Franchise dreams: Fremont is not a fit for all fast-food chains City's numbers are too small for some popular franchises

Waverly Hart | Reporter

FREMONT - Ronnie Crosser leaves Fremont two to three times a month to eat at restaurants in other cities.

He used to eat at the Ryan's in Fremont, but ever since its closing he's been traveling 30 minutes to Sandusky to eat at the Outback Steakhouse there.

"We need a steakhouse, like a Ryan's, Ponderosa, or a Golden Corral," said Crosser.

Steven LaGrou spends 40 to 45 weeks a year traveling through North America and has dined at a variety of places.

"I am fairly familiar with restaurants and I personally despise them all!" said LaGrou. "The landscape across the country is looking so vanilla — little imagination — so most of the time I frequent a local restaurant."

LaGrou adds that if he's looking for a quick bite to eat, he's never disappointed by stopping at Cracker Barrel.

"Fremont certainly could support such a restaurant, not another sports bar or pizza place," he said.

Tracy McCormick Menkhoff drives out of Fremont even more often, leaving at least twice a week to eat at restaurants in Sandusky or Toledo.

She and her husband make the 30-minute drive to dine at restaurants that aren't available in Sandusky County, including Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse.

Zach Tornow does the same thing.

"My family and I leave at least one time every two weeks to eat at other restaurants outside of Fremont," Tornow said.

Without his family, Tornow leaves about three times a month to drive to the nearest Chick-fil-A, 40 minutes away, in Perrysburg.

Based on interviews with The News-Messenger and comments on social media, Crosser, LaGrou, Menkhoff and Tornow are not the only Sandusky County residents who say they are frustrated with the area's lack of chain restaurants.

Some of the most suggested restaurants include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chick-fil-A, Olive Garden, Starbucks, Golden Corral, Red Lobster, Texas Roadhouse, and Dunkin Donuts, to name a few.

If there's such an overwhelming demand for these franchise restaurants, why haven't any of them come to Fremont? Why hasn't a Chick-fil-A opened on State Street?

How did the Tiffin mayor get a Chipotle to open in his city, but not here? And why does Fremont have two Dairy Queens and two Taco Bells, but not a single Olive Garden?

Could a Chipotle possibly come to Fremont?

Although many residents have expressed interest in seeing chain restaurants come to Fremont, the process of opening a franchised eatery is more complex than most people realize.

Each chain has its own specific site-selection criteria with standards that an area must meet before the restaurant will open its doors in a new city.

"They've got to know whether putting a marketplace in Fremont is profitable," said Bob Gross, economic development coordinator for Fremont.

Restaurants look at several factors when considering where to locate their business, including automobile traffic, access to an interstate or major highways, visibility, neighboring tenants, competitiveness, a city's population, proximity of other stores and more.

"First thing a franchise looks for is traffic counts," said Kula Lynch, corporate counsel at Hoty Realty. "The number one thing is traffic counts."

"Once you show you have traffic, then they look at other things."

Restaurants also look at consumer demographic of the area, like average household incomes, employment, and education levels, so they can reach their target markets.

How Fremont Compares

Since Fremont is a smaller city, with a population of around 16,000, and Sandusky County's population is around 60,000, traffic count numbers aren't as high as most restaurants would like.

According to ODOT, on the bypass on Ohio 53 North, the AADT (annual average daily traffic count) is 11,632 vehicles. The AADT where State Street crosses Front Street is 16,822, according to ODOT.

For most restaurants, these traffic counts aren't enough.

Olive Garden requires an AADT minimum of 20,000 at their locations. Longhorn Steakhouse is even more out of reach, requiring an AADT of at least 30,000. Panda Express requires 45,000 AADT or more.

Sometimes it's about more than traffic counts.

"Sandusky doesn't meet any of the traffic counts," said Lynch, but as the home of the major amusement park Cedar Point, it attracts large numbers of franchise restaurants. "They know that there's tourists here."

Lynch said places like Cedar Point, Kalahari, and Great Wolf Lodge attract franchises to a small city like Sandusky.

"A lot of folks going up and down (U.S.) 250 are tourists, versus the traffic on (Ohio) 53 which is more local/community workers — it's a totally different type of consumer. Tourists come with expendable income; average community members do not," she said.

One of the most requested restaurants is a Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Like other chain restaurants, Chipotle's site selection criteria includes specific requirements regarding location and consumer base.

According to a document from Gallelli Real Estate, Chipotle Mexican Grill's desired customer base is "urban and surburban trade areas with strong residential and daytime population." They list residential, office, retail, university, recreation, and hospitals as "preferred generators" under "trade criteria."

Under site criteria, Chipotle said it prefers urban storefronts, shopping center end-caps and pads, and freestanding buildings. Additionally, they said the site must have "excellent visibility and access."

What the city's doing to bring franchises here

Gross said he receives a call about once a month from fast-food franchise restaurants interested in building in Fremont. They ask about the possibility of locations, the size of potential stores, and other issues.

"They have a list of requirements of what they're looking for," said Gross. "And we provide them with that information. We try to be as accommodating to these places as much as possible."

Gross said many of the restaurants are interested in building on Ohio 53 or State Street. Recently, however, he's tried to steer businesses more toward the center part of town.

In addition to providing information to chains that call the city, Gross said he is actively pursuing new investments.

"We are out recruiting these businesses," he said. His office holds follow-up phone conversations with the restaurants, and also makes cold calls to the ones he hears are looking to open at new locations.

Franchises already in Fremont

When Dave Netcher was unhappy about the lack of restaurant choices Fremont had to offer, he took action to bring a franchise restaurant to the city.

"We thought Fremont could use another restaurant and we loved Fricker's," said Netcher, owner of the Fricker's on 865 Sean St., off Ohio 53.

Like other franchise restaurants, Fricker's has its own parameters for where its restaurants can be built.

Matt Thatcher, who works with site selection at Fricker's, said Fremont met all the criteria.

"It was just a great fit for both parties," said Thatcher.

Some franchises, such as Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Dairy Queen, have done such good business here that they've opened up two restaurants.

"We have two McDonald's, two Burger Kings, two DQs, and a lot of pizza places," said Marissa Tucker, owner of the Dairy Queen on State Street. "It's kind of amazing that all those places thrive and do well."

Tucker wasn't sure what the site selection criteria is for Dairy Queen, but she knows that her business has been thriving for over 40 years in Fremont.

At 1401 E. State St., the area around Tucker's DQ has an AADT traffic count of 10,798, significantly less than most restaurants' requirements.

How did Tiffin get a Chipotle?

In the summer of 2015, Tiffin Mayor Aaron Montz started a Twitter campaign to try to bring a Chipotle Mexican Grill to his city. He posted countless tweets, tagging @ChipotleTweets and using the hashtag #BringChipotletoTiffin.

Although the mayor's aggressive Twitter campaign got a lot of attention, it only played a small role in bringing Chipotle to Tiffin, said Bryce Riggs, the development manager of Seneca Industrial Economic Development Corporation.

Chipotle had already been considering Tiffin for a possible location before Montz began his social media campaign, Riggs said.

"Companies do a lot of things prior to even reaching out to a city," he said.

When Chipotle approached him, the restaurant chain had completed a lot of market research.

"It's hard to tell who's all looking at your community," Riggs said.

Tiffin worked closely with Diverse Development to help bring a Chipotle to Market Street, according to Riggs.

A major part of securing a Chipotle in the area was the already existing relationship the restaurant had with Diverse Development.

"A lot of it's relationships, they're crucial," said Riggs.

Just like Gross, Riggs emphasized the importance of being accommodating to potential businesses.

"Being a business-friendly community is crucial," he said.

According to Riggs, Chipotle chose to open a restaurant in Tiffin because of the Seneca County city's "business-friendly atmosphere" and the growth the city has experienced within the past few years, in addition to meeting Chipotle's consumer demographic and the town having two colleges.

What about local eateries?

Despite the clamor for national chains, some individuals prefer dining at local restaurants, such as The Garrison or Scarpetta's.

Andrew Mayle said he eats at local Fremont restaurants to support the owners.

"Good independent restaurants make for a better overall dining experience," said Mayle. "Chain restaurants are boring and can be found anywhere. My wife and I prefer to support local and independent entrepreneurs."

Crosser goes to Sandusky because he thinks the local restaurants are too expensive.

"I don't like anything that's in town," said Crosser. "Everything's pricey."

When she moved to Fremont from Maine, Cristina Lieske was excited for the restaurants specific to the Midwest, but expected there to be more choices in the area.

"Fremont is projected as a small city and I did expect more quality restaurants there than fast food and Chinese," Lieske said.

There's a chance for Fremont to get franchise restaurants

Despite the low traffic counts, some think fast-food places such as Chipotle or Chick-fil-A have a chance in Fremont.

"I could see something like a Chipotle coming to Fremont because its quick-service," said Lynch. "It doesn't really look at household income."

Lynch said a Chipotle is more likely than a chain such as Longhorn or Outback to come to Fremont because sit-down restaurants cost two to three times as much as a place like Chipotle.

Tucker also thinks other franchises would do well in Fremont.

"I think there would be some that would be good," she said. "It would just depend on what they were."

"I think bringing more in would be successful," Tucker said.

But for now, Crosser, Tornow, Menkhoff and other fans of certain chains will have to continue traveling out of Sandusky County in order to eat at their favorite restaurants.

whart1@gannett.com

419-334-1041

Twitter: @Waverlyswan