Graze Craze Built a Franchise Around Food Nobody Needs Every Day

By Sean Goldsmith

Graze Craze has built a growing franchise around charcuterie. Sean looks at why finding repeat customers matters more than waiting for walk-ins.

People buy coffee on the way to work and pizza because they need dinner. Charcuterie is a harder habit to build. Graze Craze has still turned it into a growing franchise.

Graze Craze has joined The Franchise Entrepreneur’s Brands Directory, and the business presents an interesting challenge for a food franchise.

Coffee has the morning commute. Sandwiches have lunch. Pizza has Friday night. Charcuterie does not have the same routine built into the week. People tend to order it because something is happening: a birthday, an office meeting, a wedding, a client event or a night with friends.

Graze Craze has built a franchise around those occasions. Since beginning franchising in 2021, the company has expanded across the United States and into international markets with United Franchise Group behind it.

For franchisees, the job is not simply making attractive boards and waiting for customers to arrive. They have to make sure that when somebody in their territory has a reason to order charcuterie, Graze Craze gets the call.

The Shop Won't Build the Business on Its Own

There is no shortage of potential customers. Companies hold meetings, estate agents give closing gifts, hotels host events and wedding planners are constantly looking for suppliers. The challenge is getting those people to order from the local Graze Craze rather than a caterer, supermarket or independent operator.

That makes local selling an important part of the franchisee's job. An estate agent who orders closing gifts throughout the year could be worth far more than a customer who walks in once for a birthday board. The same applies to a company ordering regularly for meetings or an event venue that recommends Graze Craze to its customers.

For an owner, those relationships take time to build. They require calls, introductions, samples, follow-ups and a willingness to get out into the local business community. The shop gives the franchisee somewhere to make the product. It does not remove the need to sell it.

A Simpler Kitchen Still Has Bills to Pay

Graze Craze has a practical advantage over many restaurant franchises because it does not require the same kitchen setup. The company promotes locations of roughly 1,000 to 1,400 square feet without the fryers, grills and extraction equipment found in many food businesses.

That can make finding and fitting out a location less complicated, but simpler equipment does not change the basic economics of running a food franchise. Rent, wages, ingredients, royalties and marketing still have to be paid every month, which means the store needs a reliable flow of orders.

Prospective franchisees also need to do their homework because Graze Craze does not provide an Item 19 financial performance representation showing franchisee earnings. Conversations with existing owners become particularly useful here. Buyers should want to know how much business comes from walk-ins, how much comes from corporate customers, what a typical order looks like and how long it took the franchisee to establish a base of repeat customers.

Those answers will tell a prospective owner far more about the business than a photograph of a well-presented grazing board.

Some of the Best Customers May Never Visit the Store

A customer buying one board is useful. A local company ordering for meetings, client presentations and staff events throughout the year is a different proposition altogether.

The same applies to referral relationships. A wedding planner can introduce the store to customers repeatedly. An estate agent may need gifts every month. Hotels, dealerships and professional firms all have occasions where food is being ordered for somebody else.

For prospective franchisees, that means judging a territory on more than household income and passing traffic. The number and type of businesses nearby matter too. A territory with plenty of offices, event venues and professional services firms gives the owner more potential customers to approach.

It also makes the owner's ability to sell important. Someone expecting to spend most of the week preparing food behind the counter may be surprised by how much value can be created outside the store.

Charcuterie Isn't Difficult to Copy

Graze Craze operates in a category with a fairly low barrier to competition. Supermarkets sell platters, caterers make them and independent businesses can offer something similar without buying a franchise. Customers can also make their own.

That means the franchise has to offer an owner considerably more than recipes and presentation.

Graze Craze's case rests on giving franchisees a recognisable brand, operating system, training, purchasing support and a way to turn a fragmented product category into a repeatable local business. United Franchise Group also brings decades of franchise experience to the expansion of the concept.

The real test is whether franchisees can use those advantages to become established suppliers in their local markets. Birthdays, weddings, office meetings and client events are not going away. Graze Craze does not need people to suddenly start eating charcuterie every Tuesday. It needs enough customers and businesses to think of the brand whenever one of those occasions comes around.

What We Can Learn From This

Graze Craze shows that repeat business does not always require customers to develop a weekly habit. Franchisees can create repeat revenue by winning corporate accounts, building relationships with local businesses and developing referral partners that generate orders throughout the year. Anyone considering the franchise should therefore study the business and events market in the territory as carefully as they study the retail location. If franchisees can become the local supplier people call when they need this type of food, Graze Craze has a much bigger opportunity than waiting for customers to walk through the door.

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