Perkins Restaurant and Bakery Franchise

Perkins began as a pancake house in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1958. Its original menu featured two dozen varieties of pancakes and waffles. In 1969, the business adopted the Perkins Cake & Steak name as lunch and dinner became part of the offering. The in-store bakery followed in 1986, adding the pies and baked goods that remain central to the restaurant experience. In 1988, Perkins opened its first Canadian restaurant in Thunder Bay, Ontario; the brand celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2018.

That evolution continues today. Perkins’ corporate history identifies a new flagship restaurant in 2025 with a refreshed menu and redesigned décor. The brand now combines all-day breakfast and comfort-food meals with a bakery offering that includes fruit and cream pies, cookies and Mammoth Muffins. Its published history describes nearly 300 company-owned and franchised restaurants across the United States and Canada; that is the brand’s stated network footprint, rather than a count of available franchise territories.

Perkins is an Ascent Hospitality Management brand. Its restaurant development materials describe both freestanding restaurants and an end-cap format that retains full-service dining in a smaller footprint. The separately promoted Griddle & Go concept is a fast-casual opportunity and should not be confused with the Restaurant & Bakery model featured here.

Perkins’ published Restaurant & Bakery training program provides owners, general managers and other key personnel with up to 10 weeks of preparation. Instruction covers daily restaurant operations, menu execution, purchasing and supplier relationships, inventory sourcing and recipe preparation. Trainees receive a confidential operations manual with policies and procedures, and the franchise development team remains available for questions. This is the program described on the brand’s support website; it does not establish a fixed attendance schedule or a promise that every participant attends for 10 weeks.

The brand also describes practical training in food preparation, staffing, customer service and financial management, with exposure to restaurant workflows and operating standards. Before opening, its development resources help owners evaluate locations using demographic and traffic information, coordinate restaurant design and construction, and prepare operations. Perkins also describes connections to approved contractors and architectural firms, plus assistance with equipment and signage ordering.

For launch, the published support program describes a New Store Opening team of up to 14 corporate trainers available for an accumulated 30 days before, during and after grand opening. These are the website’s stated limits, rather than a guarantee of 14 trainers on site for 30 consecutive days. Opening marketing and team preparation accompany this launch assistance.

After opening, franchisees work with a Franchise Area Director on operating guidance, performance analysis and troubleshooting. Continuing support includes field visits, operational check-ins, marketing collaboration and system updates. The restaurant resources described by Perkins include point-of-sale, security and software for accounting, payroll, scheduling, inventory and reporting. Marketing collateral, templates and promotional initiatives help owners present the brand locally. Corporate-owned restaurants provide places to test menu, technology and operational initiatives before wider introduction. The public materials reviewed do not specify trainee travel expenses, additional-attendee charges or recurring technology costs, so no free-training or all-inclusive-cost claim is made here.

Perkins offers a distinctive combination for an entrepreneur drawn to full-service hospitality: breakfast served throughout the day, a lunch and dinner menu, and a bakery within the same restaurant. That gives an owner several ways to welcome guests, from a family meal to a take-home pie, while building a local team around recognizable products and a consistent dining experience.

The ownership appeal is the opportunity to bring that established restaurant identity to a community with development resources, practical preparation and a continuing operational contact. Freestanding and end-cap development options provide different ways to plan a Restaurant & Bakery location. For a hands-on hospitality leader or an experienced restaurant group, Perkins offers a clear food-and-service concept to develop, with a history that connects its pancake-house beginnings to today’s dining and bakery offering.

For further reading, explore Perkins Franchise: Restaurant Model, Training and Ownership Questions.