Vancouver-based Browns Socialhouse Ltd. opened its second U.S. franchise last weekend and is in expansion mode with 11 potential restaurant deals in the works, the 16-location chain’s director of marketing Mark Majewski told Business in Vancouver May 15.
The two U.S. locations are branded Scotty Browns Restaurant and are in Bellingham with the new restaurant being at the town’s airport.
“The most recent Canadian opening was in Lynn Valley in November,” Majewski said. “It’s exceeded all of our expectations.”
Rapid expansion has long been the goal of owner Scott Morison, who co-founded Cactus Club Café with Richard Jaffray in 1988 and then sold his stake in that venture for $4 million in 2005.
Morison separately owns Cats Socialhouse on Granville Island.
He told Business in Vancouver in 2009, when Browns had nine locations, that he wanted to expand Browns to 400 stores.
Morison founded Browns a year before he sold his Cactus Club stake. His activity with Browns created friction between him and Jaffray.
Jaffray sued Morison in late 2009 for fashioning Browns after the Cactus Club. As part of that suit, Jaffray claimed that Morison acted “secretly and/or in bad faith” when he founded Browns in 2004.
Morison also faced a lawsuit in 2009 from Marsh Holdings Ltd., William Marsh and Jennifer Marsh, who had bought a franchise in Yaletown and claimed that he misrepresented how well the business would perform.
Morison countersued, alleging that the Marshes failed to pay royalties and did not follow aspects of Browns’ formula such as having black linen napkins, the correct menu or approved suppliers as outlined in the franchise agreement.
Of the 14 Browns Socialhouse-branded locations, 13 are in B.C. and one is in Regina. The 11 potential restaurants in the works are in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan.
