Atlanta based Raving Brands has sold two more of its shrinking concept array. Planet Smoothie, founded by Martin Sprock in 1995 has now grown to 128 locations as well as Shane's Rib Shack founded in 2002 by Shane Thompson and purchased in 2004 by Raving Brands were both sold. The buyer, Edmonds Capital, will run the concepts under a new subsidiary, Petrus Brands Inc. Raving is now left with Bonehead's Piri Piri Chicken, Monkey Joe's, Doc Greens Salads and The Flying Biscuit Cafe as its four remaining concepts. Both Bonhead's and Doc Greens were billed as the next Moe's with word of hundreds of franchise agreements, though nowhere near those numbers have come to fruition. Together the two concepts, both developed by Raving, have a under 25 locations, years after their inception. Aside from the Flying Biscuit, a concept that has performed well locally, as well as at its more recent location in Charlotte, the remaining concepts are pretty pathetic. The problem I see with The Flying Biscuit is that Raving is ruining everything that made it such a cool, fun eatery ; its character. The original location in Candler Park and to a lesser degree their subsequent location in Midtown were part of the neighborhood, and not generic. Their more recent locations, Terminus for instance does quite well, possibly even the best but it sits in the bottom of a parking deck in the middle of Buckhead. This is as "cookie cutter" a location as you can get. Similarly, their East Cobb location took the space of a former Donatos and Mama Fu's, another cookie cutter. While it may do well in the short run, its the character of the site that will sustain the restaurant. There is word from within Raving that a new concept will be launched by the fourth quarter of this year in an un-named category, most likely not pizza as former Moe's exec. Matt Andrew just opened Maddio's Pizza in Toco Hills. Repeat Atlanta!
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