Bryn & Dane’s Plans to Open 100 New Locations Over the Next 5 Years  

If all goes according to plan, healthy fast food will soon be way more readily available. 

Image courtesy Bryn & Dane's

Image courtesy Bryn & Dane’s

When I told Bryn Davis, founder of the the Plymouth Meeting-based healthy fast-food chain Bryn & Dane’s, that opening 100 franchise locations in various regions around the country over the next five years sounded like quite the undertaking, he replied, “We’ve always been 3,000 or bust.” Meaning the company’s end goal is to eventually have 3,000 (!!) outposts — at least — serving up menu items like create-your-own chia pudding bowls and banana wraps. So when you take that into consideration, 100 is nothin’. (Reminder to self: Get Davis to give me a Confidence 101 lesson.)

So, where’d that 100 number come from? Well, the company recently announced that they’ve teamed up with Dan Rowe, a franchise guru credited with helping turn chains like Five Guys and Qdoba into household names, to open a minimum of 100 Bryn & Dane’s locations around the country over the next five years. Davis tells us they’re looking at markets like Austin, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee, and Orlando, Florida to start.

The focus on warmer climates is strategic: Davis notes that a huge chunk of their revenue come from their smoothies. And speaking of their smoothies, if you’re unfamiliar with what Bryn & Dane’s slings, Davis explains the healthy fast-food spot like this: “We’ve taken the conventional fast-food model but infused it with healthful options. There’s nothing wrong with eating food quickly — it’s the purveyors who are providing the food.” So it’s fast food — think: a Santa Fe salad — made healthy. You can see what he’s talking about by taking a look at their menu here.

A large part of the 100 locations they plan to open over the next five years will be franchise locations, though the company still has the right to open however many corporate locations they want to. Then, the company, which now has three locations, also has three corporate Bryn & Dane’s locations due to open around Philly over the next year: one in Bryn Mawr, opening in the next month, Davis says; one in Malvern (the second drive-through location for the company, keeping with true fast-food vibes) slated for a May opening; and one in Center City aiming for a summer 2017 opening.

Now, I’ll just be over here hoping they open a few outposts in airports. Because if the number of times I’ve settled for McDonald’s fries during a starving, delay-filled stretch at an airport is any indication, airports NEED Bryn & Dane’s.

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