Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2016 | Page 18

MULTI

BRAND

BY DEBBIE SELINSKY

Southern Hospitality
Multi-restaurant host keeps tourists well fed

B

rent Collier earns his bread and
butter from tourism. His 16 restaurants from 7 different brands
offer something for everyone—
from a fun or romantic fondue dinner at
The Melting Pot to Sunday afternoons for
the family at Golden Corral.
NAME: Brent Collier
TITLE: President
COMPANY: Collier Restaurant

Collier is a restaurant baron in an unusual market: a 25-mile stretch of an Eastern Tennessee tourist area that includes
Dollywood, the mountain resort city of
Gatlinburg, and Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, the most-visited national
park in the country. The area attracts around
15 million tourists a year, and Collier estimates that about one-third of them eat
at one of his restaurants.
“Probably 90 percent of all our business
is tourist-based. They’ll come four or five

times a year—many have a time share or
a vacation home around here—and they’ll
stay for three or four days on ave rage,”
says Collier, a Sevierville, Tenn., native
and president of Sevier County’s largest
restaurant group.
“They’re not at the beach for a week
where they’ll stop at Walmart or Sam’s
and buy groceries. That means they’re eating out for every meal. Three meals a day
times three days equals nine opportunities
for them to sit at one of our tables, all of

Group

NO. OF UNITS: TGI Fridays, 3;
Golden Corral, 2; Corky’s Ribs
& BBQ, 1; The Melting Pot, 1;
Quaker Steak & Lube, 1; Smoky
Mountain Pancake House,
1; Flapjack’s Pancake Cabin
(independent), 7; Gatlinburg
Convention Center Food Service
AGE: 60
FAMILY: Wife Ashley; 2 daughters,

Lori Collier and Elise CollierMassey

YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 23
YEARS IN CURRENT POSITION: 20

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MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE II, 2016

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