Binghamton HOTS

Brand Strategy
Franchise Landing Page
Franchise Lead Generation

about

For over 10 years, HOTS has been an integral part of the booming college town of Binghamton, NY. The fast-casual restaurant is best known for its classic American comfort-food favorites, served hot and fast in a hip-yet-cozily-familiar environment.

Prior to the pandemic, the concept was mostly popular among local students and working professionals, due to both its convenient location and quick-and-tasty business model.

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But with the advent of COVID-19, new opportunities opened up for the brand through delivery. This exposed HOTS to a wider range of takeout customers desperate to enjoy classic American fare (with a modern twist!) from the safety and comfort of their own homes.
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Thanks to this newfound revenue stream ––and some valuable support from expert industry advisers –– HOTS was ready to enter the franchise world.

challenge

QSR concepts serving classic American comfort food represent a crowded market space dominated by world-class franchise empires. With just a single location in play, franchise development for a brand like HOTS would be an uphill battle, despite its founder’s impressive 10 years of experience as a restauranteur.
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To help market HOTS as an appealing franchise offer, Joieful had to gain a thorough understanding of the driving forces beneath the brand’s many successes over the years. We also had to look back at its occasional failures, gathering critical lessons on how to avoid similar slipups in the future.

Our team dug deep, researching die-hard HOTS fans and the reasons behind their loyal love affair with the brand. Armed with this info, we then facilitated a “persona crafting” workshop alongside Hots leadership and a team of franchise consultants to help uncover ideal Hots franchisee profiles. We also cross-checked our workshop findings with supplementary research to gain extra insight into prospective HOTS franchisees.

The results helped HOTS create a deeper emotional connection with its franchise prospect audiences by showing them the real, demonstrable benefits HOTS could bring to the table––a strategy designed to galvanize and excite franchisees into taking advantage of HOTS never-ending potential.

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