Dive Brief:
- BrakeTime Corner Market has signed a franchise agreement with Little Caesars, Rene Da Costa, the convenience retailer’s vice president of food, dispensed beverage and QSR, confirmed to C-Store Dive.
- The initial agreement includes two BrakeTime-adjacent Little Caesars QSRs in Texas, Da Costa said, adding that the retailer intends to expand its Little Caesars network to other states.
- This agreement underscores BrakeTime’s goal of building out its foodservice offerings, which CEO Usman Bashir told C-Store Dive last year was one of the retailer’s primary objectives.
Dive Insight:
BrakeTime’s latest franchise agreement comes about a month after the Houston-based convenience retailer inked a similar deal with Burger King. That agreement included both BrakeTime-adjacent and standalone Burger Kings across Illinois and Texas, Da Costa said at the time.
Now, BrakeTime is adding Little Caesars to its list of franchise programs, furthering Bashir’s goal to increase the number of QSRs across its chain of roughly 300 convenience stores.
In a LinkedIn announcement detailing the agreement, Da Costa said Little Caesars “fits perfectly within a high-volume c-store environment.” He added that one location will be near William P. Hobby Airport in Houston and the other in nearby Tomball.
“This isn’t just about adding pizza to our lineup — it’s about driving traffic, increasing basket size, strengthening margins, and elevating our entire foodservice strategy,” Da Costa said in his announcement.
The minimum financial requirement to become a Little Caesar franchisee is $200,000 in liquid assets and a total net worth of at least $400,000, according to the pizza chain’s website. Once they sign up, franchisees pay an up-front flat fee of $20,000 and then pay a royalty fee of 6% of their sales per restaurant to Little Caesars, along with a marketing fee of 5%.
Little Caesars offers its “non-traditional express” franchise model for sites inside a convenience store, according to the pizza chain’s website. That format ranges from 400 to 600 square feet and features lower construction costs and a modified menu.
