Big Whiskey’s signs Alabama franchise deal

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The Springfield-based restaurant chain penned a deal with Alabama brothers Amaan and Zunaid Porbandarwala, who plan to open two stores in Birmingham in spring 2018. The brothers currently own three Great Clips hair salons in the Birmingham market, as well as several Sneaky Pete’s Hotdogs and convenience stores, according to a news release.

“Birmingham is an ideal market for us, and we couldn’t have hoped for better partners than the Porbandarwala brothers,” said Austin Herschend, president of Big Whiskey’s Franchising LLC, in the release. “They understand the food service industry and are all-around great business guys with a successful track record.”

The Alabama deal follows Big Whiskey’s franchisee Calant Capital LLC signing a two-store deal. The Henderson, Nevada-based group led by owner Anthony DePasquale is targeting early 2018 for restaurants in the Las Vegas area.

Big Whiskey’s first franchise by real estate broker Shane Miller opened in March. Franchisee H2B Restaurants LLC, co-owned by local businessmen Ed House and Ryan Bohl of Bohl, House, & Samek CPAs, established a Lee’s Summit Big Whiskey’s in May.

Big Whiskey’s in August opened its sixth corporate-owned restaurant in Republic. It also has three corporate restaurants in Springfield, as well as one each in Ozark and at the Branson Landing, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Franchisees pay an initial investment between $636,500 and $998,000 for a single startup restaurant. The operators also agree to pay annual royalties of 5 percent of gross revenue, spend at least 2 percent of gross revenue on local marketing and contribute up to 1 percent of gross revenue into a marketing fund, which serves all locations, according to BigWhiskeysFranchise.com.