by UFG | Apr 25, 2025 | News
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill®, the fastest-growing Mediterranean food franchise, is celebrating another year of remarkable growth in 2024 where it opened 19 new restaurants across the U.S. as well as its first international location in Canada and saw a 46% surge in systemwide sales year-over-year. The brand has more than doubled its footprint in just two years’ time and plans to open 40 new restaurants domestically and internationally in 2025, aiming to surpass 100 operational units by year-end.
Among the 40 new restaurants, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill will open its first locations in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Wisconsin and strengthen its presence in states like Florida, California, and Texas. Additionally, with the signing of 27 franchise agreements along with master licenses for Western Canada and Egypt, the brand is positioned for sustained domestic and international growth in the coming years.
“2024 was a milestone year for The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill as we expanded our footprint in the U.S. and celebrated our first international opening in Canada. Our rapid growth and record-breaking sales are a testament to the strength of our brand, the passion of our franchise owners, and the growing demand for high-quality Mediterranean cuisine,” said Bob Andersen, President of The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill. “In 2025, we are excited to bring The Great Greek experience to new communities, and we remain committed to delivering exceptional food and hospitality wherever we go.”
At the heart of The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill’s success is its culinary-driven food experience, featuring authentic, high-quality ingredients and freshly prepared Mediterranean dishes made to order. Originally founded by a culinary-trained father and son duo, the brand has preserved the family’s recipes and delivers meals in a staged format with real plateware and utensils, creating an elevated fast-casual dining experience that rivals full-service restaurants.
Since franchising in 2019, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill has seen exponential growth, reaching $73 million in systemwide sales in 2024. While the brand prides itself on its dine-in experience, the communal nature and quality of its food has translated to off-premises success as well, with catering sales up 43% last year and takeout orders through third-party delivery partners on the rise.
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill continues to be regarded as a standout franchise concept, recently landing at #15 on Franchise Times’ Fast & Serious list of the 40 smartest-growing franchise brands and ranking on Franchise Direct’s Top 100 Franchises of 2025. The Great Greek has also been recognized as a Top Mover & Shaker by Fast Casual for two years in a row.
“The growing popularity of Mediterranean cuisine reflects a consumer shift toward fresh, flavorful, and healthier dining options, and The Great Greek is at the forefront of this movement,” said Ray Titus, CEO of United Franchise Group™ (UFG), of which The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill is an affiliated brand. “The brand’s sustained sales growth and rapid expansion underscore its position as a leading brand in the segment, making now the perfect time to join our thriving franchise family.”
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill® is part of United Franchise Group™ (UFG), the global leaders in franchising, and is among the concepts within UFG’s food division, Big Flavor Brands™.
About The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill
The award winning Great Greek Mediterranean Grill® is a leading franchise within the Greek, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern fast-casual restaurant industry, offering a vivacious and flavorful menu inspired by foods in the Mediterranean diet. Every dish is made fresh, in-house from authentic recipes passed down generation after generation. Co-founded by two culinary trained, third-generation restauranteurs, Nick A. Della Penna and Trent Jones, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill is an affiliated brand of United Franchise Group™, the global leader in franchising, within the United Franchise Group’s food division, Big Flavor Brands™. For more information about The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill locations, menu and catering visit www.thegreatgreekgrill.com and for franchise information, visit www.thegreatgreekfranchise.com.
About Big Flavor Brands
Big Flavor Brands™ specializes in franchises dedicated to creative eating, offering a zesty menu of fast-growing, award-winning food brands with a proven track record of success. From fast-casual restaurants with authentic third-generation recipes like The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill®, to specialty concepts like the grazing innovator and charcuterie board caterer Graze Craze®, and the super-fast, fresh Italian experience of Cannoli Kitchen Pizza®, Big Flavor Brands dominate their niches with quality, value, and tasty fare for every occasion. Big Flavor Brands represents the food division of United Franchise Group™ which is comprised of innovative concepts pushing the boundaries with an unwavering commitment to quality, variety, and the pursuit of joyful eating.
This article was originally published by International Franchise Association
by UFG | Apr 25, 2025 | News
The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill is celebrating another year of remarkable growth in 2024 where it opened 19 new restaurants across the U.S. as well as its first international location in Canada and saw a 46 percent surge in systemwide sales year-over-year. The brand has more than doubled its footprint in just two years’ time and plans to open 40 new restaurants domestically and internationally in 2025, aiming to surpass 100 operational units by year-end.
Among the 40 new restaurants, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill will open its first locations in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Wisconsin and strengthen its presence in states like Florida, California, and Texas. Additionally, with the signing of 27 franchise agreements along with master licenses for Western Canada and Egypt, the brand is positioned for sustained domestic and international growth in the coming years.
“2024 was a milestone year for The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill as we expanded our footprint in the U.S. and celebrated our first international opening in Canada. Our rapid growth and record-breaking sales are a testament to the strength of our brand, the passion of our franchise owners, and the growing demand for high-quality Mediterranean cuisine,” said Bob Andersen, President of The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill. “In 2025, we are excited to bring The Great Greek experience to new communities, and we remain committed to delivering exceptional food and hospitality wherever we go.”
At the heart of The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill’s success is its culinary-driven food experience, featuring authentic, high-quality ingredients and freshly prepared Mediterranean dishes made to order. Originally founded by a culinary-trained father and son duo, the brand has preserved the family’s recipes and delivers meals in a staged format with real plateware and utensils, creating an elevated fast-casual dining experience that rivals full-service restaurants.
Since franchising in 2019, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill has seen exponential growth, reaching $73 million in systemwide sales in 2024. While the brand prides itself on its dine-in experience, the communal nature and quality of its food has translated to off-premises success as well, with catering sales up 43% last year and takeout orders through third-party delivery partners on the rise.
“The growing popularity of Mediterranean cuisine reflects a consumer shift toward fresh, flavorful, and healthier dining options, and The Great Greek is at the forefront of this movement,” said Ray Titus, CEO of United Franchise Group™ (UFG), of which The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill is an affiliated brand. “The brand’s sustained sales growth and rapid expansion underscore its position as a leading brand in the segment, making now the perfect time to join our thriving franchise family.”
This article was originally published by QSR Magazine
by UFG | Apr 25, 2025 | News
A charcuterie board can be a complete smorgasbord of delights that tantalize and titillate the tastebuds. A charcuterie board should deliver an aesthetically pleasing display that invites the onlooker to dive in and grab a bite, and when it comes to cheese, arranging your selections in different slices can add interest through shapes, textures, colors, and smells.
When building a charcuterie board, consider how many cheeses you will feature; we recommend choosing between two and five for the best impact. The key is to select different types of cheeses that can be displayed in different ways. Hard and semi-hard cheese can be cut into slices, matchsticks, ribbons, wedges, or fans. Soft cheeses like chevre can be rolled in herbs or wrapped in meats. Some cheeses like halloumi can be smothered in sesame seeds and deep-fried.
Don’t forget the accompaniments; they add color and flavor to the board. We recommend you include a range of dried, spreadable, and cured meats, like dry-cured salami or Spanish chorizo. Then, add a sweet element with fresh and dried fruits, like mango, pineapple, raspberries, sliced apples or cherries, or a few chunks of chocolate. Include a savory note with nuts and seeds and a touch of freshness with crudites such as cucumber, pepper, and carrots. Finally, don’t forget the crackers.
To help you create an incredible charcuterie board, we asked three experts for their charcuterie tips and techniques, focused on the best ways to slice and present cheese.
Standard slices
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A charcuterie board should be visually arresting, with an attractive display of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Therefore, it’s important not to forget simple solutions like a standard slice of cheese. Whole cheeses come in different sizes, which you can use to your advantage; you can cut them in half or quarters or slice them into thick slabs or the finest of shards. The trick is to ensure that whatever type of cheese you decide, all the slices are the same size.
We asked Kurt Beecher Dammeier, founder and CEO of Sugar Mountain and the award-winning Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, what his recommendations are for slicing cheese. He tells us, “Not all cheeses necessarily need to be cut to serve, but if you do plan to pre-cut your cheese, you are looking for uniformity and to cut each piece to be about 1 ounce — small enough to be bite-size and big enough to appreciate the flavor.” We recommend sticking to semi-soft and hard cheeses like cheddar, Gouda, and Swiss cheese for the perfect cheese slice.
Chunks
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One of the simplest ways to cut cheese for charcuterie is to make it into chunks. This method is best suited to hard cheeses like cheddar and Asiago and semi-hard cheeses like Jarlsberg, Comté, and Gruyère. It’s important to bring your cheese to room temperature first, particularly if it’s inclined to crumble like an aged cheddar or Asiago. Our expert Kurt Beecher Dammeier says, “Depending on how warm your room is, remove your cheese 15 to 20 minutes before you serve it. Cheese has the best flavor when it is served at room temperature.” Getting your cheese to room temperature also makes it easier to slice without it falling apart and gives your cheese a fuller flavor.
Again, uniformity is imperative to creating a thoughtful and carefully assembled cheese board. To cut your cheese into chunks, cut 1-inch slices and then slice again so the pieces are 1 inch by one inch. You can upgrade your cheese chunks by placing them on small charcuterie skewers alone or with chunks of fruit, an olive, or a slice of cured meat. If you have a large cheese board, cut different-sized cheese chunks by making the cuts wider or shorter and putting them in different places throughout the board.
Julienne
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The julienne is a more unusual cheese cut. To julienne something means to cut it into long, thin strips. Julienne cuts are sometimes called matchstick cuts because the aim is to create uniform slices that resemble matches in a box. Chefs often julienne vegetables like cucumbers, peppers, carrots, or even potatoes to create interesting displays on the plate and to provide a bite-sized crunch as part of your meal.
Julienne your cheese by cutting it into thin slices approximately 5 millimeters wide and less than 2 centimeters long, then slice them again lengthways so they form long strips. The idea is to make them exactly the same shape and size. Julienning is quite fiddly, so it’s best to use hard cheeses that will not melt or crumble. We recommend cheddar, Manchego, or Emmental. Cheeses like Brie and Camembert are too soft, and many aged and blue cheeses are too crumbly. Ensure you chill your cheese before julienning, which will make it easier to cut into fine matchsticks.
Shredded
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The key to an impressive-looking charcuterie board is variety, color, shapes, and textures. We asked Julie Goodyke, owner of Graze Craze Charcuterie Boards, for her tips on creating the perfect-looking charcuterie board. She says, “I love to create variety by arranging cheeses in different shapes and textures — fanning out slices, stacking cubes, and leaving wedges whole with a knife for guests to cut. Pairing cheese with complementary items like honey, nuts, fruit, and artisan crackers enhances the flavors and makes the board look inviting. This allows your guests to find their perfect bite!”
Bearing Julie’s advice in mind, shredding your cheese is an excellent way to add shape and texture to your cheese board. It’s also a way to introduce color. Cheeses suitable for shredding include a vibrant red Leicester, a golden cheddar, lemony Gouda, or the pale ivory of a Manchego. To grate cheese for a charcuterie board, run your block of cheese through a grater and pile it on the board or place it in a pretty bowl. You can either mix the different colored cheeses together or create separate, differently hued piles.
Wedges
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The wedge is a classic cut often used with wheel-shaped cheeses like Brie, Camembert, or goat’s cheese, which can be sliced several times to create mini triangles or wedges. When slicing a soft cheese like a Camembert, chill it first; this will help it keep its shape, particularly if it has been aged and is slightly gooey. Note that very well-aged soft cheeses will simply collapse when sliced and are unsuitable for this cheese cut. Take any rounded cheese, slice it in half, then again to make quarters. Keep slicing in equal sections until the cheese wedges are the size you are looking for. Take your wedge game up a notch by alternating large and small wedges or placing them in a circle to mimic the natural shape of the cheese.
Julie Goodyke explains that the easiest way to slice soft cheeses is to use a wire cutter, but if you don’t have one available, use a sharp knife and wipe the blade between cuts. Molly Browne, education director with Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, echoes Julie’s sentiments, telling us, “A cheese wire is a great way to make quick and even cuts on cheese of all kinds. The thin wire can handle soft, delicate cheeses (think super ripe Brie). Soft cheeses naturally stick to your utensils, so soft cheese knives are strategically built to minimize the surface area that cheese can stick to.”
Ribbons
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Ribbons can be a contentious cheese cut; Molly Browne explains that when building a charcuterie board, “The key is to tailor the cuts to the type of cheese, aiming for bite-sized pieces with various shapes and textures. I encourage you to think beyond the slice! Most importantly, each piece of cheese should make a sufficient ‘bite’ — not too small or too large to be picked up and eaten by hand.” So, what’s the problem with ribbons? Well, ribbons of cheese are long, thin strips that don’t have much bite; however, twisting ribbons of cheese into spirals creates the ideal bite-sized morsel of our cheese. Not only that, it looks striking on a charcuterie board. The trick to getting the perfect spiral is picking a hard yet malleable cheese and using a vegetable peeler, a micro plane grater, or a sharp knife to create long, thin ribbons. You could choose a Parmesan or Pecorino Romano, which are both hard cheeses that can stand up to being sliced thinly and twisted, as long as they aren’t too aged. Try a Gruyère or a Manchego if you find the taste of these hard Italian cheeses too salty and strong.
Crumbles
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Some cheeses are so crumbly they fall apart when you try to slice them, but crumbles on a cheese board are a great aesthetic. Crumbly cheeses like feta, Stilton, Gorgonzola, Cotija, and Grana Padano can be crumbled directly onto your cheese board or placed into decorative bowls, where they can be scooped up and dolloped onto crackers. To crumble your cheese, begin by cutting it into slices or chunks — if it doesn’t crumble all by itself, then use your fingers to break it up. The trick is making the crumbles look rustic with large and small irregular shaped pieces. Molly Browne says, “Challenging preconceived notions regarding what is supposed to go with cheese or appear on a cheese board makes for great conversation, another essential ingredient in any gathering.” Molly suggests using nuts, dried fresh fruit, and olives as borders and dividers to frame your cheeses and charcuterie. This technique works well with crumbles, as you can use your accompaniment to buttress your cheese, ensuring it stays in place.
When we asked Molly more about accompaniments, she said to aim for “crunchy, sweet, spicy, salty, pickled, and fresh. An ideal assortment might include pistachios, cherry jam, hot honey, assorted olives, pickled beets, sliced radishes … and something unexpected, like miso, umeboshi plums, dark chocolate, and roasted chickpeas.”
Fan shapes
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Cutting your cheese into thin slices and fanning them out from a central point can create a stunning cheese display that could be the focus of any cheese board. The trick is to cut all the slices of cheese exactly the same. There are no restrictions on what form your cheese needs to take as long as it is thinly sliced — so carve your cheese into rectangles, squares, wedges, or cut rounds of rolled cheese like Chèvre. Once you have a series of uniform shapes, you can fan them in different patterns, think spirals, full circles, or half moons. To create a fan, simply lay the cheese slices next to each other in a line with each side slightly overlapping, then angle the slices outward until they form a fan shape.
Selecting the right cheese is essential for all cheese cuts. When choosing your cheese, it’s important to note that age can affect its texture and consistency. Cheese loses moisture as it matures, which means some cheeses, like Asiago, get more crumbly as they age. Tiny crystals can appear in others, like cheddar and Parmesan, which add to the texture but make them harder to slice into neat shapes.
Pro tip: It’s not just cheese that can be fanned on a charcuterie board; you can also fan your crackers–every element on the board can be used to create interest. Aside from visual appeal, we asked Kurt Beecher Dammeier for his tips on creating a cheese charcuterie board; he said he likes “to plate cheeses in the order which they should be tasted– left to right from the most mild flavor to the strongest flavor.”
Cooked cheese
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Cooking cheese causes the fat to melt, which changes the texture and enhances the flavor making giving it a softer, more umami mouthfeel. Some of the cooked cheeses that could be included on a charcuterie board include baked Brie, which can make a stunning center point, or halloumi, which can be cut into fingers and incorporated into the overall theme.
To include a baked Brie in a charcuterie board, you need to contain it once it is cooked. Brie liquefies when heated, so if your baked Brie isn’t placed in a pot, the gloopy cheese may run into the rest of the board running the aesthetic. To avoid this, simply place the Brie into an oven-proof container before cooking. Once ready, you can drizzle it with honey or decorate it with seeds, nuts, herbs, or fruits.
Halloumi is a spectacular cheese that only reveals its depth of flavor when cooked. Serve halloumi on a cheese charcuterie board by slicing it into 1-inch-thick fingers and deep-frying. Level up by coating the halloumi fingers in flour and egg before rolling them in sesame seeds. The halloumi can then be fried to create the most incredible crunchy, crispy, soft treat. Stack the halloumi sticks in Jenga fashion for the greatest visual impact.
Rolls and wraps
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Soft cheeses like chèvre, ricotta, and cream cheese are ideal for creating little rolls, wraps, or parcels. You can wrap your soft cheese in cured meat; think prosciutto, parma ham, salami, or fresh herbs like thyme or basil. Alternatively, you can roll your cheese in dried herbs, crushed nuts, seeds, or spices like paprika or pepper.
The key to the perfect cheese roll or wrap is to chill the cheese first. Place your cheese in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes, then place it on some cling wrap or parchment paper and roll it into a log shape. Place the roll back in the fridge until you are ready to use it. At this point, you can either place the entire roll on the charcuterie board or cut it into rounds.
The process is similar when adding cured meats, herbs, or nuts. You simply need to ensure that you place them on the plastic cling wrap first. With loose ingredients like dried herbs or spices, you can roll the cheese around before wrapping. With cured meat or fresh herbs like basil, wrap them around the cheese first.
Burrata
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Burrata is such an incredible cheese that you could dedicate an entire charcuterie or cheese board to it alone. This glorious cheese comes from Italy. It’s a cross between mozzarella and creamy curd cheese — it has a slightly rigid ball-shaped exterior that explodes with a river of creamy curds when cut into.
Burrata is often served by itself with little more than a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, and it is perfectly acceptable to serve it like this on your charcuterie board. For a sweet twist, burrata pairs very well with fruits like peaches, nectarines, and figs. Present your burrata surrounded by sliced peaches or halves of figs drizzled with some honey and scattered pistachio. For a savory concept, the classic combination of tomato and basil never fails–place a whole burrata on a bed of fresh basil and sliced tomatoes with a glug of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.
Burrata is a show-stopping cheese. While it is possible to cut it into chunks, it looks best when served whole. The first cut and release of the cream and curds are part of the ritual of eating burrata. Remember, burrata tastes best when served at room temperature, so take it out of the fridge beforehand.
This article was originally published by Tasting Table
by UFG | Apr 25, 2025 | News
Most owners wait too long or fail to create a plan for exiting their business. There’s a common misconception that leaving or selling your company is a one-time event, the last stage of a business’ life. But if you want to get out what you’ve put into your company for the last 10, 20, or 30 years, you have to treat your exit like a multi-phase period, and you have to give it the time it needs, not treat it as like a single event that happens to you. Often, business owners are put in a position to sell it sooner than they expected, leaving them unprepared to exit and their businesses undervalued.
How much time is enough to build and implement an exit plan?
The right date to start working toward your exit strategy is the day you start your business. But since you’re probably a few years past that, let’s figure out yours by reverse-engineering it. As you are about to discover, you should expect the process to take at least five years from the time you start planning.
The Five-Year Exit Strategy
From the day the business is sold, you need about a year to make your actual exit. You’ll work with a business broker and an investment banker to get through this final period.
Before that year, plan on at least three years of getting your financials in shape.
- Years Two Through Four: Financial History
To get the maximum value before the sale, you’ll have to show your last three years of financial history, at minimum. Any buyer, even if you’re selling to a family member, will want to see at least that. If you don’t have that history or you’re not satisfied with your numbers, you’ll have to spend at least three years building them up.
Say, for example, you want to get the business to a net profit of $500,000 per year and sell at four times that. Then, say in year three, it gets to $500,000 in net profit and is assessed at four times that. You want to get the numbers for three consecutive years. Once you see $500,000 on the bottom line for three years, that’s when you go to market and sell.
- Year One: Setting the Foundation
You will probably need a year prior to those three years to get the foundation right. This is the time to look at stabilizing the business, optimizing profitability, and getting the processes in place.
So, at the bare minimum, that gets us to five years of planning and preparation, so nothing is left on the table. However, many buyers want at least five years of financial history, not three, which could take our timeline to seven years. Then, it might take two years, not one, to get the fundamentals right, so the most realistic timeline may be more like five to ten years.
Analyze, Optimize, Strategize
Like any journey, a smart business exit begins by figuring out where you are, where you want to go, and how you’re going to get there. There are three basic phases to work through.
In Phase 1, do an assessment of the business and see what’s working and what isn’t. Decide your goals for the future of the company.
In Phase 2, look at optimizing the financial business model. Focus on profit improvement, making sure your margins are higher than your competitors and that you have a good, profitable enterprise.
In Phase 3, take an honest look at the management structure, starting at the top – that’s you. How involved are you in the business, and what key roles does the leadership play? If all the power is concentrated in a single person, you must look at making it more of a team that can continue functioning seamlessly after the all-powerful owner (that’s you) is gone.
Once the numbers have stabilized, it’s time to look at growth. How can you grow at the newly optimized level? This is also the time to plan the exit itself: deciding whether to sell to a third party, internal employee, family member, or other entity. Decide how you will execute the strategy and who needs to help you get to the finish line.
All these things are equally important, and they build off each other; you can’t do them out of order, and this is no time to multitask. For instance, if you try to grow the business before you optimize your margins, you’re growing your business at a lower margin,n and the results will be less than they could be.
Profit Matters
It really comes down to profit margins, which come down to expenses. While many business owners think their operations are lean, I have found that several of them are overspending on their overhead or operating costs like marketing, staffing and rent. I find that when compared to other businesses in their industry, 90 percent of the time, their profit margins are much lower than the average.
The businesses I see have not increased their prices at the same rate of inflation that’s hitting their costs; most of them will increase prices five percent while inflation was closer to 10 percent. Many of them don’t realize the impact inflation has had on the business. If you don’t have a good system in place to give you a solid financial picture, you’re going to get caught up in the vanity of revenue – and revenue doesn’t matter in business valuation. What matters is profit. You can have piles of revenue, but if you have mountains of expenses, your profitability will only disappoint.
One of my clients didn’t raise her fees to cover her skyrocketing transportation costs for employees working offsite in her customers’ offices. She didn’t realize the impact that was having on her overhead. Her net margin was going down year by year, so we came up with a different pricing structure for off-site business owners that would cover the expense.
Those profit margins are very important in the sale. If someone looks at your numbers and sees that you’re not really charging the true cost of business, that’s going to lower the value of the business. A new owner doesn’t want to have to come in and implement the change that would fix that.
Take Your Time
Of all the mistakes business owners make in engineering their departure, a significant one is simply not devoting enough time to it. They let real-time activities dominate their days, neglecting the important matters that are essential to long-term success. Make a point to carve out enough time for things like exit strategy and planning.
A successful exit depends as much on the time you devote to it as the financial and management details you work out. Create a time block of one to two hours a week to work on your long-term exit strategy.
You have a 10-year horizon for this entire process to come together. Use it – starting now.
This article was originally published by Mentors Collective Success Magazine
