Amfil Technologies Inc (FUNN)

[penny_kahuna]

https://www.franchiseinfo.ca/recreation/just-beginning-snakes-lattes

Just Beginning: Snakes & Lattes
February 28, 2018
Photo courtesy Snakes & Lattes

By Peter Saunders
When the first Snakes & Lattes location opened in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood in 2010, it created a popular new food-service category: the board game café. Customers paid a cover charge to play as many games as they liked, with food and beverages available for purchase. Many imitators followed, but the original brand became a standout success, to the point where it is now expanding through franchising.

“We waited until it grew across Toronto first,” explains Ryan Kagan, an independent consultant who has helped formulate the franchising strategy. “We tracked where customers were coming from and that is helping determine where our first franchises will open, including Hamilton and Waterloo, Ont.”

Amfil Technologies, which acquired Snakes & Lattes in 2016, has been offering first right of refusal for franchises in select North American cities, starting with the ‘first wave’ in Ontario before moving on to the U.S. and elsewhere within Canada. It recently opened its largest corporate location to date, near the busy Toronto intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, which will serve as a training centre for new franchisees. The 10,000-square-foot facility dwarfs its predecessors on College Street (7,000 square feet) and Bloor Street (4,500 square feet).

“We’re not likely to franchise within Toronto, as we now have enough corporate locations to serve this market,” says Kagan, “and we expect 4,500 square feet will be about right for our first franchises in other cities.”

Most of Snakes & Lattes’ customers are university students and families with children, so Hamilton (where a location has already been secured) and Waterloo are particularly good fits for the concept, as they are university towns with many family homes.

“A lot of families have moved from Toronto to these cities in recent years because of affordability,” says Kagan. “They enjoy the experience of trying new games together. You connect with each other more than if you were to just go out to a movie.”