Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue I, 2014 | Page 36

MEGA

went along as director of operations.
When Scott’s sold out to PepsiCo, he
stayed again, as operations director. After
spending time as a division training leader
in Dallas for KFC Corp., he was given
an opportunity to work for Restaurant
Systems in Springfield, Mo., which had
started building KFC restaurants there.
“The only way I’d go, I told them,
was if they gave me a chance at sweat
equity, and they agreed,” Treadwell says.
After opening 18 KFCs across Texas, he
became president of the company and a
full partner with the owner. When his
partner decided to retire, they sold off
18 stores and Treadwell used his share
to buy him out. Treadwell was left with
about 3 dozen restaurants, and in the late
1990s formed Treadwell Enterprises,

“If I’d done it
just for the
money,
I’d have been
bored long ago.
I do it for the
fun.”
which today has nearly 100 restaurants
encompassing five brands across eight
states.
If all that sounds like hard work, it
was, Treadwell says, but there’s more to
it for him than the bottom line. “I get up
every day excited about what I’m going

to do today to improve the business or
different restaurants. I get a kick out of
it. If I’d done it just for the money, I’d
have been bored long ago. I do it for the
fun. I love what I do and I have a great
team,” he says.
Treadwell, still going strong at 65, says
his favorite thing to do outside the office
is to take exotic fishing trips on the Amazon River, and offers his own “formula”
for building a successful multi-unit business. “I’ve always thought that the trick to
this business is to have three restaurants.
After you’ve done your homework, you
can make a living from one, grow from
the second, and do remodels and new
equipment purchases out of the third,”
he says. “But you’ve got to enjoy it or it
won’t be successful.”

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: $100 million.
2014 goals: 3+ percent increase in sales.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? I look at the
performance (sales and profits) of each individual restaurant.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
My long-term goals are to continue to acquire solid performing restaurants.
How is the current economy affecting you, your employees,
your customers? The soft economy has affected me, my employees, and
our customers significantly. Customers are not making unnecessary purchases.
They are looking for value, which means that we must offer menu items they
consider to be a value.
Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? We operate in multiple markets. Our company as a whole is trending negative for the
current year [2013], but we do have several locations that are experiencing
growth this year.
What did you change or do differently during the economic
downturn that you are continuing to do? We became more aggressive from a value-to-our-consumer perspective, reduced overhead, and implemented tighter management controls of every aspect of our business. We are
more aggressive today in controlling labor costs and food and paper costs than
we ever have been before.
How do you forecast for your business? We review sales daily and
analyze prior trends compared to known events in the future.
Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? Yes, investors
and banks have been yield-starved for a long time and are now putting their
sidelined cash to work. This is creating a very strong environment for operators
to grow their business in.

34

Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue I, 2014

Where do you find capital for expansion? Banks and large lending
institutions.
Have you used private equity, local banks, national banks,
other institutions? Why/why not? We have used all of the above.
Early on we used local banks because we had a relationship with them and it
was easier to tell our story and get things accomplished. As we grew, it became
easier to attract large national banks to our business as well as private equity.
The larger the institution, the larger the deal they are looking to do.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? Our employees are the greatest assets to our business. We strive to ensure that their
safety, health, and overall well-being are first and foremost. We offer competitive compensation packages and take time to make sure that each employee
knows how much their effort is appreciated.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, healthcare, etc.)? Employee costs are increasing exponentially. Because of this we
hold all levels of our team accountable for controlling these costs on a daily
basis and are constantly looking for ways to streamline our business and reduce
our costs. Healthcare costs have created many challenges for the restaurant,
and I suspect will continue to do so over the next several years. The larger the
employer, the more costly it is.
How do you reward/recognize top-perf