The Melting Pot, which once had a presence in three Alabama cities, wants to take another crack at the state.

The fondue restaurant hopes to open restaurants in four markets here, and is looking for franchisees who can handle multiple locations.

Melting Pot Franchise Growth Strategist Collin Benyo said he would like to sign up at least one franchisee by the end of the year.

“We don’t necessarily need restaurant experience,” Benyo said. “When we’re looking for franchisees, we look for people who are passionate, intelligent, understand what we’re trying to do in the restaurant every night. That’s much of a high quality for us than experience.”

Founded in 1975, The Melting Pot has 95 restaurants in 30 U.S. states and Canada. The Melting Pot builds a dining experience around the social experience of fondue cooking, typically with a range of appetizer, entree and dessert courses. It inhabits a particular niche between fine dining and casual dining, as the company explains on its website.

But though the restaurant has a devoted following, its presence in Alabama evaporated just prior to the pandemic. The Melting Pot’s location in Mobile closed in 2017, Birmingham followed a year later, and the Huntsville restaurant in 2019.

“Some things happened that were outside of our control that pulled us away from Alabama, but we have our eyes focused on that state because we know what it means to be in that area,” Benyo said. “We still have a lot of fans in that area and we get a lot of inquiries from that area, so we know we have interested people there. We’re just looking for the right fit.”

The minimum liquid assets required of potential owners is $500,000.

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