Melbourne based Trios franchise wants to take a bigger slice of the sandwich market by more than doubling the number of franchise stores and spreading interstate over the next 12 months.
But Trios faces stiff competition for growth from the likes of the established Subway and Quizno's sub sandwich franchises, and even McDonald’s, which sells a range of wrap sandwiches.
The company will also compete for business with the likes of the fast growing Healthy Habits franchise, in addition to a myriad of independent sandwich shops.
Still, managing director David Elia is confident that Trios sandwich franchise can become a serious niche player in the booming healthy fast food market.
“In Australia, 450 million sandwiches were consumed last year and Subway might have sold more than 40 million of those, which leaves a lot of opportunity,” he said.
This view was supported by the strategic director at DC Strategy in Melbourne, Adrian McFedries, who said Australia had yet to reach saturation point in terms of the number of sandwich stores open and that there was still room for speciality offerings.
“The total size of the sector is actually growing proportional to the quality of the businesses that are operating in it," Mr McFedries said. DC Strategy advised Healthy Habits on three or four acquisitions as part of that company's launch into Brisbane. Mr McFedries expects that the bigger sandwich operations will grow by acquiring smaller ones, although it can be a costly exercise.
“It’s a good thing in a fragmented industry like this, because it provides an exit strategy for an independent operator that might not otherwise be there," he said.
“But it can be costly if you don't get the acquisition right. Some of the multiples being paid in some cases are over the top."
Mr Elia established Trios with his two brothers, Elias and Sam, in December 2002.
Trios has 14 stores in Australia 13 in Melbourne and one in Sydney and the company achieves annual revenue of about $8 million. It plans to open 17 more stores in the next year and will focus on metropolitan and CBD locations.
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13-Dec-2006