Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2016 | Page 42

MULTI

BRAND
MANAGEMENT

Business philosophy: Always live by our core values, then focus on building a
great brand, great leadership, great sites, and continuous development of all leadership and team members. We strive to grow sales and the brand through great
customer experiences and we expect success.
Management method or style: Surround myself with talented people, pay
them well, have high expectations, and inspect what I expect.
Greatest challenge: Overcoming the lack of great sites, the cost of land, and
construction costs.
How do others describe you? That’s a funny question. I would say driven,
bold, and high energy.
One thing I’m looking to do better: Be more patient and manage my
time better.
How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: Because
we operate franchise brands, there is only so much innovation and experimentation we can do. But I will say that everything outside of the brand’s standard is fair
game, and we highly encourage it.
How close are you to operations? Very close. I am heavily involved in
the opening of all new restaurants. I do my best to get in my restaurants to see
my people, but the growth of recent years has not allowed me to as much as I
would like.
What are the two most important things you rely on from your
franchisor? Innovation and brand growth.
What I need from vendors: Timely deliveries and quick responses to my needs.

Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the
economy? How? This is an area that we let the franchisor drive since we
send marketing dollars to them. I will say we prefer TV over all others and vote
for that vehicle. We have always been committed to supporting our local schools
and organizations through food donations. My philosophy has always been, “I can
see this community without our brand, but could never see the brand without the
community.” We give relentlessly. We believe our biggest marketing tool is our
next customer.
How is social media affecting your business? We don’t really have a
gauge to tell because we don’t have store-level social media. But I will tell you
that social media has an effect on our business. I’m glad it’s there.
How do you hire and fire? Everything is based on metrics and measurable
expectations. If you don’t meet them, you will be successful elsewhere.
How do you train and retain? I have a chief people officer I work closely
with who does nothing but secure talent, assess our current leadership and team,
and hold our Above Store Leaders and GMs accountable for developing all of our
people. He holds team-building exercises several times a year.
How do you deal with problem employees? We don’t—we cut the
“cancer” very quickly. Our expectations are very clear so there isn’t much room
for excuses. We do attempt to save them from being terminated, but it is not a
long process.
Fastest way into my doghouse: Run poor numbers and not focus on the
customer’s experience.

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: $21 million.
2016 goals: Open 3 Popeyes and at least 2 new Captain D’s.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? By our samestore comparable sales.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
In 5 years, I want 20 new Captain D’s open, and in 10 years, 50 open. I’d like
to have 25 Mossy Oak Properties offices opened by 2026 and have other brands
growing.
How is the economy in your region affecting you, your employees, your customers? We are based in a very strong economic area where
most folks enjoy a level of good living.
Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? Yes. We are
based in a thriving area that is the home of Walmart and many other corporations,
such as Tyson Foods.
How do changes in the economy affect the way you do business?
Like most successful businesses, we are more careful with each move when times
are tight.
How do you forecast for your business? I wish I had a Harvard degree
when it comes to some things such as forecasting. Unfortunately I don’t, and I
have to rely on my gut instincts a lot when it comes to the markets I am looking
to develop a brand in, and in our ability to place great leadership there and find
acceptable locations.
What are the best sources for capital expansion? We have found lo-

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cal banks and money from folks like GE Capital user-friendly for us.
Experience with private equity, local banks, national banks, other
institutions? Why/why not? Private equity most of the time is for largerunit franchisees so we have no experience there. We have worked with local
banks because they know our brands and operational capabilities. We have no
experience with national or other institutions.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? We pay our
Captain D’s team members $10 an hour, and our Popeyes team members $9 an
hour with hopes to increase them to up to $10 by the third quarter. We pay our
GMs 10 percent of the profits, which pushes total compensation for GMs at our
high-volume restaurant upwards of $80,000, and our Above Store Leaders can
earn in excess of $100,000.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, minimum
wage, healthcare, etc.)? We are taking small menu increases coupled with
a focus on food costs to help offset the rise in labor costs. The fear of us all is the
public paying two to three times what we are selling our food for now to offset the
cost of labor or mandates that could be coming soon. It ends up as the end-user’s
tab for the most part.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? We
recognize a “Team Member of the Period,” a quarterly award. It is voted on by
their peers and the leadership teams in each restaurant.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? I don’t currently
have an exit strategy in place. I am still growing the brands. An exit will take care
of itself when that time comes.

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE II, 2016

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