Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2013 | Page 27

M U L T I - B R A N D

Name: John “JD” Draper
Title: President of Operations
Company: V&J Holding

Companies, Inc.
No. of units: Pizza Hut, 61;
Burger King, 30; Auntie Anne’s,
24; Coffee Beanery, 6; Häagen
Dazs, 2; Edy’s, 2
Age: 62
Family: Wife Deborah, three

children, Angela, John (a
Wingstop franchisee), and Kristal,
and five grandchildren
Years in franchising: 42
Years in current position: 12

“You guys have
written a page
in history. Few
people have gone
through this tough
an economy.
These life skills
will be with you
the rest of your
life. Be proud.”

And he always concludes the glass is at
least half full.
Even when it comes to weathering
the economic downturn, he remains
encouraging with his teams: “You guys
have written a page in history. Few people
have gone through this tough an economy—it’s only the second worst in our
country’s history—and lived and managed through it. These life skills will be
with you the rest of your life. Be proud.”
When it comes to achieving goals,
Draper tells his teams: “Only if effort
turns to results did ‘try’ have anything
to do with it.”
And his favorite theme, and one big
reason he’s fondly known as “JD” throughout the industry: “If you’re not hospitable,
you’re in the wrong game.”

MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: Over time, I’ve created an award and named
it ABC, which stands for Accountability Balanced against Compassion. If
a person figures those things out, they can genuinely lead and manage
teams.
Management method or style: I’m a participatory manager. I like to get
everybody involved when we have time. Sometimes that complicates or oversimplifies a solution. When there’s not enough time for discussions or meetings,
I practice executive privilege.
Greatest challenge: Beating back negativity. It’s in everything we see and
do. The issue isn’t the problem—it’s how you look at the problem that helps
you solve it. It’s important for people to fight back the negativities within them,
because I believe that what’s inside will eventually come out and can hinder
you from being a better person.
How do others describe you? I think most people would say I’m positive, energetic, and very happy.
One thing I’m looking to do better: I put my life in four categories:
physical/health, mental, spiritual, and wealth. I list things I want to achieve
under each column and I work on them.
How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: I believe
in coaching and giving examples of life experiences to encourage my team. I
try not to tell them what do, but to say, “I remember…”
How close are you to operations? I’m very close, maybe too close, but
it’s my job.
What are the two most important things you rely on from your
franchisor? I’d like to see our franchisors lead in the categories of marketing
and training.
What I need from vendors: Value.
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the

economy? Not really. Our core focus has to be on great service, then great
products.
How is social media affecting your business? Social media is affecting our marketing in many ways as we use Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter.
How do you hire and fire? Hiring: Slowly, we do it real slow. When
we hire team members, we have a corporate policy—not mandated by the
franchisor—that we have orientation. Every employee, hourly or manager,
goes through it. We also do background checks and drug tests, depending on
the level of management and responsibility. Firing: We also work slowly on the
other end. If an employee is not doing well, they have an opportunity to raise
their concerns to a higher level in the organization. We don’t leave it all to the
shift manager. And we always wait 24 hours before any termination so that
cool heads prevail.
How do you train and retain? Thank God, we have franchisors that
provide us with tons of information. Because of our many brands, we use the
training tools they provide. We’re good at retention, I believe, because of our
internal process. I look at employment as a track where we orient, communicate, train, re-train, and follow up on the whole process. We allow people to
express themselves in a variety of ways, including an employee hotline. As
a result of all this, we have some stores with zero percent turnover, which is
unheard of in our industry.
How do you deal with problem employees? We look back at ourselves in the mirror and see if we did everything right. If a shift manager wants
to fire an employee, he needs the approval of the restaurant manager, who
needs the approval of the district manager. We have internal and external customers—we don’t want ex-employees to have bad feelings about us.
Fastest way into my doghouse: Mistakes are to be expected. But if you
lie about it or intentionally violate company policy, that’s it. Integrity is very
important in our operation.

Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s u e II, 2013



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