Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2013 | Page 67

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for girls

tions, marketing, finance, and sales.
A long-distance runner when she was younger, Read, who
now prefers Pilates and weight training, was drawn to Auntie
Anne’s by the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the
chain’s rapid expansion plans. When she opened her first location in the Glendale Galleria in 1994, the Southern California
unit was among 200 stores nationwide. Today, Auntie Anne’s
can be found in 1,200 malls, airports, and other quick-stop
locations in 23 countries around the world.
With 11 stores and 125 “youthful” employees, Read, now
62, starts most work days at 5 a.m. with a review of the previous day’s sales and daily inventory reports. Her friends think
she’s crazy for still working so hard, but Read says she can’t
resist the challenge.
“I thrive on growing my business. That is what makes me
tick—not just growing in size, but growing in excellence,” she
says. “I want to be great at what I do, and I know that I am an
overachiever in just about everything. I am not interested in
complacency and have trouble being around people who like
the status quo.”

Clark says she is “loan averse,” expanding one unit at a time,
only when the $200,000 investment is in hand.
“I would suggest to women looking at any franchise to do
their homework,” says Clark. “Make sure you research the
organization that you put your hard-earned money into, and
look for companies that have longevity and the tools in place
that you need to be successful—a franchise where you do not
have to put in additional capital.”
System resources also are important. While the goal is to
find a franchisor with proven systems in place, and to work
smart by taking advantage of technology, women who look to
franchising to gain more control over their work lives often
find themselves putting in more hours, particularly since more
women than men are still primary caregivers.
For Clark, franchising has transformed the quality of her
family life.
“On the outside, the differences between all working women
and franchise working women might not look that different,”

Flight to fitness

Christina Clark of Dassel, Minn., also is a high-energy gogetter. Clark went from flight attendant to a focus on fitness
when she and husband Jason snatched up a Snap Fitness franchise in Montrose, Minn. A half-marathoner and mother of
four, ages 1 to 9, she experienced the potential of the 24-hour
gym center firsthand when, on maternity leave, she helped a
friend manage a Snap Fitness facility. Soon there was another
addition to the Clark family.
“I said to Jason, ‘We need to own one of these babies, not
manage them,’” says Clark, 37, who now operates 8 Snap Fitness locations—three newly constructed and the rest remodeled—under various ownership structures that include family
and friends. Jason does the books and she is the face of the
franchise, handling marketing and customer service.
In 2006, to secure the $200,000 franchise start-up fee needed to open their first Snap Fitness location, the young couple
combined borrowing from family with a bank loan. Since then,

Christina Clark

Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s u e II, 2013



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