The road to franchising your restaurant is paved with good intentions. Amsterdam Falafel proprietors Scott and Arianne Bennett would know: “To be honest, I was thinking about [franchising] from day one,” says Scott. “We have a very franchisable model, so why not?”

But, four years ago, when the Bennetts set out to open up a second location on Capitol Hill, Scott broke his leg and plans were scrapped. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, he says,  since the intricate machinations of setting up a second shop weren’t really in place yet. “We were light years off.” Now, after careful coaching from FranPoint Partners, a sister falafel store is closer than ever before.

The Bennetts even have a location in mind: Boston. Although the D.C. pita moguls don’t know the area well, one promising franchise candidate was all it took to send them on a quick trip to Beantown. And the visit confirmed that Boston was a fit: “Lots of walking neighborhoods, kind of like our neighborhood,” says Arianne. “Families, tourists, very much a community.”

There are still issues to iron out, though. The would-be Bostonian owner is still looking for a property, meaning that other hopeful franchisees could very well be open before the store in Beantown. Still, at Amsterdam’s original location in Adams Morgan, a small jar on the counter sits with the following message: “Are you from Boston? The next Amsterdam Falafelshop is making tracks for Boston. If you live in that area, drop in a card and we’ll call you when we open.”

“Last time I checked, there were 31 cards,” Arianne says with a smile.

Photo via Flickr user joelogon using a Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License.