Over the next three years, 30 HipHopSodaShops willopen in the Las Vegas area. Hall of Fame athlete and entrepreneur Jackie Robinson will head up the expansion of HipHopSodaShops in Sin City.
HipHopSodaShops, which is franchised by New York City-based H3Enterprises Inc., offer healthy fast food served with Hip Hop music, memorabilia and merchandise. "We chose Las Vegas as our second market because it's a place where Hip Hop is growing," says Brian Peters, president and co-founder of H3Enterprises Inc. "There's a big opportunity in Vegas that hasn't been tapped."
The new concept, which Bank of America and Visahonored with their top prize for Best New BusinessConcept of 2004, also features competitive CyberSportsas a major part of the concept. Each shop will haveseveral computer terminals to make cyber-gamingavailable to all customers.
Peters, whose nickname is "H3", says thatHipHopSodaShops offers entertainment of an oft ignoredgroup--the under 21 set. Each shop will be about2,500 sf and will be situated in a variety of localesincluding strip centers, mall and even on the Strip."Even though it's hard to get in casinos, Jackie doeshave access to these kinds of sites," Peters says.
Robinson, who previously owned and operated 53 PizzaHut franchises, will spearhead H3Enterprises' WestCoast operations. He is charged with gainingsponsorships, media coverage and a venue in Las Vegasstage for the company's $5 million WorldSeries ofCyberSports, which is scheduled for January2006.
According to Peters, the shops have price points thatfit most budgets. Offerings include: including a widevariety of 50-cent specials plus H3Raps--"biggie" and "smallie" wraps that have 80% fewer carbs than traditional subs and sandwiches. The shops will also feature H3WhiteTea, which is the franchise's own line of sodas, teas, lemonades and energy drinks containing organic white teas sweetened with chicory syrup.
In addition to Las Vegas, HipHopSodaShops is expandingin Canada. H3 Enterprises recently signed adevelopment agreement for 100 stores in the country."Canada is just blowing up with Hip Hop," Peters says.
Currently, H3 Enterprises is working on converting 65NewYork NewYork delis into HipHopSodaShops. Thebiggest concentration of stores is in Florida,Arizona, the New York Tri-State Area and WashingtonD.C. metro area. "We'll see how Florida does, andwe're also looking at Cleveland, Miami and Atlanta,"Peters says.
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