Döner Shack's selective franchise partner approach leads to UK success

The doner kebab chain will also use this strategy for its international expansion.

With their eyes set to open 150 stores in the UK in the next five years, Döner Shack is currently targeting to breach markets in Europe and the US using the same strategy they did in the UK: by choosing the right franchise partners.

Döner Shack co-founder and managing director Sanjeev Sanghera told QSR Media in an exclusive interview, that they are very selective when it comes to franchise partners.

"The first thing we look for is people who are already in the franchising industry and have developed good businesses with other hospitality brands. The experience that they get from operating another brand, especially a big international brand, makes it so much easier for us to achieve our goals. One of the main criteria for us is knowing our franchise partners have the know-how to operate multiple units, coupled with the right resources and capability in place to then manage them,” Sanjeev explained.

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That’s why, Sanjeef said, franchise partners for Döner Shack are generally people who have more than five outlets in their previous business. The reason behind this is that the chain would rather have a small number of franchise partners who could have multiple stores than have multiple partners who own one or three stores. This gives franchise partners a greater chance to capitalise on the brand, Sanjeev said.

“One of the most important traits we look for is passion. The franchisee must have passion for our brand and feel excited about our vision to become the world’s number one kebab brand. Ambition is also important. Having such an aggressive expansion plan, we want to work with partners that have the desire to scale Döner Shack and build a successful business. All our franchise partners are entrepreneurial and high achievers with a track record of business success. Every business has ups and downs, so grit, perseverance and determination are important traits we look for too,” Sanjeev said.

Going global

With its success in the UK market, Döner Shack now eyes expanding further across Europe and the Middle East.

“We are currently in discussion with franchise partners in Europe and are having early conversations with people in the Middle East. In all these markets where we are looking to enter, we are looking for a really good partner in the first instance, and then we will decide whether we do a joint venture or open an equity-owned to elevate the brand. We will then let the franchisees develop and expand the stores,” Sanjeev explained.

Sanjeev said Döner Shack also has plans to enter Canada, the US, and Asia markets.

“In the USA and Canada, we are initially planning to open up company-owned stores and then use them as a showcase for franchisees to understand what the business model is and set the standard of how the restaurants should be run. Our plan is to then grow from there with a mix of equity-owned stores, as well as a large franchise network, to allow us to grow as quickly as we can,” Sanjeev said.

Even with all these plans, Döner Shack still considers each market separately. Sanjeev gave Europe as an example, saying that kebabs are an established product and are generally looked at as a good lunchtime or early evening snack, or even a full meal which is completely different from the UK market where they had to challenge people’s perceptions about what a kebab is and how it should be part of the everyday diet. 

“In the USA, it is a completely unknown product, which means our strategy for going into this market means that we need to be clever with how we approach it, and we can’t go all guns blazing telling everyone that kebabs are the best next thing as we risk being ignored. In this situation, what you have to do is align your business model with something they understand in that market and grow it slowly for a number of years. And you have to be prepared for that. You also need to have a really strong secondary product that supports the brand that makes it easy for people to recognise what you do. For us, our go-to product in the American market is a chicken schnitzel bite. Last year was the ‘Year of the Chicken Burger’, so we have now invented a chicken schnitzel burger which we will be launching when we open our first US outlet, Sanjeev explained.

Döner Shack aims to have a total of at least 1,000 stores total in Europe and the US, with Asia listed down the line.

“Döner Shack’s branding will be very consistent in each market. Döner Shack will always remain Döner Shack, even though our product offering may differ from market to market depending on people’s local tastes and understanding of the products – very similar to what other big brands do.  If your brand is strong enough and you are going into these new markets, then you can make small changes to the menu to align it with people’s tastes in that market,” Sanjeev said.