Atlanta is Getting a Toastique Thanks to Air Force Veteran Nicole Wiley!
Toastique Gourmet Toast & Juice Bar has broken records and exceeded expectations nearly every month this year, but we’re not done yet! As the year begins to close, we still can’t wait to announce our final territories awarded this year and introduce you to a couple more of the newest Franchise Owners to join the Toastique franchise. This month, we’re excited to finally expand to a new market as our newest Franchisee, Nicole Wiley, begins the process of opening our first-ever Atlanta, Georgia location!
Meet Our First Georgia Franchise Owner, Nicole Wiley!
Nicole’s Military Service & Professional Background
Before she began considering franchising or how many career changes she would make in her journey, Nicole Wiley was an Officer in the United States Air Force for 25 years. After finally retiring and hanging up her uniform, she enjoyed retired life for a couple of years until she took up part-time work with an online-based accounting firm. It was at this time that the COVID-19 pandemic began, forcing her to work longer, busier hours than she’d planned. From there, she decided to look into full-time employment seriously, and she eventually joined the Federal Aviation Administration as an Aircraft Engineer Program Assistant.
While Nicole expressed how rewarding her day job has been since joining the FAA, she couldn’t help but feel like there was more that she could do – for both her family and her community. With grandchildren on the way, she believes that now is the time to create something lasting so she can set aside something more for the future generations of her family and contribute to her community in a more substantial way.
Moving Into Franchising & Choosing Toastique
After Nicole moved back into full-time work, she began to consider what alternatives existed that would allow her to build substantial, scalable wealth. Then, after experiencing her first acai bowl on a visit to Martha’s Vineyard in September of 2022 and craving it after returning home, Nicole realized there was a huge gap in her market. She was hungry for healthy alternatives during her daily commute but couldn’t find anything that satisfied that desire anywhere remotely close to either her home or work. This led her down a franchising rabbit hole, where she learned about a variety of different health-focused restaurant concepts, eventually delivering her to Toastique.“I don’t feel Toastique can fail, given the right location in this city, given their model, [and] given the look of the food. The taste is so great that I don’t feel it could fail, given the right market.”Since Nicole connected with our team, her dream of opening her own health-food restaurant has taken off. She already has ideas on how to be a valuable employer in the neighborhood she’s choosing for her location, and how to set up scholarships for local kids so she can make Toastique a recognized and loved name in the Atlanta metropolitan area!
The Tipping Point for Nicole
Nicole’s experience with Toastique is a familiar story but an exciting one nonetheless! After she chose to seriously consider our breakfast franchise as the means to bring healthy food to her corner of Atlanta, she dove into the process head first, eventually attending Approval Day.“[Before] Approval Day, I was 95% sure I wanted to do it. After that, I was 150% sure. The artistic design of the food – it looks appetizing! It makes you want to eat it and be in awe of it, like, ‘Wow! They did that? This is beautiful, let’s see how it tastes.’ [Also], the design of the restaurants looks so inviting, versus the other [franchises]. It looked so clean and modern [that] it gives you that peace when you walk in.”
Nicole fell in love with everything from our gourmet toast menu to the visual appeal of our brick-and-mortar locations. However, she also found herself pleasantly surprised by the entire Discovery Process, especially when compared to her disappointing conversations with other franchise brands she pursued and then abandoned. Our commitment to building trust with our Franchisees shined through her interactions with the Toastique team, ultimately giving her the confidence she needed to become our first Georgia Franchise Owner!
Chatting with Our Newest Franchise Owner!
As Nicole helps us break into the Atlanta healthy restaurant market, we can’t wait to see what she has in store for her new business. So, allow us to let Nicole speak for herself as we give you a sneak peek into some of what she had to say in our recent Q&A!
“Do you have any advice you would give to someone who was in your shoes and looking at franchise investment opportunities?”
Nicole: “My piece of advice would be to make sure you’re with a [franchise] that values you [and] respects you in the beginning. I feel that Toastique is giving me a lot of leeway with finding the location, whereas some other franchises really don’t.
But Toastique is letting you guide and run the show as opposed to some of the others [who] tell you, ‘This is where you need to be.’ I didn’t feel comfortable with that; if my location fails because I said, ‘I want to be here, this is where it needs to be,’ then it’s on me. I can accept that. If I fail because someone else told me where I should be, that would be a hard pill to swallow.”
“What are you looking forward to most about owning your Toastique?”
N: “I look forward to being in the restaurant, meeting people, pleasing people, [and] seeing the joy on their faces after they take a bite or two of the food or a sip of the juice. That’s immediate gratification, seeing the end result of your work right then and there; that’s rewarding to me. I [also] look forward to working with the community, to marketing, [and] getting out there, [and] maybe having some sort of collaboration with other businesses. I’m looking forward to all of that, [and] being an employer, [where] I’m out here providing jobs for other people. I’m looking forward to all of that.”
If you’re anything like Nicole and you’re looking for a new way to give back to your family and neighbors, then Toastique is looking for people like you! Franchisees with our business model get the opportunity to introduce a healthy, wellness-focused restaurant to their territories, all while creating lasting wealth and making an impact in their community! Take the first step today to become the next Franchise Owner with Toastique Gourmet Toast & Juice Bar by taking our quick, one-minute quiz now!