Spudbar has appointed food retail franchising expert Simon McNamara as a business partner. 

The concept was developed in 2000 offering baked potatoes with gourmet toppings.

McNamara was founder and MD of Viva Juice, a company he sold to Boost, becoming CEO. He is also a founding shareholder of burger business, Grill’d.

Spudbar CEO Kirsten Roberts said she was delighted to announce McNamara's appointment and is gearing up for a busy year.

“I am very excited to be working alongside someone with such proven abilities as Simon, and welcome the opportunity to tap into his experience as Spudbar embarks upon this period of rejuvenation and growth,” Roberts said.

McNamara will assist with implementing new initiatives that will increase year on year same store sales in 2009-10 by 30 per cent. Spudbar is also aiming to double the number of stores from 13 in the next 12 to 18 months.

Operations in existing locations across Victoria, Western Australia and New Zealand will increase and Spudbar will expand into the NSW and Queensland markets.

“My experience with Boost taught me that to really succeed in franchising, you need more than a product and service offer that consumers love and return to time and time again. You need a simple business model that offers good operators strong and predictable profit margins.” said McNamara.

Current sales see Spudbar using close to 200 tonnes of spuds per year, and McNamara sees an opportunity to expand on the spud theme, with new menu items currently being trialed that will offer more variety and cater to more sophisticated tastes.

"These things matter and they contribute to success, particularly in the rapidly growing ‘fast casual’ category where Spudbar fits. Customers want exciting meal options that are healthy and reasonably priced. And franchisees want a profitable business they can grow and that allows them to live the life they want to lead,” he said.