu. When his third opened in Jensen Beach in 2002, he had closer to 30.

''It was part of a culture,'' said Russo, now a co-owner and board member. ``People kept coming back to see what was new, what was the latest flavor.''

Today, Hurricane Grill and Wings' 40 sauces are a distinctive part of its brand. They include flavors such as chipotle raspberry and spicy piña colada glaze, all of which are manufactured in Palm Beach County.

The simplicity of centralized production is appealing to franchisees because it lets them use a branded product without losing space in their kitchens, said Amy Bannon, spokeswoman for the International Association of Franchisers in Washington, D.C.

''That is a way to control costs, and that's something that a franchise could do uniformly,'' she said.

RENEWED INTEREST

In recent years, Bannon said she's seen a renewed commitment to wing restaurants, which she noted tend to do well in football country.

''During sports events you have the wings, you don't have quiche,'' she said.

Still, Hurricane Grill isn't billing itself as a sports bar. Though its restaurants feature a few TVs, its executives are pushing an all-are-welcome, tropics-inspired, corner-pub image.

''We get everything from families of four to two women out having a nice casual dinner to two guys getting off work,'' Russo said.

To open a Hurricane Grill, franchisees must pay an initial fee of $30,000 to Hurricane Brand Holdings, plus 5 percent royalties and another 3 percent of their sales toward companywide advertising. That doesn't include the start-up costs for building the physical restaurant space, which Matakaetis estimated are upward of $250,000.

Fort Pierce residents Bonnie Turk and Allison O'Connor decided to take the plunge by buying a franchise in the Tampa area.

FRANCHISE AMBITION

As frequent customers of the Fort Pierce restaurant, the pair saw a note on the menu that said franchises were available and, after both had a bad workday, they decided to go for it.

''We thought it was a pipe dream, really. We never thought it would happen,'' said O'Connor, 31, a former teacher at St. Lucie West Centennial High School.

Drawing on equity from their homes, the two pooled their resources and hope to open the restaurant in six to nine months.

''They need a wing place, a good wing place. And I'm not putting down any of the other franchises, but . . . this product will sell itself,'' said Turk, 41, a teacher at Lincoln Park Academy in Fort Pierce.

Since the eateries typically are 1,500 to 1,800 square feet, Hurricane Grill franchisees don't have to make a huge up-front investment, said Matakaetis, who owns 12 Dunkin' Donuts in Martin and St. Lucie counties and has developed another 18 as far north as Daytona Beach.

With seven years experience franchising Dunkin' Donuts, he was a driving force behind transforming Russo's original three restaurants into a franchised brand.

As a frequent customer at the Jensen Beach restaurant, he realized the spot had what he liked about Dunkin' Donuts -- customer loyalty.

''I saw the same addiction, people coming in three and five times a week,'' he said.

In late 2002, he devised a business plan and approached Russo with the idea.

Matakaetis eventually talked Russo into leaving the kitchen and taking on a more corporate role.

Hurricane Brand Holdings now has about 20 employees at its headquarters on Willoughby Boulevard in Stuart. Company executives declined to reveal sales figures for any of the restaurants.

AIMING FOR 400

Should the company hit its target of 400 franchises within three years, it would surpass the national wing house Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, the Minneapolis-based company that has 232 franchises and 115 company-owned restaurants, according to the International Association of Franchisers.

So far, all of Hurricane Grill's franchises are within Florida; the company expects to expand beyond the state by the end of the year. Among its targets: Georgia, Tennessee, New York and Massachusetts.

Russo even sold his original restaurant in Fort Pierce as a franchise and intends to open a new ''founder's franchise'' at the Tradition development in western Port St. Lucie by the end of the year.

He's no longer in the kitchen but said he has found a new creative outlet at the corporate level.

''Even though I'm not in the kitchen, it's still my passion to be involved with the food,'' Russo said.