MULTI-BRAND
Business philosophy : To be a facilitator , coach , and mentor and give people the opportunity to do their jobs .
Management method or style : I started hands-on , ran the restaurant . As I ’ ve grown , I ’ ve learned to facilitate and manage on a higher level .
Greatest challenge : I want everybody to be happy and I want the job to get done , so we have to meet in the middle to achieve both those things .
How do others describe you ? Passionate , energetic , and driven , and I hope they ’ d say tough but fair .
One thing I ’ m looking to do better : To improve the businesses and tighten up everything so that we ’ re facing forward and operating on all cylinders for the second half of 2017 .
How I give my team room to innovate and experiment : Good ideas come from everywhere , so I have an open door . We encourage people to speak up and offer ideas . We ’ re pretty transparent . If someone comes up with a great system or process , we implement it to help everybody .
How close are you to operations ? In the beginning , I was very close . Now I ’ m closer to those in charge of operations .
What are the two most important things you rely on from your franchisor ? A great supply chain and the opportunity to develop if you ’ re doing what you ’ re supposed to do .
What I need from vendors : Timely invoicing , timely responses if there
Annual revenue : $ 15 million to $ 20 million .
2017 goals : We ’ re going to clean up , shut down the bad ones , take our lumps , get new ones open , and move offices . We ’ re going to give other people opportunities on the executive side and step back from running the business to concentrating on new ventures .
Growth meter : How do you measure your growth ? Track year over year same store sales .
Vision meter : Where do you want to be in 5 years ? 10 years ? In 5 years , I ’ d like to have my business firmly situated and running great . I ’ d love to be growing my original venture . In 10 years , I ’ d like to be on the investor side looking to other , younger entrepreneurs to mentor and help .
How is the economy in your regions affecting you , your employees , your customers ? Overall , it ’ s different in different pockets . It ’ s not news that the fast casual segment is pulling back , but that ’ s the time to get back to basics , work in the community , and get the best out of your partnerships from over the years .
Are you experiencing economic growth in your market ? Things are flat .
How do changes in the economy affect the way you do business ? We do what we need to do , buckle down and keep hustling .
How do you forecast for your business ? I don ’ t have a crystal ball , but I see our business firming up and growing slowly .
What are the best sources for capital expansion ? I ’ ve gone
MANAGEMENT are problems , and an open , honest relationship .
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy ? How ? We ’ re always changing it . Right now , price is a huge deal in the world . E-commerce is a big deal , and if we ’ re smart , we pay attention to what customers are telling us . If we don ’ t , we ’ re going to run into trouble .
How is social media affecting your business ? Social media is alive and well , expanding every day . You have to evolve and understand that it serves a big purpose , but there ’ s still something to delivering inside four walls and great service . We keep it in mind , but it ’ s not everything . It ’ s another piece of the marketing / customer service pie .
How do you hire and fire ? I rely on our team to do this at the store level . I can ’ t overstep but I listen . I believe in letting them do their jobs . As for firing , we have our processes and we do it the right way by giving people notice and following through if they don ’ t follow through on their end .
How do you train and retain ? We have good training from our franchisors . We offer good benefits , fair work environments , and we ’ ve promoted from within from day one .
How do you deal with problem employees ? There ’ s a lot of documentation and discussion , and if things aren ’ t working out , at some point we make the call to move on . We take it on a case-by-case basis .
Fastest way into my doghouse : Being unresponsive and betraying my trust .
BOTTOM LINE
through every one out there . I started with SBA loans ( six to seven of those ), rolled into nontraditional financing , a bank out of Minnesota , and then wrapped up into GE Capital as the first Moe ’ s franchisee they took on . When I started with Experimac , none of that mattered , so I went back to the SBA .
Experience with private equity , local banks , national banks , other institutions ? Why / why not ? We ’ ve gone down the path of all of these . Now I ’ m happy to bootstrap with traditional funding ( versus private equity ).
What are you doing to take care of your employees ? We try to offer good health insurance , vacations , healthy incentive plans , vehicles and expenses for some , discounts on food , and the opportunity for growth . This goes down to hourly employees , too .
How are you handling rising employee costs ( payroll , minimum wage , healthcare , etc .)? We ’ ve tried to pay above to start , and by doing that it ’ s helped absorb rising costs . By being efficient and trying to retain good people , we ’ re already above it . It doesn ’ t pinch as badly as if we were doing the least possible .
How do you reward / recognize top-performing employees ? We offer bonus plans , but we also think it ’ s important to recognize in front of the franchisor and the team when someone does a great job . That means a lot .
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place ? I ’ d like to get the company and the people that make it work every day taken care of , pay down debt , get new ventures going , and eventually explore selling it to those who are running it inside or outside .
16 MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE ISSUE II , 2017