Beautiful Brands International (BBI) claims that its franchise development “partnership” program can turn a small business into a “franchise leader” and an “international multi-unit success!”
Franchise & restaurant industry publications regularly publish excited BBI announcements that they have signed a new frozen yogurt, or sushi, or casual dining concept that they are going to make the next franchise sensation(!).
A while back, UnhappyFranchisee.Com began to notice that many of these BBI “partner brands” (21 so far, by our count) are not heard from again after the initial press release frenzy.
In fact, these BBI partner brands are listed proudly in the Beautiful Brands portfolio list for a while, then seem to be quietly replaced by new brands that are going to be the next franchise sensations.
So we compiled the list (see below) of the small companies that BBI has identified as their partner brands within the past three years.
And we set out to find out how many of the 21 partners are now franchise leaders who have attained international multi-unit success.
We wondered: What is the status of the 21 brands who signed up as Beautiful Brands partners (and paid the upfront development fee – currently $50K we are told)?
We’ve found evidence that more than half have either left the BBI partnership program without selling franchises, or are no longer in business.
Of the 8 currently listed as partners, only two appear to have sold franchises through BBI.
Here’s our best guess as to the status of the 21 partner brands:
Beautiful Brands Partner List (as of 1/13/13) by Date Joined
| BBI “Partner” Brand | Partnership Announced | Principal (s)/Owner(s) | Still BBI Partners?* | Notes | |
| 1) | Dixie Cream Donut Co. | 11/21/08 | Jason Bond | NO | Only US unit closed, Middle East partner is suing |
| 2) | The Crusty Croissant | 3/5/09 | Sean & Kristie Savage, Chuck Gibbs(?) | NO | Out of Business |
| 3) | Greenz Salads | 4/5/09 | Casie Caldwell | NO – Relationship terminated | Franchising, 3 units, No franchises sold by BBI |
| 4) | Caz’s Chowhouse | 7/21/09 | Jeff & Amy Castleberry | NO | Single unit, no franchises |
| 5) | Sonny Bryan’s BBQ | 9/27/09 | Brent Harman | NO – Relationship terminated | Franchising. None sold by BBI. |
| 6) | Café Ole | 8/20/09 | Candy Dunn & Paula Underwood | NO | Single unit, no franchise info on website |
| 7) | The Bread & Butter Bistro | 10/09 (?) | ? | NO | No info could be found |
| 8) | St. Michael’s Alley | 11/09 (?) | ? | NO | Original SMA rest. is closed |
| 9) | In The Raw Sushi | 12/14/09 | Greg & Tara Hughes | NO | 4 locations, franchising |
| 10) | Le Beau Rouleau Crepes and Croissants | 2/10 | Sean & Kristie Savage | NO | TM registered by Crusty Croissant. |
| 11) | Blazing Onion Burger Company | 4/5/10 | David and Lorri Jones | NO – Relationship terminated | 5 locations, not franchising yet |
| 12) | Top That! Pizza | 11/2/10 | Jeff and Lori Walderich | NO – Relationship terminated | Franchising, 9 locations, none sold by BBI |
| 13) | Smallcakes A Cupcakery | 1/4/11 | Jeff & Brandy Martin | NO – Relationship terminated | Severed ties Nov. 2012 |
| 14) | CherryBerry frozen yogurt | 6/22/11 | Dallas and Robyn Jones | NO – Relationship terminatedBitter legal battle between former Cherryberry owners BBI and went to arbitration in Feb. 2015 | In an April 2013 article, Franchise Times reported CherryBerry only uses BBI “for legal work.” 108 locations, 9% closed in 2012 |
| 15) | Ludger’s Bavarian Cakery | 9/7/11 | Chris & Allison Dickens | NO – Relationship terminated | 1 location, severed ties January, 2013 |
| 16) | Roxberry Juice Co. | 12/1/11 | Brad Davis | No longer listed on BBI website | Franchising, 7 locations, down 1 since partnering with BBI |
| 17) | Fresco Italian Kitchen | 12/13/11 | Dean & Jill Bastian | NO | Prototype to franchise was to open 2012; Taken off BBI portfolio Jan. 2012 |
| 18) | Sushi Freak | 2/9/12 | Michael Broder & Jenifer Duarte | NO – Relationship terminated | Franchising, 1 location, none sold by BBI |
| 19) | NYPD Pizza | 11/1/12 | Paul Russo | YES | 6 locations still open (1 less than signing with BBI), 22 or more may have closed in recent years. |
| 20) | Hard Knox Pizza | 11/11/12 | Dean & Jill Bastian | Sold the business and are no longer affiliated with BBI | Franchising, 1 unit. BBI sold 1 franchise. |
| 21) | Yard Sheriff | 12/13/12 | Shannon Watterson*** | YES – but Yard Sheriff is not franchised | 1 unit, lawn mowing & weeding |
| 22) | Papalani Gelato | February 11, 2013 | Marck and Lauren Shipley | ? No longer listed on BBI website | 2 unit chain |
| 23) | The Soup Kitchen | April 8, 2013 | Bob & Jean Bardorf, Rick Ford(?) | YES | 3 unit chain |
| 24) | The Big Salad | March 28, 2013 | John Bornoty | ? No longer listed on BBI website | 5 unit chain based in Detroit |
| 25) | Palm Beach Vapors | July, 2013 | Chip Paul, Cynthia Paul, Angie Stokes | NO – Relationship terminated December 2013 | December, 2013 PBV says BBI is no longer authorized to represent PBV |
* We have put this list together from information compiled from publicly available sources. We have asked BBI for confirmation or correction, but have not heard back yet. If you are considering joining the Beautiful Brands partnership program – or writing about it – please do you own investigation. If you know of details we got wrong – please post a correction below.
** as of 1/13/13
*** Also President of BBI’s PR firm
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We have contacted Beautiful Brands for verification of the accuracy of this information, and to solicit any statements, reactions, corrections or rebuttals. So far, they have not responded.
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TAGS: Beautiful Brands, Beautiful Brands partners, BBI partners, Beautiful Brands International, David Rutkauskas, franchise consultants, franchise development, franchise development firms, franchise developers, franchise sales companies, Unhappy Franchisee, CherryBerry, CherryBerry Frozen Yogurt, Smallcakes Cupcakery,
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