Under WJ Partners, the approach is more aggressive, but not overly so. So it would have historically been guests of Eggs Up Grill that had been attracted to the brand and wanted to bring it to their community.” Though, Richardson specifies, it was proactive in that Skodras “would entertain people who were interested in doing that,” he says “There was never any active franchise outreach. The first franchisee agreement was informal at best, with Skodras’s brother as the operator.īut friends who were McDonald’s franchisees turned Skodras onto the idea of a more formal structure, and a few years after his brother signed on, the brand began to take a more proactive approach. From there, growth was organic and measured. In 1997, after about a decade working in his family’s restaurants, Chris Skodras struck out on his own to open a breakfast-driven restaurant. The origin story of Eggs Up Grill begins on Pawleys Island, a popular vacation spot along the South Carolina coast. a lot of work, but a lot of fun times,” Richardson says. “Growth is always a lot of fun there’s just an energy and an excitement that comes from growth. Richardson estimates Eggs Up Grill will hit 200 locations by the end of 2026, bringing the unit count to seven times the pre-acquisition amount in less than a decade. Covid may have delayed its expansion timeline, but not by much. The company plans to open 20–25 units this year, pushing its footprint as far north as Richmond, Virginia, as far south as central Florida, and as far west as Texas. With the combination of Richardson’s experience, private equity funds, and an established brand reputation, Eggs Up Grill has swelled to nearly 60 locations with another dozen in construction.Īnd that’s just the beginning. … So it created the opportunity for people to come in and do a similar type of cuisine with one of those dayparts-breakfast and lunch-and be a specialist in that and do it better from a quality standpoint, a value perspective, a friendliness standpoint.”Ī TGI Fridays alum, Richardson came on board in 2018, shortly after WJ Partners acquired the then 26-unit brand and moved its headquarters to Spartanburg, South Carolina (which also happens to be the homebase for Denny’s). “There’s a sense of sameness across all of those. The category had a lot of legacy players in it,” says CEO Ricky Richardson. “The breakfast space has gotten really active over the last decade.

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