Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2015 | Page 63

Brent Collier

Southern hospitality
Brent Collier, who operates 14 restaurants
from 6 different franchise brands along
a 25-mile stretch in the tourist mecca of
Pigeon Forge, Tenn., faces a nice kind of
problem: his restaurants compete for the
same customers. But that’s not really a
problem, since the area draws more than
11 million tourists a year.
The way he figures it, most visit for an
average of three days, which he translates
into “nine meal opportunities.” So whether
it’s the buffet at his two Golden Corrals,
the fondue at The Melting Pot he operates,
or the finger-lickin’ treats at his Corky’s
Ribs & BBQ, he has it covered. His three
TGI Fridays and a Quaker Steak & Lube
round out his franchised brands, but wait,
there’s more! He also owns eight Flapjack’s
Pancake Cabins, has a catering contract
with the Gatlinburg Convention Center,
and oh yes, don’t forget his campground.
With 70 percent of the U.S. population
within a 12-hour drive, people visit two or
three times a year to see popular attractions ranging from Dollywood to Great
Smoky Mountains National Park. “They
don’t wear it out,” he says. And they have
to eat. Collier estimates that about a third
of the 11 million yearly tourists eat at one
of his restaurants. “We try to cross-brand
inside, offer a little bit of a discount to my
other restaurants,” he says.
To keep them coming—and coming
back—he offers what he calls Deep South
hospitality. “We have a people culture. The
tourists are our guests and we make sure
they’re welcome. We want to take care of

them, help them, answer their questions—
even about the weather.”
How does he transmit all that to his
front-line employees? “All the chains have
excellent training tools—videos, bilingual,
etc., the basics,” he says. “But it really
comes down to our history, our culture,
our managers, and assistant managers.”
Collier himself started busing tables at a
Trotters Restaurant in Pigeon Forge when
he was a youngster, and knows the ropes.
He encourages his staff to take smaller
sections and spend more time with the customers. “I tell them that if they take care
of the customers, treat them nice, they’ll
get a better tip. Everybody’s working to
make money. They have a family and
kids and have to make ends meet.” The
end result, he tells them, is that the customers are happier and that they’ll make
twice as much money and enjoy their job
a whole lot more.
What about working with the distinct
cultures of his several brands? He has that
figured too. “Even though they all have a
different culture, they have a baseline similarity to them,” he says. “In the restaurant
business you stick with the core stuff: hot
food hot, cold food cold, and fast, friendly, courteous service. This transcends all
brands, and it works.”
Pizza capital-ists
Brothers Casey and Sam Askar know their
pizza. “We’re from Detroit, the pizza capital
of the world,