8 EASY STEPS
Our Franchise Program
The steps to opening a Chop Stop restaurant are relatively easy and straightforward. We hold your hand every step of the way. In general, it takes just over a year from the moment you contact us to the day you open your first restaurant. Below you’ll find a brief description of each stage with timing.
1. Application & Interview
Click the “Get Started” button at the top of the page and a helpful sales team member will reach out ASAP to answer any preliminary questions you have. After you fill out a short application, our sales director will call you in 1-2 business days to conduct a telephone interview. Assuming you meet our prequalification standards, we’ll send you our FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) which describes our franchise offering in much greater detail.
2. Discovery Day Meeting
Welcome to our Franchise Training Center Restaurant in Glendale, California! Our training director will give you a behind-the-scenes tour of restaurant operations, then you’ll meet with our CEO and VP of operations over lunch. The goal of this face-to-face meeting is to get to know each other better and make sure it feels like a good fit all around. If you’ve never been to a Chop Stop before, it also gives you a chance to try our food. As well, we can coordinate a “tour” of other Chop Stop restaurants if you’re from out of town.
3. Due Diligence
The final stage of being awarded a franchise is due diligence on both sides. We’ll do a background check and require you to get pre-approved for an SBA loan of $400K by a qualified bank (this is in addition to the $175K in cash that you’ll be contributing). Meanwhile you will have the opportunity to contact our existing franchisees directly, to get any remaining questions answered straight from the source.
4. Franchise Agreement
Congratulations, you sign the franchise agreement and become an official Chop Stop franchisee! The time period between filling out the online form to signing a franchise agreement can be as short as a few weeks to a few months, mostly depending on your schedule and availability.
5. Find a Location
As soon as you sign a franchise agreement, our real estate consultant will assist you in finding and securing the best location for your restaurant. We use a number of site selection criteria in choosing a great location, including demographics, traffic patterns, parking and many others. Our real estate consultant will often have access to opportunities that other brokers do not, simply because he works with so many landlords and development companies. We’ve found that it generally takes around 9 months to secure a great location, though we have had franchisees find a space in as little as two weeks. There’s definitely some luck involved with the timing!
6. Construction & Vendors
After your restaurant has been designed by our architecture firm, the next step is to pick a contractor for your build-out. Our construction supervisor will help you with this process, making sure the bids line up and everything is accounted for. (Nobody likes “change orders.”) He will also inspect your construction site 2-3 times to make sure your contractor is doing quality work that conforms to our specs. The construction process typically takes about 2 months. During this time, you’ll be opening accounts with all of our preferred vendors. Our purchasing director has worked hard to negotiate the very lowest prices for our franchise system, and you’ll be the beneficiary of that.
7. Training
You will spend five weeks with our training director in the Glendale restaurant, learning how to be a great operator. For more detailed information on what this entails, refer to our Training page.
8. Open Your Restaurant
The day you’ve been looking forward to has arrived. But our support doesn’t stop with your grand opening. You’ll have a dedicated, on-call business coach as well as access to a full suite of Chop Stop preferred vendors such as:
- IT to handle all your computer and networking needs
- Graphic design to create your ads and promotional materials
Our Training Center restaurant in Glendale, CA8 EASY STEPS
Our Franchise Program
The steps to opening a Chop Stop restaurant are relatively easy and straightforward. We hold your hand every step of the way. In general, it takes just over a year from the moment you contact us to the day you open your first restaurant. Below you’ll find a brief description of each stage with timing.
1. Application & Interview
Click the “Get Started” button at the top of the page and a helpful sales team member will reach out ASAP to answer any preliminary questions you have. After you fill out a short application, our sales director will call you in 1-2 business days to conduct a telephone interview. Assuming you meet our prequalification standards, we’ll send you our FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) which describes our franchise offering in much greater detail.
2. Discovery Day Meeting
Welcome to our Franchise Training Center Restaurant in Glendale, California! Our training director will give you a behind-the-scenes tour of restaurant operations, then you’ll meet with our CEO and VP of operations over lunch. The goal of this face-to-face meeting is to get to know each other better and make sure it feels like a good fit all around. If you’ve never been to a Chop Stop before, it also gives you a chance to try our food. As well, we can coordinate a “tour” of other Chop Stop restaurants if you’re from out of town.
3. Due Diligence
The final stage of being awarded a franchise is due diligence on both sides. We’ll do a background check and require you to get pre-approved for an SBA loan of $400K by a qualified bank (this is in addition to the $175K in cash that you’ll be contributing). Meanwhile you will have the opportunity to contact our existing franchisees directly, to get any remaining questions answered straight from the source.
4. Franchise Agreement
Congratulations, you sign the franchise agreement and become an official Chop Stop franchisee! The time period between filling out the online form to signing a franchise agreement can be as short as a few weeks to a few months, mostly depending on your schedule and availability.
5. Find a Location
As soon as you sign a franchise agreement, our real estate consultant will assist you in finding and securing the best location for your restaurant. We use a number of site selection criteria in choosing a great location, including demographics, traffic patterns, parking and many others. Our real estate consultant will often have access to opportunities that other brokers do not, simply because he works with so many landlords and development companies. We’ve found that it generally takes around 9 months to secure a great location, though we have had franchisees find a space in as little as two weeks. There’s definitely some luck involved with the timing!
6. Construction & Vendors
After your restaurant has been designed by our architecture firm, the next step is to pick a contractor for your build-out. Our construction supervisor will help you with this process, making sure the bids line up and everything is accounted for. (Nobody likes “change orders.”) He will also inspect your construction site 2-3 times to make sure your contractor is doing quality work that conforms to our specs. The construction process typically takes about 2 months. During this time, you’ll be opening accounts with all of our preferred vendors. Our purchasing director has worked hard to negotiate the very lowest prices for our franchise system, and you’ll be the beneficiary of that.
7. Training
You will spend five weeks with our training director in the Glendale restaurant, learning how to be a great operator. For more detailed information on what this entails, refer to our Training page.
8. Open Your Restaurant
The day you’ve been looking forward to has arrived. But our support doesn’t stop with your grand opening. You’ll have a dedicated, on-call business coach as well as access to a full suite of Chop Stop preferred vendors such as:
- IT to handle all your computer and networking needs
- Graphic design to create your ads and promotional materials
