Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2015 | Page 56

RECONNECT: MULTI-BRAND 50
BY KERRY PIPES

Right Time, Right Place
William Bruce does well by doing good

Y

ou can say this about William Bruce: he’s not afraid
of change or embracing new
challenges. He’s proven both
since we profiled him in 2012 and named
him our MVP Noble Cause Award winner in 2013.
In early 2014, he left Abundant Brands,
where he had spent a half-dozen years, and
as COO was overseeing more than 250
Subway locations and more than a dozen
Costa Vida Mexican Grill restaurants, as
well as three other brands.
“I felt like rather than just maintaining what the company had, that I’d like to
really get back to a more active building
and developing approach,” he says. That’s
when serendipity struck. His name had
been floated to some executives with a
Dallas-based commercial real estate company, Encore Enterprises. The $2 billion
company had a restaurant arm, Encore
NAME: William Ray Bruce
TITLE: President, Encore Restaurants
COMPANY: Encore Enterprises
NO. OF UNITS: 8 Five Guys
Burger and Fries, 45 in
development; 2 IHOPs, 2 more
under construction
AGE: 52
FAMILY: Beautiful wife Tali, and 5

children: Kelby, 21, at Utah State,
on scholarship in physics; Austin,
21, a Mormon missionary in South
Korea; Kenzie, 19, at Utah State,
pre-med; Baron, 19, at Weber
State on football scholarship;
Kaisen, 15, at an early college
high school.

YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 20
YEARS IN CURRENT POSITION: 1

54

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE II, 2015

muf2_c_bruce(54,56,58).indd 54

3/16/15 12:49 PM