Melting Pot pushing into Western Canada

VANCOUVER—Melting Pot restaurants, with more than 140 locations in the United States, is headed north.

The chain, which turns fondue in a dining experience, will open two locations in Vancouver, and one each in Calgary and Edmonton in over the next four years. Heidi Wagner is the owner and franchisee of the Canadian restaurants.

Melting Pot’s Edmonton location is set to open in early 2010, followed by Calgary in early 2011 and the Vancouver restaurants in 2012 and 2013.

“It is a unique, one of a kind culinary experience that our guests share as part of a special occasion,” said Melting Pot’s director of franchise sales, Dan Stone.

“They spend two or three hours there. It’s not a restaurant guests go to for just another meal.”

Stone said Canada is a natural step for the company’s expansion as many Canadians are familiar with the concept through visits to locations in Florida or other U.S. states.

"We looked at our long term growth strategy and realized the brand is in high demand with phenomenal reception outside of the U.S. Our research indicates that our restaurants do very well in colder climates,” Stone said.

Future expansion has the company moving into Ontario with locations in Toronto, Ottawa, London, Niagara Falls, and Hamilton and eventually into Quebec. However, no locations have actually been sold as of yet, Stone said.

Its most popular item, ordered by three-quarters of all guests, is the Big Night out, a four-course meal with cheese fondue available in a range of blends, choice of salad, entrée, and a fondue dessert. Entrees are served in one of four styles and an extensive wine and spirit list is also offered.

“It’s a lot of food and it’s a lot of fun. We get a lot of people who get engaged at the Melting Pot (and) Valentine’s Day is our biggest day of the year.”

Stone said Melting Pot differs in its expansion approach in that previous restaurant experience is not necessary in order to be considered as a franchisee. It is also a lower cost business option as there are no chefs in the kitchen.

In fact, there is a barely a kitchen at all. There are no cook tops, no fryers and no ovens. A prep area and a refrigerator to store ingredients have replaced them.

At the table, the server prepares the ingredients, but the guest does all the actual cooking on their own burner, so customer complaints are a rarity, Stone said. Food is cooked inside the fondue pot for 90-120 seconds.

Canada is the first international test for the Melting Pot, which has, plans to bring the concept global with locations in Japan, Dubai, South Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, China, India, Brazil and parts of Europe.

The company is looking for single or multiple unit franchisees in Canadian markets in cities with at least 350,000 in population.

“This is not a Tim Hortons where we can put them a few blocks from each other,” Stone said.

Brothers Mark, Mike and Bob Johnston started franchising Melting Pot restaurants in the mid 1980s after purchasing the company from the owner of the first location in Orlando, Florida.