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• I am a current Muscle Maker Grill franchisee and I can state this model is a money loser. Food and labor costs are too high for the price point, the menu has limited appeal among the general population as many consumers have little interest in healthy dining, and support from the franchisor is weak. Many franchisees have closed their businesses recently and more are expected to close for one simple reason, lack of profit.

• Muscle Maker Grill claims in the above Press Release "We look forward to helping each of our new franchisees grow their local presence with unparalleled corporate support.” Their use of the word unparalleled in describing support is interesting. Most of the District Managers are buddies o the corporate management and have little to no experience in their roles, they are simply people who needed jobs. The DM's perform inconsistent inspections where solid franchise operators are punished for minor items such as a small fingerprint on the door of a drink cooler during periods of peak business. Meanwhile the absentee owners run dirty restaurants with poor food quality and these issues are never addressed. Furthermore the DM's are at an absolute loss when asked to provide guidance to a franchisee in areas around cost control or sales growth. This lack of experience extends into the corporate office. The current Manager of Franchisee Support is a 21 year old kid with no college education or restaurant industry experience other than previously working as food delivery driver at the corporate-owned Muscle Maker Grill in Colonia, NJ.

• Stay away from this franchise, It a money loser.... Your wasting you time and money.

• Here's a scenario for you......you invest in a model that appears to be a can't miss business, show casing the "Original Location" with high volume, consistent sales and the belief that the brand is still growing and heading in a positive direction through proper guidance, aggressive marketing and assistance in expanding your business. Only to find out that half of the management staff are friends or ex-employees, who after a while all quit anyway and get replaced be the recycled employees of the stores that have failed and closed. Stores open with big numbers then slip back and some barely survive while others go under. Their is an internal battle for majority control, owners are telling corporate what they need but no one is doing enough to help. Stores are dirty and serving sub par food, food cost is to high, no MARKETING SKILLS WHATSOEVER!!!! And the marketing that was implemented ever so briefly was so bad it would have been better to not do at all. Franchise meetings cancelled and never rescheduled. Franchise Committee is just a joke Franchisor controls the group. Kick back from all vendors are not shared down to store owners as should be to help lower the operating cost instead of lining the already padded pockets of the corporate greedy. Its become a cookie factory...open them up, close them down, sell to some other sucker or liquidate the location. Hard working people invest in a concept that won't last. They open stores too close to each other not allowing time for growth in your so called protected territory which in some cases has been as little as a stones throw away. No consistency in the stores, some stores just make their own specials, a franchise should be the same in everyone you enter......."A Big Mac is A Big Mac" no matter what city, state or country you are in......period!!!
  You go to work every day and put in long hours, work hard and do everything you are supposed to seven days and nights a week., Its the food industry so you have to expect this, only to find that one day you wake up, all your money is gone, your over your head in debt, your credit is shot, and the college fund you had set aside for kids is gone and so is your business. Welcome to the Muscle Maker Nation, can I sell you a franchise? I know of a few that are for sale very cheap...If you still think you want to invest in a MMG take your head and ram it into a brick wall, if you still are considering it after that, continue to repeat the process until you knock some sense into yourself and the crazy notion leaves you forever.

• Muscle Maker Franchisee speaks the truth about the value of a Muscle Maker Grill restaurant. At the moment virtually every location is available for resale and most can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of building out a new location. The lack of investment in the business by the Corporate has resulted in failing franchises that have virtually no value to outside investors and buyers.

• I did a quick search of the term "Muscle Maker Grill Closed" and came up with 21 locations being reported as closed on Yelp, Facebook and elsewhere:

  FL Hollywood 5071 W Sheridan St, Hollywood 33021
  FL Miami (Liberty City) 3250 NE 1st Ave Ste 110 33127
  FL Miami 1608 NE Miami Gardens Dr
  IL Glenview 2532 Waukegan Rd 60025
  MO Springfield 900 East Battlefield Suite 128 65807
  NJ Edgewater 725 River Rd Ste 45 07020 (closed 2011)
  NJ Edgewater 824 River Rd 07020 (Opened 2013 franchisee Izzy Sanchez)
  NJ Englewood
  NJ Montclair 10 Park St 07042
  NJ Morganville 431 Boulder Dr, NJ 07751
  NJ New Providence 1260 Springfield Ave 07974
  NJ Nutley 160 Franklin Ave 07110
  NJ Princeton Jct 761 State Highway 33 W
  NJ Red Bank 38 W Front St 07701
  NJ River Vale 650 Westwood Avenue
  NJ West Caldwell 792 Bloomfield Ave 07006
  NY New York, NY (Chelsea) 92 8th Ave 10011
  OK Tulsa 7464 S Olympia Ave 74132
  TX Austin 906 Congress Ave 78701

  Pls post if you know of others that have closed or if any of these are not closed (or reopened).

  This indicates the Muscle Maker Grill franchise closures may be worse than reported in the story above.

  As far as established franchise stores listed as resales, I found one being sold for $55,000 (claimed $40K profit yrly), one listed for $225,000 (claims revenue of
  $617,000), and one listed for $189,000 (claims revenues of $520,000).

  Lots of red flags here. Please share your opinion and insights on the Muscle Maker Grill franchise.

• Muscle Maker Grill restaurants have closed in Bayville, NJ Warren, NJ and Long Branch, NJ

• Thanks, Frank.

  I have expanded my list to 25 Muscle Maker grill locations that appear to have closed in 8 states. Keep in mind that others may have been transferred to new owners, potentially at a loss.

  AR Bentonville 3511 S.E. J Street 72712

  FL Hollywood 5071 W Sheridan St, Hollywood 33021
  FL Miami (Liberty City) 3250 NE 1st Ave Ste 110 33127
  FL Miami 1608 NE Miami Gardens Dr

  IL Glenview 2532 Waukegan Rd 60025

  MO Springfield 900 East Battlefield Suite 128 65807

  NJ Bayville 333 Route 9 08721
  NJ Edgewater 725 River Rd Ste 45 07020 (closed 2011)
  NJ Edgewater 824 River Rd 07020 (Opened 2013 franchisee Izzy Sanchez)
  NJ Englewood 51 East Palisade Ave 07631
  NJ Long Branch 200 Ocean Boulevard North 07740
  NJ Matawan 419 Route 34 North 07747
  NJ Montclair 10 Park St 07042
  NJ Morganville 431 Boulder Dr, NJ 07751
  NJ Newark 350 Broad Street 07104
  NJ New Providence 1260 Springfield Ave 07974
  NJ Nutley 160 Franklin Ave 07110
  NJ Princeton Jct 761 State Highway 33 W
  NJ Red Bank 38 W Front St 07701
  NJ River Vale 650 Westwood Avenue
  NJ Warren 66 Mountain Blvd 07059
  NJ West Caldwell 792 Bloomfield Ave 07006

  NY Bay Ridge (Brooklyn) 8312 5th Avenue
  NY New York, NY (Chelsea) 92 8th Ave 10011

  OK Tulsa Hills 7464 S Olympia Ave 74132

  TX Austin 906 Congress Ave 78701

  Muscle Maker Grill is invited to contact us with corrections, clarifications, rebuttals regarding either this post or comments.

• Another issue with the Muscle Maker Grill franchise system is how healthy the food actually is. The Signature Sauce and other dressings contain partially hydrogenated oils and the amount of sodium in many of the meals is very high. There is also ambiguity on the calorie counts of many menu items, the published calorie count on the menus is lower than the true number of calories in the meal.

• Hello, All,

  Although I'm not familiar with the MMG franchise itself, its story is one that I am all to familiar with.

  My firm, Bridge Management Consulting, helps franchisees that are in financial distress. Some are failing, others have already shut their doors.

  In either case, the small businessman is drowning in debt and unsure of his options other than bankruptcy. We specialize in debt settlement, our area of expertise SBA loans & the Offer inCompromise process. We also help negotiate unearned franchises fees, settle vendor debt & deal with landlord & lease problems.

  We do workouts & restructures of franchises. You can learn more @http://www.bridgemgt.com/working-out-a-franchine-business/.

  Feel free to contact:

  Ryan Lineham, Director of Client Services
  401-390-3800
  ryan@bridgemgt.com