FriesDAO is closing in on its first restaurant purchase.
The group, which managed to raise over $5 million via an initial token offering in the spring of 2022, has identified a boba tea/frozen yogurt store in New York City that it describes as an “absentee store (no daily owner operation needed).” The group says the location is currently profitable.
To make the deal even more interesting, the FriesDAO team says “a very popular NFT collection” has offered to give the group full support with possible partnership implications if the DAO chooses to brand a store with the NFT. In a post on Snapshot, FriesDAO explains that partnering up with the NFT collection (which they do not name) is attractive because, in part, any commercial revenue restrictions from the NFT license would be removed.
“This would potentially allow us to own the store directly, explore and set our own policies, increase community engagement through creative endeavors, and possibly start our own franchise.”
Over the past six months, the group has been sifting through various proposals with mixed success. In a previous announcement, FriesDAO disclosed they had been in discussions with an operator of a Jersey Mike’s franchise to buy its location, but the deal fell through once the operator backed out.
The DAO now looks like it’s found a purchase target. After getting nearly unanimous consent from backers via an online poll, the DAO is planning to send a Letter of Intent (LOI) today, FriesDAO advisor Bill Lee told The Spoon.
If the deal (which will cost about $165 thousand) goes through, I’ll be curious to learn which NFT collection the group has been in discussions with. The success of Bored & Hungry has shown that branding a restaurant with a popular NFT can add buzz and drive customer visits.
The group’s choice of a boba tea spot makes sense, since spin-up costs for new locations are likely to be much lower than that of a traditional fast food joint. Lower capex costs could help accelerate expansion should the DAO move forward with an NFT-branded franchise model.
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