Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2014 | Page 26

MULTI-BR A N D 50
MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: Set high standards and you will get excellent results.
Ask yourself how you can get it done first. Think outside the box. See value
where others don’t.
Management method or style: Select high performers and empower
them.
Greatest challenge: Becoming more and more productive every year while
maintaining growth.
How do others describe you? Intense, high-energy, fair, and consistent.
One thing I’m looking to do better: Build better back office infrastructure and have a good work/life balance.

economy? How? We constantly change marketing strategy within the
brand guidelines to achieve the desired results.
How is social media affecting your business? It’s becoming the
fastest-growing marketing vehicle. You either get on it or you will be left in the
dark.
How do you hire and fire? Hire as carefully as possible, and fire based
on quantifiable, indisputable information. Keep in mind that our employees are
also our customers.
How do you train and retain? My constant frame of mind is to sharpen
the saw.

What I need from vendors: Consistent products at the greatest value
possible.

How do you deal with problem employees? Getting the right people
on the bus is equally as important as getting the wrong people off the bus. If
I’m called in on something like this, I like to coach them and see how they
handle it. You have to get to the root cause of the problem. I believe in helping
people. Everybody has to feel they fit in. If they don’t, they’ll cause problems.
Most people want good leadership and communication and they want to know
what is expected of them. I’d say there’s 10 percent who do not want to follow
the rules. Most people, when treated with respect, understand that even though
this may not be exactly what they will be doing in the future, they can learn
basic skills of responsibility and accountability that will help them in the future,
whether they’re working for me or for a Fortune 500 company.

Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the

Fastest way into my doghouse: Lying, stealing, and cheating.

How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: I welcome innovation and feedback. However, I expect that our procedures are
consistent throughout the different brands.
How close are you to operations? Extremely close.
What are the two most important things you rely on from your
franchisor? I’ll give you three: brand marketing, buying power, and operational systems.

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: Prefer not to disclose.

seeking good, sound loans.

2014 goals: To grow quality assets and build a more streamlined back office
infrastructure.

Where do you find capital for expansion? Institutional banks.

Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Comparing
ourselves to yesterday.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
In 5 years, I’d like to have 50 units. In 10 years, I want to have a strong company that is more profitable than it was in the ninth year.
How is the current economy affecting you, your employees,
your customers? Since people are more careful about their spending now,
it’s even more important to provide customers with the greatest service, so the
perception of value is greater.
Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? Yes.
What did you change or do differently during the economic
downturn that you are continuing to do? Watch every penny and
examine each line item on the P&L.
How do you forecast for your business? Based on last year’s numbers, trends of market, industry, and brand.
Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? Yes, banks are

24

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE II, 2014

Have you used private equity, local banks, national banks,
other institutions? Why/why not? We haven’t used private equity.
We normally use local or regional banks, as they understand our needs and are
able to accommodate them.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? We give
management the opportunity to earn more income by increasing revenue and/
or profitability.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, healthcare, etc.)? It is always challenging and difficult, but it is an industry problem
that we all deal with. Inevitably, the increased costs are unfortunately reflected
in the end price.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? We
are working on some new programs that will recognize performers weekly and
monthly.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? I am currently in
growth mode and not considering any exit strategies at this time.