Franchising Rubio's

The other day in class we watched a video about the popular Mexican fast-food restaurant chain called Rubio’s. Rubio’s has been around for 18 years in Southern California, marketing specifically to the youth. Today they have 128 restaurants, and have recently become a franchise. Their restaurants really promote product turnover. They frequently look at their cost of inventory and take that into consideration. They also emphasize fresh products, rather than using leftovers.

I think that Rubio’s idea of a franchise for expansion is smart. Franchising is an excellent way for a retailer to expand beyond their normal trade area, or budget. One person or group of people can only do so much, but when they start franchising they can really expand their market quickly. For example, McDonald’s would NEVER have made it as far as they did without franchising. But since they chose to do that there are over 30,000 McDonald’s all over the world!

I had never heard of Rubio’s before I watched this video, but now I’m kind of excited about it. We may see a Rubio’s in the western Michigan area before we know it, and we’ll have the power of franchising to thank for it. I love Mexican food, and I’ll be one of the first ones to visit a Rubio’s if I hear of them coming to the area.