Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2015 | Page 40

2015 MVP AWARDS

“I’ve been broke two times in my life. But I didn’t hang
out and have a pity party. I got out and went to work and
tried different things to be successful.”
as we can for as long as we can.”
In his fundraising efforts for the Salvation Army’s Pathway of Hope program,
Holm has thought a lot about poverty in
this country. “Fifty years ago, President
Johnson declared war on poverty. The
government has spent trillions of dollars
fighting poverty and it doesn’t seem to be
working, because we have more people
living in poverty than ever. Our goal is,
instead of simply serving a meal, we want
to be able to solve the problem of people
needing a free meal,” he says.
“To address poverty, we want to teach
people job skills, how to get along in the
community, how to have a better life, and

be self-sustaining. Welfare has had an adverse effect. It’s supposed to help people,
but instead it traps them in poverty and it
goes from generation to generation. We
want to break that cycle,” he says.
“I’ve been broke two times in my life
and I didn’t enjoy either one of them,”
says Holm today. “But I didn’t hang out
and have a pity party. I got out and went
to work and tried different things to be
successful. I guess you could say I actually ‘failed forward.’” Holm, who has been
the highest-volume operator in Golden
Corral’s system for years, urges would-be
franchisees (and people in general) to understand that failure is a learning tool.

PERSONAL
Formative influences/events: Growing up poor.

What are you reading? The Bible and Toxic Charity: How Churches and

Key accomplishments: My greatest accomplishments are that I have a
great family and a good mid-sized business that’s profitable, and that I do substantial charity work.

Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It) by Robert Lupton.

Work week: 60 hours.

What’s your passion in business? Creating opportunity for others.

Best advice you ever got: Don’t worry about the past.

MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: I believe you should make money, have fun, and
help others.
Management method or style: Firm but fair.
Greatest challenge: Growing sales and controlling costs.
How do others describe you? As a team leader.

How do you hire and fire, train and retain? When it comes to hiring and firing, very carefully! We use best HR practices for both hiring and
firing. For hiring, we use a pre-screening service and E-Verify. We have a lot of
good tools for training, including computer-based training for all positions, food
safety, and orientation. We’re pretty good at retaining our people, because we
like to reward them with fair pay and some benefits, like time off.

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: $150 million.
2015 goals: To grow sales to $160 million; open two Pig Stand barbecue
restaurants and one or two more Golden Corrals.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? We measure
growth by comparing sales year-to-year and by adding new units