Pranav Desai says he and his business partners have been eyeing The Greene Turtle since before the chain began franchising. With business activity frequently taking them to Maryland and Washington, DC, he says, the partners had dined at The Greene Turtle in the past and had long been intrigued by its offering. When they learned that the chain was looking to franchise its concept in their market, he says, they approached the company to explore opportunities.

“Once we began researching the concept, we really liked what we saw,” he says. “We always wanted to get into a sports-themed concept and I liked that The Greene Turtle has intense brand loyalty and a broad appeal, especially with a stronger family demographic among its core customers. We also liked that the chain has a lot of room to grow in this market, and were impressed by the strong management in place and the fact that the corporate team has a good relationship with their other franchisees, it seemed like a great extension of our existing business mix.”

The Greene Turtle's strong brand awareness is largely generated by the company's involvement in community sports programs, and by its presence in high-traffic locations such as Ocean City, MD, Rehoboth Beach, DE, Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport, and Washington, DC's Verizon Center.

Earlier this month, The Greene Turtle opened its 40th location. There are more than 40 additional locations already committed to for development by franchisees in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, including those covered in an 11-unit deal signed last year in South and Central New Jersey, as reported by GlobeSt.com, and in a separate 10-unit deal for New York's Long Island.