QualityStocks today announces the availability of a new audio interview with Joey Parsi, founder and chief executive officer of Giggles N’ Hugs, Inc. (OTCQB: GIGL). The interview can be heard at www.QualityStocks.net/interview-gigl.php.
Parsi kicks off the interview with a description of the Giggles N’ Hugs business concept — a truly family-oriented restaurant and play space. Parsi likens the model to Chuck E. Cheese, but notes a gamut of differences that makes Giggles N’ Hugs the first-of-its-kind.
Rather than processed pizzas and other foods, for example, Giggles N’ Hugs features premium, organic and healthy food options for kids and adults, as well as high-end entertainment, activities and play areas vs. arcades and video games at Chuck E Cheese and other “family” restaurants.
“We’re all the things that Chuck E. Cheese would dream of being, but is not. We allow parents to come in and sit and eat and relax while the kids get to run around in an incredible giant play area in the middle of the restaurant … every half hour there’s an activity; magic shows, puppet shows, music shows, concerts, face painting, karaoke … so the kids are entertained and bonding with their parents,” says Parsi.
Parsi then describes the background of his management team, which Parsi describes as some of the most “astute restaurateurs in the country if not the world,” and advisory board, and how their combined experiences are driving the company’s rapid growth.
“When we launched our first store back in 2008 in a little strip mall … here in Los Angeles, we never though the concept would be as big and huge as it’s become. In fact, it started pretty quickly, dynamically. The first day that we opened our store we had several hundred people in line to get in, and we had NBC News and Fox News there to interview me because word had gotten out about this new restaurant concept that was coming to the rescue of all parents who had toddlers,” he says. “Since that first launch we’ve been fortunate and lucky to be able to count some of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood as our customers.”
Buzz of the Giggles N’ Hugs concept continued to spread nationwide, garnering the company a stellar list of media coverage, including in the Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, New York Times and many more.
Giggles N’ Hugs also started getting interest from Westfield, one of the biggest mall landlords in the U.S. Westfield paid Giggles N’ Hugs a significant amount of money to help with construction costs, and drastically reduced the company’s rent. What the mall wanted was foot traffic.
“[The landlords’] lifeblood and their model … is dependent on foot traffic. Recognizing that Giggles N’ Hugs delivers significant foot traffic to the mall because of our birthday parties … they asked us to come into one of the premier malls I think in the country … where we opened our second location,” says Parsi.
Following the success of the second location, Westfield requested Giggle N’ Hugs in every one of its locations throughout the United States — 55 malls in total. The request led to the third location, and has sparked similar requests from several additional malls in the country.
Parsi further details the insurmountable interest from landlords and mall owners nationwide, before interview host Stuart Smith mentions the incredible revenue growth the company has achieved in recent quarters. Revenue for 2014 increased 48% to $3.3 million, while first-quarter revenue increased 11% year-over-year to $0.9 million.
Concluding the interview, Parsi discusses significant and exciting domestic and international growth and franchise opportunities for the Giggles N’ Hugs brand.
For more information, visit www.gigglesnhugs.com
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