Grow Market Lead
CEO
profile:
Franchisees First!
Building a winning wings brand, one unit at a time
By Kerry Pipes
Name: Sam G. Ballas
Title: CEO and President
Company: East Coast Wings & Grill
Units: 23 operating, 11 in construction,
over 90 sold
Age: 47
Family: Wife Fay and four children
Years in franchising: 9
Years in current position: Coming from
a Wall Street, commercial real estate, and
lifelong restaurant background, I invested in
the brand in 1999 and bought out the concept
in 2001. In 2002 we rebranded, and in 2003
we sold our first franchise, which opened in
2004.
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Franchiseupdate Iss u e I, 2 0 1 3
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am Ballas waxes eloquently—and passionately—about
East Coast Wings & Grill,
the company he acquired in
2001. As CEO, he preaches the product’s quality and the menu’s diversity,
lauds the devoted team of professionals he’s assembled in the corporate office, and talks about his careful system
growth strategy that emphasizes quality over quantity. But he sums up the
brand best when he says, “We get it.
Franchisees first, then corporate success will follow.”
Ballas grew up in a Greek immigrant
family that operated restaurants. “By the
time you were 12 years old, you were
shoved into a restaurant busing tables
or running a cash register,” he recalls.
But he also was learning how businesses
operate. His parents wanted him to go to
college and have a bett er life than they
had. Ballas did just that, but says, “The
restaurant is bloodline to me.”
His college years revealed a love and
understanding of numbers. That led to
investment banking jobs with American
International Group Inc. and Interstate/
Johnson Lane Securities. Ballas was
always looking for opportunities, and
before long he found himself involved
in “side businesses” that included real
estate and development. One such side
business was investing in a startup wing
restaurant company called East Coast
Wings & Grill. He eventually bought
out his partners, learned all he could
about the franchising model, wrote his
own UFOC, rebranded, and dove into
franchising in 2003.
His credo, he says, is always to consider
the franchisee first. “I’m a micromanager
and I like to say I manage from the outside in,” he says. “I’m always looking at
how I can help the franchisee be more
successful because that’s going to make
us all successful.” He speaks of communication, transparency, ongoing support,
and training—all buzzwords, but as he
says, “It’s often tougher to do this than
it is to say you’re going to do it.”
Today, Ballas is overseeing a con-