IN A RUSH
By Chris Wadsworth
Daryn Allday has a fitting last name – because this busy businessman and entrepreneur is on the go all day long.
Not only is he a husband and a father to three kids, but he also is the local franchisee for the Rush Bowls restaurant brand. He and his wife, Michelle, own the franchised açai bowl and smoothie shops in the Brambleton Town Center and the Ashbrook Commons shopping center, both in Ashburn.
The couple, who live in Willowsford, also own two local Hotworx fitness centers – also franchised – in Ashburn and South Riding.
With so many regional and national franchise brands coming into Loudoun County, we wanted to find out more about the pros and cons of life as a franchisee, so we rang up Allday for a chat. Here are excerpts from our conversation.
Q: Why did you decide to go the franchise route when it came to opening a business?
“I had sold my home healthcare company, and we knew we wanted to stay in the health and wellness space. We were looking for something and Hotworx came across the table – and my wife’s theory was, ‘Let’s do something turnkey.’ Same thing when it came to Rush Bowls.”
Q: What do you mean by “turnkey”?
“Operationally, you don’t have to think. They give you a list of what you need to order. If I had opened an açai bowls store on my own, I would have had to figure out, ‘Do I need this freezer? Do I need this cooler? Do I need this fridge?’ Instead, they give you the list of what you need.”
Q: I understand they kind of give you a roadmap to follow from the store’s design all the way to opening day and beyond.
“They help you with your buildout. We give them the details about the space, and they have an architect who does the layout. Checklists for opening and closing, shift changes, all the documents that you would have to create on your own, they provide. There are a lot of benefits – if you don’t have the time to create everything from scratch, everything is ready for you.”
Q: Menus at chain brands are always changing with new specials. Is that part of the attraction?
“Rush Bowls is great at staying on top of trends. In August, we rolled out cold-brewed coffees. We had never had coffee in the store before, but it was a request from multiple franchisees, so now the company has a partnership with La Colombe coffee, and we are offering four different cold-brewed coffees. Over the summer, they offered Rush Revivers. Those were our infused lemonades that we hadn’t had in the past and they did really well.”
Q: Are there any drawbacks to being a franchisee?
“The biggest drawback for me is that you are paying to use their name and you are paying for what they teach you – but two or three years down the road, you’ve probably learned everything you can, but you’re still paying them. I think that is something that people could get frustrated with – but you just need to understand it – that’s what you signed up for.”
Q: What about people who say they would rather support a mom-and-pop business versus a big brand?
“We’re 100% a mom-and-pop. The only thing that is different between us and a mom-and-pop is the name and the fees we pay. We are still a locally owned business. We’ve lived here almost 14 years. My wife and I both work at the stores. You can come in on any given day and see us there. Our kids are in local schools. My daughter plays volleyball and swims for the community swim team every summer.”
Q: You have two Rush Bowls already and you’re planning at least three more under your agreement with the franchisor. Why is having multiple stores important?
“People think you own a business so you must make a lot of money. That’s not always the case. We go through the same struggles everybody else does. One store will have a good day, while another store has a bad day. It’s not always glorious. I bought all of Loudoun County for Rush Bowls as our exclusive territory because I believe in the product and I knew that we were going to need more than one location to support our family and long-term have something of value.”
Q: You opened your first Hotworx in 2021 and your first Rush Bowls in 2024, so you’re several years into this franchising world. Has it been worth it?
“Whether it’s Hotworx or Rush Bowls, we are providing something that’s beneficial to the community, and I think that’s really the joy that Michelle and I get out of it.”