Long Island businessman Sid Kapur is bringing his small empire of franchises to Brooklyn. Kapur, who began franchising in 2020, recently opened his 15th location, a Wetzel’s Pretzels at Macy’s in Kings Plaza Shopping Center.
Inspired by his brother-in-law’s retail business, Kapur, who graduated from Pace University with a Masters of Business Administration degree in 2014, entered the franchising world at a time when most were at home due to the pandemic. His first two locations were a pair of Wetzel’s Pretzels at the American Dream mall in New Jersey, which opened in October of 2020. He decided to go into the food businesses because he felt it was more stable than clothing.
“I'm a mall guy, I don't I don't know much about streets,” said Kapur, who also owns several Popeyes, Qdoba and Haagen-Dazs locations.
All but one of Kapur’s businesses are located in malls, and all of them are franchises.
“With franchises, they’re easier to work with. They do their own marketing, and they give you a platform people recognize the brand,” he said.
The majority of Kapur’s locations are Wetzel’s Pretzels, a California-based pretzel company founded in 1994. Wetzel’s biggest competition is Auntie Anne’s, a pretzel franchise that dominates the East Coast and already has a location in Kings Plaza.
But Kapur is not deterred. His mission is to grow Wetzel’s popularity here.
“I wanted to get into something that I can scale into more locations,” said Kapur. “I like their product better. I flew to California. I like the team that they have. I connected well with them and they wanted a franchisee that will take their brand to the next level on the East Coast.”
But like many business owners, the rising costs of goods in recent years is impacting his profits.
“Everything is very, very expensive now, compared to five years ago when I got into the business,” said Kapur. “You can only price it [items] at a certain level, because customers will not pay over a certain level. So your profitability has reduced because everything has gotten so expensive.”
For now, Kapur is uncertain about expanding his portfolio outside of franchises, preferring their reliability.
“In the future, you never know. But my goal is to keep on growing in the group of brands that I have,” said Kapur, who has recently expanded beyond locations in New York and New Jersey and opened a Wetzel’s in Destin, Fla. and and a Haagen-Dazs in Miramar Beach, Fla.
Ultimately, Kapur’s goal is to expand all throughout the East Coast and go from 15 to 50 locations within the next three years. His advice to aspiring franchisees is to have patience.
“As long as you're willing to put work into the business, and you're focused, you can definitely get into franchising and growing it,” said Kapur. “There’s no overnight results.”
