Industry Restaurant Headquarters Grand Blanc Township Number of locations 65 (2013) Type of business Private LLC | Area served Central Michigan Founded 1987 Number of employees 1,200 | |
Founder Louis Dortch Sr.
Louis Dortch Jr. Key people Louis Dortch Sr., Chairman
Louis Dortch Jr., President/CEO
Polly Dortch, marketing director
Matt Barcey, Vice President Services restaurant equipment repair Owner Louis Dortch Sr.
Louis Dortch Jr. | ||
Dortch Enterprises (DE) is a company in the restaurant business as a Subway multiunit franchise operator and formerly owned the Halo Burger chain. Dortch is only one of 38 out of the 17,000 Subway franchisees worldwide that owns 40 or more locations.
History
The Louis Dortch family started out in the dry cleaning business with Troy Cleaners, now owned by other family members. Louis Dortch Sr. and Louis Dortch Jr. decided to expand from the dry cleaning business and opened a Flint Subway location in 1987. The duo followed with four more location in 13 months.
The company also became a franchisee of Qdoba Mexican Grill. Their first Qdoba was opened in Grand Blanc in 1998. An additional 14 locations in Genesee, Oakland, and Wayne counties would be built by 2008. In November 2008, Qdoba purchased Dortch's franchised locations. With the increasing number of Subways in the state and the sale of the Qdoba franchise, Dortch looked for another brand to expand in Michigan. Dortch originally settled on being a Sonic Drive-In franchisee.
By 2010, DE owned 40 Subway locations. Dortch Enterprises had negotiated for property for a Sonic location in Dearborn and had Planning Commission approval for a Livonia Sonic location in March 2010. At the end of 2010, Dortch purchased the nine location Halo Burger chain for about $10 million which led to them ending their Sonic franchisee.
In 2011, Dortch Subway Groups opened three more locations by June. In August 2012, Dortch filed and received approval for a site plan for a joint Halo Burger-Subway location on Belsay Road in Burton.
2013 was a building blitz year for Halo Burger with nine more locations under constructions with three opening by October, one of which was the joint Halo Burger-Subway location.
While Dortch Subway Groups was up to 65 locations in October 2013 for a net gain of 22 locations from 2011. By October 2014, Dortch moved their Milford and Highland Subway stores to new locations at both ends of Milford. The two stores were opened in 2004 and later purchased by Dortch with the understanding that both would have to be moved. Dortch Enterprises sold the 15 location Halo Burger chain to Halo Country LLC in January 2016.