Wienerschnitzel • Cedar Park

Wienerschnitzel • Cedar Park

Written by Shannon Colletti Saturday, 07 July 2007

California natives bring hot dog franchise east

“We didn’t want to work for anyone else,” said Jennifer Jones, co-owner of two Wienerschnitzel franchises in Cedar Park and Austin. “And we just kind of stumbled upon Wienerschnitzel.”

The Orange County native grew up around the popular hot dog franchise, which began as a single stand in California 46 years ago. Now, 340 franchises are located in 10 states.

In 1994, Jennifer moved to Austin with her future husband, Jason Jones, and his brother, Michael Qualls, who were both studying economics and business at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to buying the franchise, Jennifer worked at a surgical center, Jason ran a mini-storage center and Qualls was an administrator for a construction company.

In the spring of 1999, they decided to buy a restaurant, specifically a Wienerschnitzel. At the time, the nearest franchise was in Killeen, some 75 miles away, and they recognized a need in the Austin market.

“We were all huge fans of Wienerschnitzel and were familiar with them,” Jennifer said. “It’s very popular in California, and there was brand recognition here.”

She said they shied away from opening a mom-and-pop restaurant because the failure rate is typically high. They were determined to go with an established company.

The team decided to build from the ground up, figuring the cost of a pre-existing structure isn’t that much lower. Construction began in March 2000, and that June the first Austin-area Wienerschnitzel opened its doors in Cedar Park.

“I remember it being blood, sweat and tears,” Jennifer said. “It was pretty stressful, but we were confident. When we first opened, we were so busy, our [customers’ cars] blocked Whataburger’s entrance. It was exciting that people were so interested and so willing to wait an hour to get through the drive-thru.”

In November 2003, they opened a second Wienerschnitzel restaurant in North Austin and hope to expand even more.

“Sixty percent of our customers are regular customers, so I know them personally,” she said. “I see a lot of faces that we’ve been seeing since we opened, and I’m on a first-name basis with them. A lot of places you go, [the employees] don’t even look at you. That makes me insane. Customer service is key to running a retail business, and people will come back if the service is good.”

How to buy a franchise

• Make contact with the company; see what you need to do to own a franchise and get approval.
• Get a credit check and find financing.
• Choose a location; the corporation doesn’t always do that for you.
• Construct the building, if necessary.
• Jump right in and expect periodic corporate evaluations.

Wienerschnitzel , 508 N. Bell Blvd. • Cedar Park • 336-3875, 2512 Braker Lane • Austin • 821-2747, www.wienerschnitzel.com