WHY WOOPS!?

The macaron franchise has retail appeal and a major leg-up in the burgeoning gifting industry.

OUR HISTORY AND VISION

WOOPS! was born in 2012 from a simple idea: Why not make money by opening a pop-up shop at the bustling Holiday Shops at Bryant Park in New York City — sharing delicious, specialty macarons with shoppers? The response let the founders know they were onto something, and they wasted no time in looking into how they could build a business on the idea that macarons make wonderful and special gifts as well as a day-brightening treat for oneself.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Four friends rented space in a 2012 holiday market, and in nine weeks they had sold $250,000 worth of macarons. Someone said "Woops, we have a business," and the company had a name. We have grown ever since by the demand from customers and from entrepreneurs who want to become part of this rapidly growing opportunity.

Raj Bhatt
Co-Founder

“The name of our company alone is a conversation starter,” says Ben Woodruff, co-CEO and Co-Founder. “People will come up to ask about the name. That creates a conversation, and that’s one of the best things about the brand — people see and hear a playful name that shows right away that this is a fun, unpretentious brand that doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

The show-stopping visual appeal of our products also draws in customers and invites conversations.

KIOSK LOCATIONS TAKE OFF

Not long after the decision to create a franchise, WOOPS! boutique kiosks became a highly visible and popular destination in major malls throughout the Northeast. Strong sales, a simple business model, and exceptional products made us a regular recommendation on Top Franchise Opportunities lists.

Since then we have spread to locations around the country. Woopsters have also opened standalone shops in other bustling retail areas. Learn more about available territories and startup costs.

WHAT COVID-19 REVEALED ABOUT WOOPS!

Most franchises tend to focus on only the brightest parts of their history. But when things are hard, it can tell you a lot about a brand. And 2020 was hard. Our franchisees were faced with an unprecedented pandemic that shuttered stores. How we all responded — together — demonstrates the strength of our brand and our people.

WOOPS! debuted in 2012 and quickly began attracting entrepreneurs eager to open locations.

When COVID-19 shutdowns hit in March 2020, WOOPS! faced a crisis. At the time, nearly all sales came from foot traffic in high density retail areas or malls. And many of our locations were in New York, which endured some of the longest shutdowns in the country.

We took several steps to protect franchisees. The biggest one was simply allowing franchisees to exit their franchise agreements so they could protect their personal assets and limit losses. As a franchisor, that meant giving up a ton of future royalties. We took a big financial hit — but it was the right thing to do.

We began evolving our business model by putting a greater emphasis on two areas: experiential sales and the corporate gifting market. We also invested heavily in digital marketing strategies to increase online search visibility for franchisees’ locations, online ordering systems to benefit from our enhanced online visibility through online sales, reputation management systems to improve the customer experience and help gather online reviews, influencer campaigns tailored to individual markets, and coaching to help franchisees master it all.

For the franchisees who chose to stick it out, the result has been double-digit sales growth, a jump in the average sales ticket, and new revenue streams to complement their growing onsite sales.

MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY

Retail bakeries generate billions in sales each year, but the retail storefront is just the tip of the icing for WOOPS! franchisees. Companies, organizations, friends and families spend billions every year to send food gifts. Franchisees' ability to tap into the gifting market is what turns a good franchise opportunity into a great one.

TWO POWERFUL WAYS TO GROW REVENUE AND ROI

Half of American consumers give food as gifts, according to Packaged Facts' Consumer and Corporate Food Gifting in the U.S., 7th Edition. Food gifters love buying their friends and family unique indulgences to enjoy and remember.

French Macarons are colorful, they taste amazing, and millions of Americans are still discovering them. Everything about WOOPS! is designed to invite customers in and help them experience — and share — a new affordable luxury.

Food gifts are a tradition around many holidays, and WOOPS! has developed marketing programs and packaging to help franchisees reach customers are looking for gifts for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, Hannukah, Ramadan, Diwali, Easter, and many others — as well as special events like weddings and baby showers. Throughout the year, our customers have plenty to celebrate. We help them put a special touch on those celebrations.

Barriers to entry

From a business standpoint, it’s also important to know that making great macarons is tricky. It’s one reason few bakeries carry macarons. They’re incredible products, but making them requires several steps, and the margin for error is tiny. WOOPS! solved this challenge by developing our own recipes, making the macarons in a dedicated bakeshop, and flash-freezing them so they can be distributed fresh to franchisees.

Bruno Alves, a former Unilever executive who led the Gallo olive oil brand in Brazil before immigrating to the United States, discovered WOOPS! while shopping at Natick Mall in Boston. He now owns four locations.

Alves was familiar with macarons and knew how hard they are to make. He was stunned by the quality that WOOPS! was able to provide customers.

“Macarons are really difficult to translate into a business model like a kiosk in the mall, so I understood WOOPS! was doing something worth exploring. It was not something that is easy to replicate. There are some entry barriers for potential competitors,” he says. “And I loved the brand, the product, the style, the design. The branding was very strong. And the investment risk was not bad, especially for the potential ROI.”

Retail sales generate most of the revenue for WOOPS! franchisees, but since 2020, we have been growing our presence quickly in the corporate gifting market.

Companies and other organizations were expected to spend $242 billion on gifts by the end of 2021, and that number is expected to increase to $306 billion by 2024, according to GiftNow, an e-commerce platform that helps organizations manage gift-giving programs.

Millions of companies nationwide use gift-giving programs to strengthen their businesses. Unique and memorable gifts make customers and employees feel appreciated; they make corporate events more enjoyable; they build loyalty; and they can be used to earn a conversation with a prospect and convert them into a customer.

But a lot of corporate gifts are boring. Corporate-branded USB storage sticks… logo-emblazoned stress balls… coffee mugs… uninspired gift cards. If you are like us, you have a junk drawer full of these types of gifts. You might have used the gift cards, but do you even remember who gave them? If the No. 1 goal of corporate gifts is to make a positive impression, these types of gifts fail.

By contrast, WOOPS! makes a strong impression. Our macarons are delightful and downright decadent. They can be personalized to the tastes of the recipient. They can include the sender's logo on the package (or on the macaron). And they definitely won’t wind up in the junk drawer.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

For Woopsters, there are three core activities that help drive profitability.

Providing an experiential sales experience to customers
Stepping away from the counter to build offsite sales
Enjoying the benefits of scale by opening multiple units

Let’s take a deeper look at each.

3 ways to grow your business

WOOPS! is in the luxury retail category. While our products offer a great value, they’re not cheap. Instead, the value comes from excellence and from the way Woops! makes customers feel.

Think, for a moment, about two different experiences: visiting a grocer to buy wine versus attending a wine-tasting at a vineyard or specialty wine store.

At the former, you wander an aisle, looking for something that catches your eye, studying labels, hoping you choose well. Unless you are an educated enthusiast, you’re either going to buy an established brand or make a wild guess. In either case, it’s purely transactional.

With a wine-tasting, you start out with a guide who starts a conversation about you. “Do you prefer dry reds? Earthy or peppery flavors? Sweet dessert wines? Floral bouquets? Will you be sharing this with friends? Is it for a specific meal?” Then they recommend some wines, provide small samples, ask about what you like, and sometimes make additional recommendations. At the end of the experience — if you’re like us — you wind up walking away with far more bottles than you ever purchase at the grocery.

WOOPS! kiosks are gorgeous, and they will draw customers in, but sales thrive when franchisees and their employees deliver a white glove, “wine-tasting” customer experience.

If customers haven’t experienced a French macaron before, we introduce them to the sweet, meringue-based treats filled with buttercream, jam, or ganache. Franchisees carry up to 16 flavors at any time, and by pairing different flavors together, customers can experience a full flavor journey similar to a wine flight. Perhaps they would enjoy a caramel fleur de sel, followed by a dark chocolate macaron and an espresso macchiato? Or a blueberry cheesecake paired with a lemon tart, a honey lavender, and a raspberry?

But experiential selling isn’t just about the product. It’s also about the customer. What are they celebrating? Are they looking to treat themselves, to share a unique gift with a friend, or to thank a client? By asking questions and listening, we can make recommendations that create sensory journeys that customers savor.

We train franchisees on how to deliver this experience. And we are continually building resources to help franchisees effectively provide this knowledge to their employees. Since we started this training, we’ve seen strong increases in kiosk sales.

The corporate gifting market continues to grow quickly. Loop Commerce, which manages platforms focused on corporate gift-giving, commissioned a study in 2020 that showed 54% of companies planned to increase their corporate gift giving over the next two years.

WOOPS! is a perfect gift-giving option for companies and organizations. In each territory, you will find hundreds — often thousands — of potential customers. Franchisees drive sales growth by networking with local business groups and through effective prospecting. We help franchisees develop a game plan for growing this part of their business. Considering that a corporate gifting customer can easily spend hundreds of dollars at a time, this can be a very lucrative part of the business.

WOOPS! provides a memorable way for corporate gifters to celebrate their clients, employees, vendors, and partners. We have worked with:

We also work with community groups, including schools, to assist with fundraisers.

WOOPS! locations are inexpensive to start and simple to run — which makes it easy to own and manage multiple locations and build a bigger brand footprint in your community.

The kiosks don’t require any cooking — just a freezer to store the flash-frozen treats and a refrigeration unit to keep them cool and fresh once thawed. You typically have only one person at the kiosk at any time, for a total of 84 hours a week. Employees are mostly high school and college students. Training is simple. Inventory management is simple. We iron out as many complexities as possible at the corporate level so that franchisees can concentrate on providing a great guest experience and building relationships with companies and organizations that are interested in partnering with Woops! for events, gifting programs, and fundraisers.

Thanks to the simplicity of the business model, franchisees who train dependable employees to work their kiosks can spend a lot of their time building the business.

Bruno Alves, who owns four locations in Boston, says the key to growth is to focus from the beginning on systems so your employees can run the kiosks. That way, you won’t be spending too many hours behind the counter yourself. Instead, you should be focused on hiring and training your team, building a great culture in your organization, and extending the brand into the community by participating in events and visiting potential large customers to introduce them to your products and services.

Alexandra Villegas, who owns a kiosk in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, says she has grown her business in part by donating towers of macarons to charitable events. It’s a great way to support the community while also getting great exposure for the brand. Fundraiser attendees tend to be financially successful, and they are often business leaders themselves. When they see the colorful tower of macarons and taste the confections, they often become customers.