"The majority of our focus is to find qualityfranchisees to leverage our brands," RBG PresidentDamon Liever tells GSR. "We're trying to expand all ofour brands aggressively." He notes that the company'sstrongest brand is Jazzman's Café, which is acoffeehouse concept that was a 2004 Hot ConceptsWinner. "But, we're not looking at Jazzman as the onlyone that we will focus on," he contends.

Liever, who boasts a background in chain restaurantmanagement, having spent time at Louisville, KY-basedYum! Brands, believes that RBG's expansion into moretraditional retail centers is a natural evolution fromits existing locations. "All the work that you have todo to develop the brand, we are doing that already,"he says. "To take it to the next step is to go intomore traditional settings on the street."

Indeed, Liever contends that RGB has always viewed itskey competition as street-level restaurants. "Atcolleges or business environments, people are not heldcaptive—they can go outside to eat—and we'vedeveloped the brands to be competitive with our streetlevel competition," he says. "The real key is to comeup with a good concept and execute it successfully."