FAQ

The current Franchise Fee for a single Smoke’s Poutinerie restaurant is $30,000. We do offer a discounted franchise fee for locations after the first, for those who initially enter into a multi-unit or Development Agreement.

We have targeted areas that we would like to franchise around the World, however, were always excited to discuss and explore any opportunities that come our way!

We use a multi-pronged approach for site selection within a territory.

• We work with a select team of real estate brokers who are specialists on our Brand.
• Our Development team visits the area and literally walk the streets during peak day and late night day-parts using our knowledge of the Brand to target the perfect location.
• We use key demographics from our top locations to identify target areas with similar demographics within the territory.
• We discuss with the franchisee, if they are familiar with the area and would like to express their view.

Territories vary in size based on the physical geography and population density of the area. Your territory could be blocks by blocks in the case of a single location to countrywide. Your territory will be mapped out and included in your Franchise Agreement prior to your signing.

Our current Ad Fund rate is 2%. Each Franchisee contributes to this fund that is managed by us but belongs to all Franchisees collectively and therefore is only used on Brand specific national campaigns.

We have also set the requirement for each location to spend a minimum of 1% on local store marketing. This amount is not collected and would be used for campaigns like sponsoring a local sports team, providing free poutine for an event, flyers, and other local store promotion and initiatives.

Our franchise opportunities are open to all regardless of their prior field or training. Our comprehensive training program and our operational system provides the foundation to your success as a Smoke’s Poutinerie Franchisee, not your past history. We do however place a lot of effort on finding Franchisees who are fun, energetic, have drive, ambition and fit our brand. Understanding our branding, marketing, attitude and Smoke himself, is a prerequisite!

We do allow and have many Franchisee groups consisting of partnerships and investors. Each case is looked at separately and approval is based on the group’s strength and business plan.

Smoke’s Brands franchises are available worldwide! Complete your application or give us a shout to discuss. Global Domination BABY!

We believe that all franchisees need to be hands-on, to understand and improve service and efficiencies of their restaurants. Saying that we will review cases of multi-unit owners and partnerships, as long as there is a managing partner onsite and we are comfortable with the business model.

Our current training program consists of one week in our Global Headquarters in Ajax Ontario, followed by one week in an operational restaurant. Everything is covered from inventory to recipes. We will then spend a minimum of one week in your location when you open for business.

Timing will depend on when you enter into a lease. From that point, you should usually expect five to six months to launch. Depending on your territory and the Real Estate environment within, a suitable leased space can usually be found within six months. We have had cases though that have ranged from 1 day to over a year.

All information is kept confidential to the Development department. We do not share (without your expressed permission) or sell any information that is entrusted to us.

No. Smoke’s Poutinerie manages all site evaluation, search, selection and the construction of all locations. In fact, we have approved service providers for every area, which must be used throughout the build and operation of your location.

Yes, we have many Franchisees who are involved in other ventures. You cannot be involved in a competing restaurant; one that offers a main focus on poutine.

The profitability of any location depends on many factors including, occupancy costs, financing terms and most importantly, your ability to operate your location efficiently and to our system. Although we are limited by law from providing earning projections, we do provide a historical P&L view from day one of our initial location as well as a P&L based on mature location averages in our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). We will also provide an opportunity for you to meet with our existing Franchisees to gain insight into their experiences as a Smoke’s Brand Franchisee.

No. We do have contacts with Canadian banks who are always interested in doing business with our Franchisees and can provide you with templates for business plans, but we do not offer financing services ourselves.

Definitely! Many of our Franchisees have become multi-unit Franchisees within our brands! We actually look for Franchisees who we feel have the ability and the drive to become multi-unit owners.