To compliment its existing outlets, Cold Rock is launching Cold Rock Express in jointly branded, high profile retail sites.
The multi-brand venture was introduced in Victoria last month by Cold Rock’s owner Franchised Food Company. The Express stores are small versions of its Cold Rock store and the pilot model was opened in a Video Ezy outlet at Kew in Melbourne’s south-east.
Now, the company plans to pioneer the concept nationwide, opening up to Cold Rock Express stores in the next three years.
Franchised Food Company chief executive Stan Gordon said it will look for other suitable retail partners with six Cold Rock Express stores also set to be integrated within the Souvlaki Hut system.
“With much of traditional retailing under immense pressure we are moving quickly to innovate and seize opportunities to expand our presence,” he said.
“By providing a complementary brand offering out of the same premises, using the same back of house and mostly the same staff, it gives the retailer greater efficiency and spreads fixed costs such as rent, wages and utilities.
“The benefits of having strong multi-brand complementary offerings in the one location make strategic sense.”
Gordon said the Cold Rock Express concept was a development with many potential retail partners.
“For the first time the ‘store-within-a-store’ model will be heavily promoted and not kept in the background as has been seen with department stores,” he said.
“The first store within Video Ezy has done exceptionally well in its opening weeks which is encouraging.”
Gordon however cautioned operators that dual branding needed to be complementary.
“A fashion retailer in a restaurant is unlikely to work,” he said