There’s more cooking at Famous Toastery these days than just breakfast and lunch dishes. The Charlotte-based restaurant chain has ambitious expansion plans locally and beyond.
 
Corporate sources say that besides eyeing the Wilmington and Leland areas, Famous Toastery is looking for new spots in metro markets across North Carolina and in neighboring states.
 
“We’re expanding greatly within the Carolinas and in Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida,” CEO and founder Robert Maynard said last week, noting that most new restaurants will develop through franchises. “We put franchising on hold for a while because we had opened so many restaurants we wanted to make sure we could support those people. We haven’t signed a franchise agreement since 2017.”
 
When Famous Toastery was ready to grow again, the pandemic hit, postponing those plans. But the time has arrived to resume expansion through franchise sales, Maynard said.
 
Wilmington’s sole Famous Toastery, at 6722 Wrightsville Avenue, has done “extremely well,” Maynard said, even though it’s larger than the 3,200-square-foot size that the chain considers ideal for its model.
 
“There’s an amazing franchisee there, Joe Kloiber,” he added. “There are a couple of locations we can still put in the area. We’re just looking for the right spots.”
 
Maynard declined to say whether Kloiber would expand his franchise or another franchisee would enter the market here. Regardless, a new location or two will likely be announced this year, he said.
 
Famous Toastery, launched in 2005 by Maynard and lifelong friend Brian Burchill, now boasts 24 restaurants – most in the Charlotte metro area. The menu features breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes, with everything made in-house.
 
“We make our own salad dressing; we roast our own turkey, and we don’t buy nitrate-filled turkey,” Maynard said. “The quality of our food is as high as you can get. We are the antithesis of the greasy spoon.”
 
There will be some “new and exciting” menu changes coming in a couple of months, he added.
 
One Famous Toastery hallmark that won’t change is the fact that the serving staff serves any table that needs help, rather than a staffer being assigned to particular tables. Or, as Maynard said, “Everybody standing is working for everybody sitting.”