Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue I, 2016 | Page 36

“You can’t do all the work yourself
or nothing gets done. You have to trust people,
although the trust has to be earned.”
& Brews. The give and take between
Moore and his new brands has been
great for business. “It’s been fun to be
able to join a brand in its infancy and
really contribute to the things they are
doing,” he says.
Moore got his start in the business at
16 as a crew worker at a Salt Lake City
Burger King that would eventually be
owned by his current business partner
David Williams. With the exception of a
stint in the National Guard, Moore has
spent his entire career with the brand,
tackling every job until being tapped
to run the organization in 1995. Under
his leadership, the franchise more than
doubled its Burger King unit count and
added convenience stores to the mix.
Moore, who became a franchisee himself in 2005, sought to diversify further
about four years ago with the addition
of Costa Vida, a brand that offers madefrom-scratch fare and a passionate customer base, he says.

For Moore, future growth is more
about the value of the deal than the
number of units he can add. Real estate
is a key objective for the company, which
has developed about 70 percent of the
properties they operate. “We think it is
an important objective of what we are
trying to accomplish,” he says. “I would
rather grow slower with the opportunity
to own the dirt underneath and a piece
of property than grow quickly and all
I own is restaurant equipment and a
franchise.”
Moore, who still relies on the lessons
learned from his early days, admits that
the benefits of his extensive background
in the restaurant business also brings its
challenges. “I like to be involved in every decision made, and sometimes the
train slows down because decisions are
waiting for me,” he says. “You can’t do
all the work yourself or nothing gets
done. You have to trust people, although
the trust has to be earned.”

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: $100 million-plus.
2016 goals: Development: 2 Burger Kings, 2 Costa Vidas, 4 Beans & Brew
Coffee Houses.
Growth meter: We are fortunate as an organization that we are very financially stable and we aren’t taking on any risky investments. We have come to
a point in our organization where the tolerance for a lot of risk is not there. We
want to do deals and want to do projects that we have a good feeling are going
to be successful.
How do you measure your growth? Certainly you want to run good
operations. Growing up in this business, I am a firm believer that operations drives
sales and profits. We are constantly looking at financials and improvements in cost
controls and in efficiencies we create within our own business. Certainly we have
ratios we are expected to hit by our lenders and we measure our success that way.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
I’d like to continue growing the brands. We don’t have a specific number of restaurants we would like to have or chains we would like to be involved in. We look
at three things: Are the company’s financials stable? Are we able to continue to
grow? And are we still having fun while we are doing it? If those things are met
we continue to grow. If it means that I have the same number of restaurants that I
have today then that is okay too.
How is the economy in your region affecting you, your employees, your customers? It has had a great effect, specifically finding the right
people. When the economy is good, there is lots of growth and new competitors.

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We are all competing for the same talent pool, particularly as it relates to finding
good management. Our philosophy has always been to promote from within the
organization, but I think there is a balance between promoting from within and
hiring people from the outside. The challenge with hiring from the outside is that
it is hard to prove the values of the company over a short period—that comes
over time. If someone works for me for three months and is offered more money
somewhere else, he is not as committed as someone who has been with me for
five years.
Are you experiencing economic growth in your markets? Yes.
How do you forecast for your business? Quarterly and annually.
Experience with private equity, local banks, national banks, other
institutions? Why/why not? Internally and through local banks.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? We are sure
to always treat employees with respect. We care for them and promote growth by
conducting regular reviews, promotion opportunities, etc.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, minimum
wage, healthcare, etc.)? Very carefully. We examine opportunities for efficiency, price increases if the market allows, etc.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? We
have a generous incentive program and offer other rewards.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? None at this time. I
turn 50 in January and still have all the passion in the world for the business.

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE I, 2016

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