Fine Fast Casual Eatery Grégoire Setting Out to Disrupt the Restaurant Franchising Sphere

Fine Fast Casual Eatery Grégoire Setting Out to Disrupt the Restaurant Franchising Sphere

The Berkeley, California restaurant has been a local favorite for two decades, standing out for its high-quality menu and fast take-out service – and now the brand is expanding.

Twenty years ago, chef and restaurateur Grégoire Jacquet opened his self-titled Berkeley eatery Grégoire. Trained at French cooking schools and having worked in the kitchens of high-end restaurants in many countries, he had plenty of experience in fine dining. Jacquet appreciated the excellent food quality at those establishments, but he didn’t like the excess of front-of-the-house service and how he never mingled with those enjoying his food.

That’s why he came up with the idea to have Grégoire be a fine fast-casual restaurant, with incredible lunch and dinner meals served in a carry-out setting.

“I knew I wanted to open a restaurant, but I didn’t want a full-scale restaurant. I love people and customer interaction, so I decided to do something really small,” said Jacquet. “I wanted to create a fine dining restaurant, but my way — where I’m the chef, the server, the face, everything.”

The concept quickly became a hit after he opened Grégoire’s doors in Berkeley’s “Gourmet Ghetto” foodie neighborhood in 2002. The intimate space always had a line of hungry patrons excitedly waiting to taste his seasonally-rotating menu, made from always fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Jacquet has longstanding relationships with vendors like family-run business Catalán Family Farm, located in Hollister.

“He’s a really good chef,” said Mark Burger, a longtime customer who has been frequenting the restaurant almost weekly since its early days. “He sources all his ingredients. So the chicken comes from one place, the beef comes from one place, another farmer does this, he has someone specifically for cheese and so on. They serve a high-end product, and he’s super consistent.”

Burger said that every single thing made at Grégoire is “always really delicious,” but he especially loves the quiche, salad and fried chicken sandwich on lavosh. He said that Jacquet once made him an open-faced salami sandwich that was so good that it brought him to tears. And of course, the potato puffs, which the business has become famous for, are a must-have, Burger added.

“What we wanted to do, we weren’t seeing anywhere else. Everything about takeout was an afterthought,” Jacquet said. “I came up with this concept because I knew that there was a need for high-quality food to-go because the only to-go you could get was some sort of fast food. Even now we have items that no one can compete with.”

Many of the same workers have been with him for a long time. While he started out slowly, he eventually grew to hire a full kitchen staff, leaving him a little more time to spend with his expanding family and his wife, Tara. Side by side, his team has helped him grow the restaurant to what it is today.

Jacquet recently excited customers with the news that the brand is expanding into franchising. He is first targeting to grow further the restaurant’s presence in the greater Bay area. His target markets include San Francisco, Napa, Marin, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz, and a hub kitchen will support each. The goal is to have three to five locations secured by the end of this year and eight to ten by 2024.

It’s an idea that Jacquet is confident will work with great success, due in part to the novelty of his fine fast-casual concept and the fact that he tried out a hub kitchen before when he had a second location open in Oakland. At this facility, the majority of the prep work will be done and then delivered fresh daily to the staff at each location, who just have to assemble the ingredients and serve them.

“By preparing all the food in the culinary hub, we remove labor and add consistency to all the franchisees, so they can really focus on serving the customer and make sure they’re succeeding in the community. I always felt that this was just a fantastic business model,” said Jacquet. “It’s a really profitable business, perfect for high-density metropolitan locations and perfect for food on the go. I see us one day having a Grégoire in every major city.”

Burger thinks that the restaurant will become a hot spot wherever it opens its doors. “It would do great in any place where people are foodies. No one else is going to be able to knock it off because of the detail Jacquet has put into it. Nobody can replicate the high-end dishes paired with the service. They don’t have to worry about competition in that space.”

“People really enjoy the quality of the food and the changing menu. All of our customers wish they had one in their market,” Jacquet agreed, saying he is eager to get franchise agreements signed.

Kim Lee, who has been head chef at Grégoire for over a decade, said that the entire team at Grégoire is happy to hear that the restaurant will have more locations and bring its delectable gourmet to-go menu to more people in Northern California. “I’m definitely excited. Jacquet is excited, and I feed off of him because I’ve been side by side with him for so long,” Lee said. “I want to put all these things I’ve learned over the past 12 years and see them play out in multiple kitchens.”

And the franchise candidates that Jacquet has been talking to have been very intrigued with the niche concept and the opportunities that owning a Grégoire will present. Jacquet’s model has proven time and time again to work exceptionally well, even through the 2008 recession and the restrictions of the pandemic. The restaurant has remained a popular staple in the area and has increased profits every year. This endeavor has been a very rewarding experience for him —  something he wants to share with others who wish to own their own business.

“During the pandemic, we kept our business and community thriving in the most unlikely of times,” said Jacquet. “This is a business model that both customers and business owners can rely on, and I want to share it with others. Franchising is the best way to do that, I believe.”

Just like when he first opened Grégoire, Jacquet has a detailed plan for success for his new franchises. The franchisee/franchisor relationship at Grégoire is designed to provide everything the franchisee needs to succeed, regardless of their knowledge of franchising or food service. Jacquet will personally be there every step of the way to set his early franchisees up to thrive.

“As a franchisor, we will be so involved with the franchisees,” he said. “We’re not giving you a book and training you for two weeks, then going away for a few months and coming back to tell you you’re doing it wrong. We’re going to be part of our franchisees’ businesses daily to ensure they have their questions answered and everything they need to be successful.”

Jacquet hopes to open 30 to 40 sites in the Bay Area region. The cost to open a Grégoire franchise ranges from $298,924 to $420,100. Those interested in opening a Grégoire location in the target market area between Napa and Santa Cruz counties, please visit www.gfranchise.com.

About Grégoire:
French-trained chef Grégoire Jacquet had a vision of a local restaurant offering quality fine dining-style food with the convenience of a quick carry-out experience. In 2002, Grégoire opened its doors as the first fine-fast-casual restaurant concept that serves gourmet sandwich and salad dishes, its famous potato puffs and scratch daily fresh-made french fries, all served in a custom-designed take out box. After two decades of serving the local Berkley, CA community, Grégoire has launched franchising opportunities in the Greater Bay Area.

Faces of the East Bay