Expansion plans for hot dog eatery
After more than 40 years in the hotdog restaurant business, Orange Tree Hot Dogs Inc. is expanding outside of the Jacksonville metropolitan area for the first time.
The company’s 12th location will open at the University of Florida in Gainesville in late January. Other new locations are also expected to open in 2010 in St. Augustine, Orlando and Atlanta, according to the company’s director of franchising, Shawn Emling.
Founded in 1968 by Peter and Carolyn Koppenburger and now on the third generation of family ownership, the first Orange Tree Hot Dogs location was one of the original tenants of the Regency Square Mall.
The Jacksonville-based company started its franchising program in 2007 and since then has opened nine new locations in the Jacksonville area, and has created an expansion plan to open five additional locations each year.
The restaurant’s menu is simple, consisting almost exclusively of hot dogs with a wide variety of toppings, many of them made with proprietary recipes. The top seller is the slaw/onion sauce dog and the average cost per meal is $6.32. The company estimates that it sells more than 1 million hot dogs per year.
Emling said he is also negotiating with prospective franchisees for Daytona, Tallahassee, Ocala and Tampa. The company’s ultimate goal, he said, is to expand throughout the Southeast.
The average size of an Orange Tree is 1,400 square feet, the average number of employees is seven to 10 and the average franchise fee, which can vary based on a number of factors, is $12,500.
Filed under: term by Wolf