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A fast-food chain known for serving customers from distinctive orange shipping containers wants to open restaurants in Indiana by the end of 2025.
Smalls Sliders, an Atlanta-based chain that specializes in cheeseburgers, is seeking franchise operators in Indiana, Idaho and Montana.
Don Crocker, chief development officer of Smalls Sliders, said Indianapolis represents “a prime market for franchise expansion based on the region’s real estate and consumer profile.”
The 5-year-old company debuted with a restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Crocker said Smalls Sliders presently has 325 locations open or under development in 24 states.
Smalls Sliders would be the latest brand with ties to former NFL quarterback Drew Brees to establish a presence in Indiana. The Purdue University alum is an investor in Smalls Sliders, a concept devised by Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux founder Brandon Landry.
Brees is a co-owner of Walk-On’s, which has locations in Fishers and West Lafayette.
Away from food and beverages, Brees is a franchisee of Stretch Zone locations in Zionsville, Carmel and Fishers. Florida-based Stretch Zone offers customers a practitioner-assisted stretching routine.
Brees also is a brand ambassador, investor and franchisee for the Picklr, a Utah-based company that launches indoor pickleball facilities. He’s the co-owner of a 57,000-square-foot Noblesville location that’s expected to open in January.
Smalls Sliders refers to its shipping-container structures as “cans,” and the restaurants are compact operations.
“Our cans are prefabricated shipping containers that are transported and dropped via crane at their destinations, with a total restaurant size of around 750 square feet while maintaining top-of-the-line kitchen design,” Crocker said in an email interview.
Each restaurant features a drive-thru, a walk-up window and an outdoor patio space. The menu at Small Sliders is limited to burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, waffle fries, soft drinks and shakes.
A spot no larger than a half-acre is needed for Smalls Sliders to set up shop, Crocker said. Outlots of shopping centers are good candidates, he said.
A $35,000 franchise fee is required to launch a Smalls Sliders location. A $30,000 fee accompanies each additional store.
“The goal is to find franchisees who are committed to growing the brand and managing multiple sites, depending on market conditions,” Crocker said.
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300+ locations of a company I’ve never heard of. Could this be another BurgerIM situation?
I looked at https://smallssliders.com/locations/ and they have 18 open locations right now and maybe half that number “coming soon”.