Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2015 | Page 65

SHAPING THE FUTURE

and growth. Sessions included Customer
Engagement: The Best Marketing Tool;
Multi-Unit M&A; Getting to the Closing; Labor Laws—Impact on Hiring and
Retaining Good Talent; and Lease Negotiations and Re-Negotiations.
The lunch hour brought the reopening
of the Expo Hall, where attendees continued their investigation of potential new
brands and suppliers. That was followed
by another general session dealing with
the always-hot topic of financing.
Michael Kulp, president and CEO of
KBP Foods, facilitated a panel that consisted of Guillermo Perales, president and
CEO of Sun Holdings, Dawn Lafreeda, a
Denny’s franchisee, and Yaron Goldman,
a MOD Pizza franchisee. During the session—Financing 2015: Finding the Edge
in Your Capital Strategy—each of the
panelists talked about their own financing journeys, the sources of financing they
used during their growth, how they learned
to negotiate, and how others might learn
from their mistakes.
More afternoon breakout sessions followed, with topics including: Local Store
Marketing for Optimum Brand Awareness;
Take Your Customer Service to the Next

Level; Franchising Under Attack: How
Recent and Proposed Legislation Affects
Your Bottom Line; and How to Evaluate
a Franchise Brand.
A special “bonus session” this year—
Bridging the Gap: Athletes, Investors, and
Operators Roundtable—featured former
professional athletes, operators, franchisors, and investment experts discussing
the pros and cons of building successful
partnerships between athletes and multiunit franchisees. Michael Stone, a former
NFL player who founded the Professional
Athlete Franchise Initiative, led the highly
interactive session.
The day closed out with a final opportunity to visit the Expo Hall and finish up
any conversations or deals that had been
in the works during the conference.
Friday, Day 3
As Friday dawned in the desert and
attendees began preparing to depart,
one last session awaited: a chance for
attendees to hear firsthand how other
franchisees have developed growth plans
for their businesses. The session, Develop Your Executional Plan for Growth,
focused on how to build an actionable
plan that effectively communicates your
vision for growth—a plan you can take
to the bank.
Craig Weichmann, managing director at
Meyer Metz Capital Partners, facilitated a
panel that included John Metz, president of
RREMC and a franchisor and franchisee;
Brooke Wilson, a Two Men and a Truck
franchisee; Lloyd Sugarman, a Johnny
Rockets franchisee; and Greg Thomas, a
Smoothie King and Great Clips franchisee.
The session left attendees with a better understanding of how to build a plan

Michael Stone,
founder of PAFI
that effect