Restaurant Operator Podcast
Houston TX Scorching Hen is leveraging its “electrical” model vitality and big social media following to drive natural franchise leads and gasoline a strategic, nationwide enlargement.
February 24, 2026
On this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Market and QSRweb, talks with Brian Simowitz, president, and Andie Smirl, director of franchise gross sales, for Houston TX Scorching Hen. The Nashville scorching hen idea launched throughout COVID in 2020 in Las Vegas. The model now has 31 models.
A part of what attracts diners to the idea is its electrical model vitality. With greater than 400,000 social media followers, Houston TX Scorching Hen appears to be putting a nerve with customers.
“The vitality that you just get from that degree of social media followers which can be partaking with our model each day is unbelievable. So, you recognize, and it provides us loads of relevance with new franchisees coming in as effectively, as a result of they take a look at it and go, man, this model is loopy,” Simowitz stated through the podcast. “And I am going to share with you, fairly actually, we get loads of potential franchise leads simply from our social media and the way massive that social media footprint is.”
Smirl joined the model when it had already bought greater than 100 models and stated loads of the model’s leads are really natural.
“Loads of our leads are really natural,” she stated through the podcast. “They’re coming in as a result of (potential franchisees) both tried the meals or they’ve seen our social media. They’ve seen our content material, both on LinkedIn or Instagram, one thing like that. So we’re actually fortunate that we do not actually must promote that a part of it. It is already actually thrilling to only see the model. So I feel that we get to be fairly strategic in sort of how we determine to develop.
“We do not wish to simply throw one restaurant throughout the nation the place our assist is in Vegas. We wish to be accessible and ideally in the identical time zone for a short while at the very least the place we will simply sort of strategically develop to greatest assist our franchisees. So we’re fairly fortunate in that and we do not take that without any consideration, however we wish to be actually good about who we associate with.”
To study extra about how Houston TX Scorching Hen attracts top-tier franchisees, what the model’s leaders search for in franchise companions and what the long run holds for the corporate, take heed to the podcast in its entirety.
