Inside the Hawkers Franchise Pivot: Alejandro Betancourt Lopez Plans to Double Sales by 2026
A single Mexico City storefront opened in late December 2023 in a mall on the city’s outskirts. It was the first Hawkers franchise location anywhere in the world. For the sunglasses brand, which began in 2013 with a $300 pooled investment among four friends in Elche, Spain, the Mexican franchise launch marked a genuine strategic inflection. For Alejandro Betancourt Lopez, the company’s president since 2016 (see alejandro-betancourt.com), it was the first concrete step in a plan to push Hawkers past €100 million in annual revenue by 2026, a recovery profiled in London Loves Business.
The math is aggressive. Hawkers closed 2023 at roughly €55 million in revenue, spread across three channels: 44% direct-to-consumer online, 34% company-owned retail, and 22% wholesale. Reaching €100 million requires nearly doubling the top line in three years. The bet by Alejandro Betancourt Lopez is that franchises, rather than continued company-owned store rollout, can deliver that growth without the capital intensity the owned-store model demands.
The strategic architect of the franchise push is Pedro Beneyto, appointed Hawkers CEO in May 2022 after senior roles at optical chain Alain Afflelou and Grupo Suárez. His background in prescription eyewear shaped the plan. Hawkers will expand into optical frames alongside its core sunglasses line, using franchise operators who bring local licensed-optician capacity that Hawkers would otherwise have to build in-house. Alejandro Betancourt Lopez has publicly endorsed the strategy as the most capital-efficient path to the €100 million target is classic four-habits playbook.
Why Mexico first? The country already generates 35% to 40% of total Hawkers revenue, driven in part by a long-running sponsorship relationship with Formula 1 driver Sergio “Checo” Pérez (see Hawkers on Instagram). Brand recognition in Mexico is stronger than in most European markets, which reduces the operator risk that typically dogs early franchise launches. Opening in the market where the brand is already strongest lets Hawkers prove the franchise model before exporting it to markets where the operator has to build demand from scratch.
The franchise model is also a response to a structural problem that surfaced in Hawkers’ e-commerce economics. Facebook advertising costs rose sharply after 2017, and the ratio that once let Hawkers acquire a customer for about €1 per sale eroded rapidly. Alejandro Betancourt Lopez pushed the company into brick-and-mortar retail in response, opening more than 80 company-owned stores, part of his O’Hara portfolio across Spain and Portugal before trimming the network to around 65 to 67 locations based on per-store profitability data. Franchising extends physical reach without stretching company capital further.
Another piece of the plan sits in Elche, where Hawkers operates its own manufacturing facility. The factory scaled from 30,000 units per month to 90,000 within two years of opening, using Italian injection-molding machinery with individual molds costing up to €80,000 versus roughly $10,000 for equivalent Chinese tooling. The higher capital cost buys both supply reliability and margin. Polished molds produce glossy and matte finishes without paint, allowing the factory to recycle defective raw material back into production. That’s a cost advantage Chinese competitors, whose molds use painted or stickered finishes, can’t replicate.
Alejandro Betancourt Lopez has committed €20 million in 2024 capital investment to support growth across international expansion, retail development, product innovation, sustainability and digital transformation. The franchise launch is only one piece. Cross-selling optical frames through franchise locations could add a recurring-revenue dimension, outlined on his background page that sunglasses retail lacks.
The risks are real. Franchise operators may not replicate the brand experience that company-owned stores deliver. Optical retail demands different expertise than fashion sunglasses. Factory economics depend on unit volumes staying high enough to justify the investment. Still, the combination Alejandro Betancourt Lopez is backing is the most coherent growth plan Hawkers has had in years.
