Franchise Update Magazine Issue II, 2012 | Page 13

CEO
profile: Rallying for Growth
Checkers embarks on aggressive expansion

R

ick Silva developed a passion and understanding for
business early in life. The
son of Cuban immigrants,
he watched his mom and dad start their
own small business from scratch in
Miami. He learned about customers,
competition, inventory, procedures and
processes. Most of all, he learned about
hard work and dedication.
“Watching my parents run that business taught me a real passion for operating a business and being successful,”
says the 46-year-old Silva—key charName: Rick Silva
Title: CEO, President
Company: Checkers Drive-In
Restaurants
Brands: Checkers and Rally’s
Units: More than 800
Age: 46
Family: Wife Lisa (20 years), children
Michael, 18, and Jessica, 16
Years in franchising: 18
Years in current position: 5

acteristics that are aiding his tenure as
president and CEO of Checkers Drive-In
Restaurants, which includes more than
800 Checkers and Rally’s restaurants
in the U.S.
Silva has been at the helm of Checkers since early 2007. That’s when he was
lured away from his management position
at Burger King by the leadership style
and philosophies of the private equity
group that had just purchased Checkers.
“I liked the way they operated and
the vision they had,” he says. “They
were interested in processes and procedures and measured results, but also in
the people and products that it took to
achieve goals and be successful.”
His 13 years at Burger King taught
him a lot about succeeding in franchising. He had served as president of
Burger King’s Latin America region, and
as senior vice president, U.S. company
operations, where he oversaw more than
600 company restaurants. During his
final years with Burger King, as senior
vice president, franchise operations,
he oversaw more than 3,300 franchise
restaurants.
Silva hit the ground running at Checkers and hasn’t looked back. He says one
of the organization’s core values under
his leadership has been: “Have the courage to be bold and grow.” He and his
team work hard to live up to that standard every day.
When he arrived at Checkers, Silva
evaluated his management team and decided to bring in some new executives
because, as he says, “The number-one
key to success is a great management
team.” Another characteristic of his
leadership style is setting high standards.
He says people can achieve more than
they think they can. He is not afraid to
set lofty goals because he believes that
challenges individuals to do whatever
necessary—even change their entire

approach—to reach those goals.
During the past five years, Silva has
implemented new systems and processes
that have increased system efficiencies,
enhanced the menu, and driven growth
at Checkers. Under his leadership, the
brand has doubled its late-night business
from 10 to 20 percent of sales; added
wings and desserts to their burger-driven
menu; and developed multiple building
formats to allow franchisees to open new
restaurants in new trade areas with less
investment and higher returns. And,
says Silva, the brand’s guest satisfaction
scores have increased every year since
he arrived and are at an all-time high.
Checkers is now on the edge of significant expansion. At just over 800 locations, the brand is aggressively looking
for new operators and fast growth in
many major markets across the country.
“The big chains are already saturated
in most of these cities, but we’re just
getting started,” he says. “The time
is right because our customers tell us
they love our food but need locations
closer to them.”
And just how many Checkers locations would Silva like to see down the
road? “Three thousand,” he says. After
all, as he also says, “Have the courage
to be bold and grow.”

Grow Market Lead

By Kerry Pipes

Leadership
What is your role as CEO? To focus

on providing the vision and strategic
direction for our growth.
Describe your leadership style: I’m a

strong leader with very open and direct
communication.
How do you transmit your culture
from your office to front-line employees? It starts with the corporate values

we adopted and live by every day and

Franchiseupdate I ssue I I , 2012 

11