L&L Drive-Inn
aims to open
52 sites in 2004
The joint New Year's resolution of L&L Drive-Inn co-founders Eddie Flores and Johnson Kam is to open one new L&L each week in 2004. Yep, 52 new restaurants, whether the local version or the mainland-ified L&L Hawaiian Barbecue.
World domination -- one plate lunch at a time.
And lest you think the plan is far-fetched, the company is well on its way. L&L has 23 signed leases and 12 signed letters of intent for new locations due to open between now and the first half of June.
"There are another 11 franchisees that are looking for locations," Flores said.
"Based on my projections, 52 new locations in 2004 are highly probable."
L&L will make its debut in Utah, Colorado and New York and will expand its fortunes with multiple locations in Arizona (three), Northern California (eight), Southern California (17), and Nevada (two).
L&L may one day become as ubiquitous as ABC Stores in Waikiki, as it plans three more L&L Drive-Inns in Hawaii.
"I am very excited. There is no end to L&L," Flores said.
Hawaii-born franchisee Brandon Kimura will open his first L&L Hawaiian Barbecue at Anaheim Hills Festival shopping center Jan. 12.
The center is anchored by national retailers such as Target, Toys-R-Us, a Vons Pavilion grocery store and movie theaters.
The mall also is across the street from an industrial park, and Kimura anticipates solid foot traffic.
The 2,300-square-foot restaurant will employ 10 people, seat 48 diners, and will initially operate from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., but may eventually expand its hours.
The former manager of an AT&T Wireless call center admitted to having "very little restaurant experience," but said he's been training intensively for weeks at another L&L.
He was looking to get in on the ground floor of something new and chose the L&L concept "because I liked the food," Kimura said.
It was a point of redemption for a locally born boy who didn't understand the question, "Where you wen' grad?"
"I was raised in California," he said. His mother's family still lives on Oahu.
Becoming a franchisee is no casual undertaking.
One must have $30,000 and agree to pay 3 percent of gross monthly sales as a royalty fee and 1 percent of gross monthly sales for advertising and promotion. There are other considerations, such as anywhere from $210,150 to $465,400 for a turnkey L&L Hawaiian Barbecue store.
Franchisees receive guidance, suggestions and referrals in location-hunting, decor and layout plans, a loaned proprietary copy of the operations manual, and training for the franchisee and manager, not including travel expenses.
Founders Flores and Kam maintain approval rights over a proposed location, depending on an analysis of the area. Once approved, the company does not offer direct or indirect financing, nor will the company serve as a guarantor for loans or other obligations, according to the Web site at www.hawaiianbarbecue.com.
But L&L's local cuisine has done well for the company in most markets it has entered. The exception was Connecticut.
The two L&Ls there were established by an Oahu franchisee and a mainland partner and did not fare well. They were converted to Chinese restaurants a few months ago, according to an L&L spokeswoman.
The food did have its fans -- such as Punahou graduate and Washington, D.C., resident Shannon Ibara, who once planned an eight-hour road trip to get a fix of local kine grinds -- but there were evidently not enough of them.
Aside from the world domination by plate lunch ploy, Flores' hectic schedule will be made more so by the fact that 2004 is a political year.
"I have to campaign for many of my friends," he said.