After 23 years in Berkeley, beloved French-inspired restaurant Grégoire is set to open its first franchise in San Francisco early this November.
The restaurant, founded by chef Grégoire Jacquet, is known for its potato puffs and fried chicken sandwiches, but it also offers a rotating selection of sandwiches, salads and soups on its menu.
“We cook whatever ingredients are available during the season, and if we have to do a salsa, we will do a salsa,” Jacquet said. “It’s not French, but you know, we cook food that people like to eat.”
The new location will be at 1300 9th Ave. in the Sunset District of San Francisco.
This location will be the first franchise for Jacquet and is part of a larger effort to scale the business. Grégoire only serves takeout, a model that remained viable during the pandemic and influenced the decision to expand, Jacquet said.
“During the pandemic for various reasons … (the business) really became bulletproof,” Jacquet said. “Now that (my) kids are grown, my wife and I decided that it’s time to grow (the business) again. So we looked at different ways to grow, and the franchise model was the best for us.”
Jacquet started looking for franchise partners by posting “Wanted” Western-styled flyers, offering a $10,000 finder’s fee to anyone who referred a successful franchisee.
He hoped this approach would motivate loyal customers to help grow the brand, instead of relying on a broker or spending thousands of dollars on advertising.
Jacquet said he has received about 100 inquiries to date. He found his first franchisee when they approached his food truck at the Alameda Antique Fair, Jacquet said.
“He was walking the fair, and he looked at the truck. The truck was brand new and super shiny and is a very different (kind of food) truck,” Jacquet said. “He looked at it and fell in love with it … we started talking, and that was it. They’re my first franchisees.”
Jaquet said the three individuals, who wish to remain anonymous, have come on board for this San Francisco franchise. All have operated restaurants together in the past, and he feels they are the right people for his first franchise.
After he and his franchisees spent time looking in other cities around the Bay Area, they became aware of a unit in San Francisco’s Sunset District, previously inhabited by a Jamba Juice on the corner of 9th and Irving Street.They took a look and thought it would be perfect, he said.
“My franchisees saw the location, I saw the location (and) I just fell in love with it.” Jacquet said. “It’s an old neighborhood of mine. I used to live around so, you know, I love it.”
Going forward, Jacquet’s hope is to find other franchisees to operate brick-and-mortar locations or food trucks across the Bay Area. All the food will be prepared at a central commissary kitchen in Emeryville, with final touches added at each location, he said.