San Churro has unveiled its first San Churro Clásico format store at Karingal Hub, Victoria.
The Clásico model with a localised, tailored design, is the dessert chain’s answer to a smaller footprint, lower cost store.

San Churro is targeting sites between 60 and 80 sqm, rather than the typical store footprint of 120 sqm to 250sqm. Investment levels vary depending on the unique characteristics of the site with a target range of $250,000 to $350,000.

CEO Kerri Wane said “The smaller Clásico format allows us to take San Churro’s sweet treat experience to customers in a variety of prime locations including strips, venues and smaller precincts.
“We also expect Clásico to have a higher digital sales mix.

“We have applied a laser focus to ensure that we can deliver a strong return on investment for our franchise partners, reducing the build price of our traditional stores significantly in the face of strong headwinds. Clásico now adds another string to this bow.”

The chain is delivering franchisees improved efficiencies gained through menu simplification and streamlined operations.

“This provides our brand and our franchise partners with greater flexibility and options as we embark on a journey of significant growth,” she said.

San Churro Clásico format will boost expansion

In FY24 San Churro aims to open 17 stores in Australia in total, with five of these expected to be Clásico.
“Our national property plan has identified tier 1 locations where we would build traditional stores and other areas together with strips, airports etc. that will suit a Clásico model.”

Regional development will match the right store model to the size of the town and sales estimates to deliver the right ROI for franchisees.

San Churro reports a circa 20 per cent reduction in historical build costs for traditional stores over the last 12 months.

“We have achieved this by rightsizing stores, introducing modular efficiencies, offshoring components, effective tendering, revisiting materials and design elements in partnership with our new design firm.

“We will be moving into a period of historic, rapid growth at San Churro, so we have worked on getting both formats optimised to deliver strong sales and return on investment for our franchise partners. The format we use will be location and budget dependent,” said Wane.

This story was originally published on Franchise Executives.